MONTREAL — In a thrilling conclusion to the NHL’s schedule before the 4 Nations Face-Off, the Tampa Bay Lightning triumphed over the struggling Montreal Canadiens with a score of 5-3 on Sunday. Victor Hedman made his mark on the game by recording a goal and an assist, contributing significantly to Tampa Bay’s fourth consecutive victory. Meanwhile, goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy was solid between the pipes, making 32 saves to fortify his team’s defense.
The Lightning’s scoring was powered by notable performances from Nick Paul, Brayden Point, Zemgus Girgensons, and Anthony Cirelli, each of whom found the back of the net. On the other side, the Canadiens faced yet another setback, suffering their third straight defeat and marking an unfortunate trend of losing eight out of their last nine matches. Brendan Gallagher highlighted Montreal’s offense with two goals, while Christian Dvorak also contributed a score.
The Canadiens started the game with goaltender Jakub Dobes, but he was replaced early in the second period after conceding three goals on just eight shots. Sam Montembeault stepped in and managed to stop 11 of the 12 shots he faced, but the team’s struggles were hard to overcome.
Following this game, the NHL will break for two weeks to allow for the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament, featuring teams from Canada, Sweden, Finland, and the United States, which will take place in Montreal and Boston.
In terms of key takeaways, Tampa Bay demonstrated depth in their offense even without star player Nikita Kucherov, who is day to day due to an upper-body injury. The Lightning managed to capitalize on their lone power-play opportunity, reaffirming their scoring capability. Conversely, the Canadiens faced challenges executing a comeback, faltering after giving up goals on the Lightning’s first two shots of the game. Despite dominating possession in the final ten minutes, they could not tally the equalizing goal.
A pivotal moment in the match came when Brayden Point scored a power-play goal just 1:05 into the second period, extending the Lightning’s lead to 3-1 and leading to Dobes’ exit from the game. Both Hedman and Jake Guentzel provided assists on that goal.
A noteworthy statistic from the game highlighted Gallagher’s first goal, which marked the Canadiens’ first home goal in nearly three hours of game time. The team had been shut out in their previous two matches against the New Jersey Devils and the Minnesota Wild.
Looking ahead, the Tampa Bay Lightning are set to take on the Seattle Kraken on February 23, while the Montreal Canadiens will be back in action against the Ottawa Senators on February 22.
