Juraj Slafkovsky scored his third power-play goal 1:22 into overtime and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 in Game 1 of their first-round NHL playoff series on Sunday.
Game 2 is Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at Benchmark International Arena, where Tampa Bay has lost eight of its last nine home games in the postseason.
Slafkovsky's hat trick game-winner came on a slap shot from the left circle that beat Andrei Vasilevskiy to the far side for the hat trick. Montreal went on the power play when Tampa Bay's Jake Guentzel was given a high-sticking minor with 21 seconds left in regulation.
“We took four offensive zone penalties,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “That wasn't overaggression. That was stupidity. That was a game that we just gave them an opportunity to win, and this is the Stanley Cup playoffs. This isn’t game 62, so that is extremely disappointing in the way we conducted ourselves and the amount of penalties we took.”
ALSO READ: Fan events planned around Lightning's opening playoff series, which will begin in Tampa
Montreal went 3-for-5 on the power play.
“The opportunities that we gave them, the number of penalties we took, is not a recipe for success, regular season or playoffs," Tampa Bay's Ryan McDonough said. "They were able to run a lot of plays and feel the puck out there, and certainly the PK has to step up and do a better job.”
Brandon Hagel scored two goals and Darren Raddysh also scored for Tampa Bay, which went 2-for-5 with the man advantage.
The Lightning have been knocked out of the playoffs in the first round three straight seasons after falling two wins shy of a three-peat in 2022.
Tampa Bay is 1-11 in their last 12 overtime games in the playoffs.
Josh Anderson also had a goal for Montreal and rookie goalie Jakub Dobes made 20 saves.
“His style of play and energy and speed and physicality is perfect for playoff hockey,” Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki said of Anderson. “He had a big night for us.”
The Canadiens, coached by Lightning icon and Hockey Hall of Famer Martin St. Louis, are seeking their first Stanley Cup since winning their NHL record 24th in 1993. They haven’t won a playoff series since the Lightning beat them in the Cup Final in 2021.
Hagel’s power-play goal — a tip-in off a precise pass by Guentzel 8:58 into the third — tied it at 3-3 a few minutes after Slafkovsky put Montreal ahead.
Slafkovsky’s shot from the high slot slid under Vasilevskiy’s left pad for a short-lived lead. He one-timed a perfect seam pass from Ivan Demidov into the net from the right circle to make it 2-2 in the final minute of the second.
“It's pretty nice. I like that feeling,” Slafkovsky said of his game-winner. “Obviously, we don't want to go to overtime. Hopefully we close out games before that. But now we have to focus on the next game.”
Raddysh tied it at 1 with a powerful slap shot in the second. The Lightning quickly went ahead 2-1 just 29 seconds later when Hagel picked up a loose puck from the side of the net and backhanded a shot past Dobes.
Montreal’s fourth line gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead in the first when Anderson flipped a top-shelf shot into an open net.
Anderson had another goal overturned by video review midway through the second period. He deflected Mike Matheson’s slap shot past Vasilevskiy but it was waved off because his stick was above the crossbar.
SERIES SCHEDULE (best of seven)
- Game 1 – Canadiens 4, Lightning 3 (overtime), Montreal leads series 1-0
- Game 2 – at Tampa on Tuesday, 7 p.m. (ESPN2, WXPX-The Spot)
- Game 3 – at Montreal on Friday, 7 p.m.(TNT, WXPX-The Spot)
- Game 4 – at Montreal on Sunday, 7 p.m. (ESPN, WXPX-The Spot)
- Game 5 (if necessary) – at Tampa on Wednesday, April 29, Time TBD
- Game 6 (if necessary) – at Montreal on Friday, May 1, Time TBD
- Game 7 (if necessary) – at Tampa on Sunday, May 3, Time TBD
