George Richards, FHN Publisher
The Montreal Canadiens did not have many scoring chances against Andrei Vasilevskiy and the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7 of their first-round playoff series on Sunday night.
But boy, did they take advantage of them.
The Canadiens scored on two of their first seven shots on goal — which were spread out through the first 51 minutes of the game — and pulled out a 2-1 win against the host Lightning thanks to some fantastic goaltending by rookie Jakub Dobes.
Montreal moves on to Round 2 where it will face the Atlantic Division champion Buffalo Sabres starting on Wednesday night in western New York.
The Lightning, which won the Stanley Cup in 2020 and 2021 before losing to the Avalanche in the 2022 Final, has been knocked out of the first round the past four postseasons.
Tampa Bay lost to Toronto in 2023, the Panthers from 2024-25, and now the Canadiens.
This will be the first Stanley Cup Final without either the Lightning or Panthers in it since 2019 when the St. Louis Blues upset the Boston Bruins.
Nick Suzuki opened the scoring with 1:21 left in the first period when he deflected a shot from Kaiden Guhle — that then went off of Tampa Bay’s J.J. Moser and past Vasilevskiy.
The Canadiens scored on their fourth shot of the game — and did not get another one until Suzuki was stopped by Vasilevskiy 5:36 into the third period.
Tampa Bay tied it up on its 20th shot of the night at 13:27 of the second on the power play: Charle-Edouard D’Astous rifled a point shot from his knees that Dominic James deflected and put past Dobes.
The Lightning outshot Montreal 21-4 after two periods — and 12-0 in the second alone.
Dobes was, once more, fantastic.
It was the first period Montreal was held without a shot in its postseason history.
Yet it was the Canadiens who took a 2-1 lead in the game on yet another pin-balling puck.
Alex Newhook gave Montreal the lead at 11:07 of the third on an absolutely crazy goal.
Lane Hutson’s shot bounded off the end boards but the puck bounced in the air by the goal cage — with Newhook batting the puck out of midair with the back of his stick and sending it home off of Vasilevskiy himself.
Vasilevskiy ended with seven saves; Dobes had 28.
All seven games in the series were decided by a single goal — with four going to overtime.
The second round of the postseason is now set: In the Eastern Conference, Carolina holds a 1-0 lead on Philadelphia with the Canadiens squaring off against the Sabres.
In the Western Conference, Colorado and Minnesota opened on Sunday night in Denver; Vegas plays host to Anaheim in Game 1 on Monday.
ON DECK: FLORIDA PANTHERS OFFSEASON
- NHL Draft Lottery: Tuesday; Secaucus, NJ
- NHL Draft: June 26-27; KeyBank Center, Buffalo
- NHL Free Agency: Opens July 1
- Panthers Development Camp: Late June/Early July; IcePlex, Fort Lauderdale
- Panthers Rookie Camp/Tournament: Late August/Early Sept.; Site TBA
- Panthers Training Camp: Early/Mid September; Fort Lauderdale
- 2026-27 NHL Season Opens: Late September; Site, Opponent TBA