Canadiens 5, Lightning 2
MONTREAL -- Alex Galchenyuk scored twice and added an assist to lift the Montreal Canadiens to a 5-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night at the Bell Centre.
Max Pacioretty scored two goals and Tomas Plekanec had one for the Canadiens, who closed out a disappointing season with a 38-38-6 record.
Ondrej Palat and Jonathan Drouin scored for Tampa Bay (46-31-5), which lost Tyler Johnson in the first period after he fell into the boards following a hit by Canadiens defenseman Greg Pateryn.
Mike Condon stopped 20 shots for Montreal and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 24 saves for Tampa Bay.
The Lightning thought they had busted Condon's shutout just over three minutes into the third period when Mike Blunden appeared to poke the puck past the goaltender.
Called a goal on the ice, Montreal coach Michel Therrien challenged it for goaltender interference. After review, the goal was overturned, with officials saying Blunden pushed Condon into the net.
The Lightning finally scored a few minutes later when Palat fired a shot from the bottom of the circle that hit the net camera and bounced out at 6:33 of the third
period.
The goal was Tampa's first against Montreal since midway through the third period on Feb. 9, snapping a shutout streak at 117:30.
Drouin cut the deficit in half at 13:00. Matt Carle was denied by Condon when he tried to beat the goaltender on a wraparound, but Drouin, who was left uncovered after Andrei Markov left his position, poked home the loose puck for his fourth goal of the season.
Pacioretty sealed the win with his 30th goal of the season into an empty net.
The Canadiens took advantage of some hesitance from Vasilevskiy behind the net to open the scoring at 5:11 of the first period.
The Lightning goaltender went to play a Montreal pass attempt that went behind his net but took too long to make a play, allowing time for Brendan Gallagher to get in on the forecheck. The winger got his stick on it first and sent it to Galchenyuk, who made no mistake into an empty net.
Plekanec showed off his hands to double Montreal's lead at 16:27. With the teams playing four-on-four, Lars Eller carried the puck through the neutral zone before dishing off to the center just inside the Tampa blue line. Plekanec skated around Carle before deking out Vasilevskiy with a backhand.
The ice was barely dry when Pacioretty added to the lead in the second period. Galchenyuk stopped short along the right wall inside the Lightning zone before feeding Pacioretty. The Canadiens captain skated just inside the bottom of the right circle before wristing a perfect shot just 27 seconds into the period.
Galchenyuk's second of the night and 30th of the season made it 4-0 Montreal just over three minutes later on the power play. Vasilevskiy stopped Markov's shot from the point, but the rebound bounced to Pacioretty at the side of the net. He tried to corral the puck, but it found its way to Galchenyuk in the circle.
With the goal, the center, at 22 years and 57 days, became the third youngest Canadiens player to score 30 goals in a season, after Bernard Geoffrion and Stephane Richer.
NOTES: LW Paul Byron, recipient of the Canadiens' Jacques Beauchamp-Molson Trophy as the team's "unsung hero," suited up for his 200th NHL game. ... RW Brian Flynn returned to the lineup for the first time since suffering a lower-body injury against Tampa Bay on Feb. 9. ... The Lightning scratched several players nursing injuries ahead of the playoffs, with RW Nikita Kucherov (undisclosed), RW Ryan Callahan (lower body) and D Victor Hedman (upper body) all sitting out. ... C Jonathan Marchessault drew back into the Tampa lineup after being scratched Thursday against New Jersey. ... Montreal scratched LW Stefan Matteau and RW Mike Brown.