Red-hot Lightning burn Habs
TAMPA, Fla. -- The red-hot Tampa Bay Lightning tied the game with 12 seconds left in the second period, then jumped ahead 30 seconds into the third, pulling away to a 3-1 win against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday at Amalie Arena.
The Lightning's top two scorers combined on a highlight-reel goal -- Nikita Kucherov outskated a Montreal defender to a loose puck and flicked a no-look backwards pass to a charging Steven Stamkos, who beat Carey Price for the tying goal.
Tampa Bay (27-7-2), now 10-0-1 in its past 11, took the momentum from that score into the third, when Brayden Point poked in a loose puck in front of the net for his 15th goal and a 2-1 lead with 19:30 left.
Montreal (16-18-4) lost on back-to-back nights but stayed close much of the game by stopping the NHL's No. 1 power play on its first four chances.
Tampa Bay got a five-on-three early in the third period on a pair of Montreal penalties 67 seconds apart, and Stamkos converted with his 15th goal of the season for a 3-1 lead with 15:15 remaining.
Stamkos has scored 10 of his goals on the power play this season. He produced his third multi-goal game of the season.
After a scoreless first period, Montreal jumped ahead on a power-play goal by Brendan Gallagher, who stood next to Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy and saw a long, high shot from Charles Hudon ricochet off both for a 1-0 lead just 3:40 into the second. It was the team-best 15th goal of the season for Gallagher.
Vasilevskiy made 31 saves in picking up his NHL-best 24th win of the season, improving to 24-5-1. He went 23-17-7 in all of last season, splitting duties with Ben Bishop for most of the campaign.
With the Canadiens playing the tail end of a road back-to-back, Tampa Bay opened the game with an 11-1 lead on shots in the first seven minutes, but Montreal countered well enough that the Lightning held just a 14-13 edge on shots after the first period.
NOTES: The Lightning played without D Anton Stralman, who had a lower-body injury and was a late scratch before the game. D Slater Koekkoek was a healthy scratch. ... Montreal had D David Schlemko miss a second straight game due to illness, with LW Jacob de la Rose and C Byron Froese as healthy scratches. ... Tampa Bay continues a back-to-back at home Friday against Philadelphia, while Montreal goes to Florida for a game on Saturday. The Lightning and Canadiens play each other again next Thursday in Montreal.