Canadiens 3, Lightning 0
TAMPA, Fla. --- Rookie goaltender Mike Condon earned his first career shutout, stopping all 26 shots from the Tampa Bay Lightning as the Montreal Canadiens pulled out a 3-0 victory Thursday at Amalie Arena.
Condon, who has stepped in as the primary goalie since Carey Price was injured in November, stopped a penalty shot from Tampa Bay's Ondrej Palat in the second period.
David Desharnais and Torrey Mitchell had goals before Phillip Danault scored an empty-net goal with 2:28 left, shortly after the Lightning pulled Ben Bishop for an extra attacker.
Tampa Bay (44-28-5) missed a key opportunity to keep pace with Florida for first place in the Atlantic Division. The Lightning remain five points ahead of Boston for second place in the division with five games to play for both teams.
Montreal (36-36-6) won back-to-back games for only the third time in the last six weeks, coming off a 4-3 home victory against Detroit on Tuesday night.
Tampa Bay, which managed only three shots in the final period, had been shut out once in the previous 56 games, while Montreal hadn't had a shutout since two by Price in October.
Montreal, trying to play spoiler having getting eliminated from playoff contention, took a 2-0 lead into the third period thanks to strong play from Condon.
The Canadiens opened the scoring midway through the first period, with Desharnais collecting his 10th goal of the season on a rebound from a shot by Sven Andrighetto.
Montreal build on the advantage in the opening minute of the second period. Mitchell pushed down the left side, beat defenseman Andrej Sustr and flicked the puck to the top right corner of the goal past Bishop for his 10th goal of the season and a 2-0 lead.
Tampa Bay had a chance to cut into the lead when Palat drew a penalty shot on a breakaway, but his first career penalty shot was stopped by Condon to preserve the two-goal lead.
NOTES: The Lightning got back two key forwards who were out with injuries. RW Ryan Callahan had missed five games with a lower-body injury and RW Nikita Kucherov was two games with a lower-body injury. ... Lightning D Anton Stralman is out a month or more with a broken leg, and RW Erik Condra, RW Mike Blunden and D Nikita Nesterov were healthy scratches. ... Montreal is also without a top defenseman. P.K. Subban missed a 10th game with his neck injury, with Victor Bartley (sixth, lower body) and Mark Barberio (seventh, concussion) remaining out as well as RW Brendan Gallagher (11th, lower). RW Mike Brown was a healthy scratch. ... The teams will face off again in the regular-season finale on April 9 in Montreal, with the Lightning playing four games in eight days between the meetings.