Bruins vs Red Wings

TAMPA -- If the Tampa Bay Lightning want to end their Eastern Conference Second Round series against the Montreal Canadiens without a return to Bell Centre in Montreal, they will have to continue to play desperate hockey.

Lightning forward Tyler Johnson said the up-and-down emotional ride that was their first-round series against the Detroit Red Wings has them better prepared for what to expect from the Canadiens in Game 3 at Amalie Arena on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET; CBC, TVA Sports, USA).

"There were a couple of times in that Detroit series that we had an emotional win and the next game we didn't play as well," Johnson said. "So we want to take things one game at a time and keep an even keel. It doesn't matter what you did in the last game; it only matters what you do in the next game."

The Montreal Canadiens have some extra time to come up with a winning game plan against the Tampa Bay Lightning in their Eastern Conference Second Round series.

Coach Michel Therrien has until Wednesday to figure out how to end the Canadiens' seven-game losing streak against the Lightning. Montreal hasn't defeated Tampa Bay since it completed a four-game sweep in the first round of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs; the Lightning won all five games in the regular season and the first two of this series.

"We understand we're in a tough position right now," Therrien said on a conference call from Tampa on Monday. "This is not the perfect scenario and this is certainly not something that we anticipate, but we showed a lot of character through the course of the season. We've got a lot of adversity, and the one thing that I respect about my team is that they always respond the right way, and we've got to take one game at a time and our main focus is going to be on Wednesday night."

The Tampa Bay Lightning may be in control of the Eastern Conference Second Round series against the Montreal Canadiens, but don't tell them that.

Despite winning their past seven games against Montreal and earning a decisive 6-2 win in Game 2 on Sunday, members of the Lightning are quick to say the best-of-7 series isn't over.

And as the series shifts to Amalie Arena for Game 3 on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET: USA, CBC, TVA Sports), forward Brian Boyle isn't willing to say that the Lightning have the Canadiens number.

"I wouldn't say that, I think we set out to win Game 1 we did that," Boyle said Monday. "Then we had an opportunity to leave Montreal up 2-0 and we had a couple of power-play opportunities that we took advantage of. As the series goes on we've got to expect they are going to up the ante a little bit and we have to match that."

MONTREAL – The Montreal Canadiens like to say they have dealt with adversity all season. Every team likes to say it.

But the truth is the Canadiens have not faced any adversity this season. None at all.

They never lost more than three consecutive games.

They were the healthiest team in the NHL.

They were at or near the top of the League standings all season.

MONTREAL – Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper couldn’t decide which was better on Sunday: captain Steven Stamkos ending his scoring drought or the Lightning’s power play breaking out of a slump.

It’s not a bad problem to have.

"I don’t know if it was more relief for me that [Stamkos] scored or the power play scored," Cooper said after the Lightning defeated the Montreal Canadiens 6-2 to take a 2-0 lead in Eastern Conference Second Round series at Bell Centre.

"It was a whole compilation of Alka Seltzer."

MONTREAL -– Tampa Bay Lightning forward Cedric Paquette left Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Second Round series against the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday with an undisclosed injury.

Paquette finished the first period and played the final shift as the buzzer sounded, when a scrum broke out. He played one shift midway through the second period and did not come out for the third period.

Paquette has one goal in nine games in the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

MONTREAL -- With each game, the Tampa Bay Lightning are learning more about Stanley Cup Playoff hockey, what it takes to win, and themselves.

The Lightning are up 1-0 in their best-of-7 Eastern Conference Second Round series against the Montreal Canadiens after a 2-1 win in double-overtime at Bell Centre on Friday.

It was an impressive victory given that it came 48 hours after a Game 7 first-round win against the Detroit Red Wings.

That was a roller-coaster series. Neither team won back-to-back games until the Lightning, in another example of learning of how to win at this time of year, took Game 6 at Detroit and Game 7 at home.

Now they're drawing on that experience to try to win the first two games and take command against the Canadiens with a Game 2 win here Sunday (6 p.m. ET; CBC, TVA Sports, NBCSN).

"I think we learned a lot from, not only this whole season, but certainly in that first playoff series," Tampa Bay defenseman Matthew Carle said Saturday. "There were a lot of ups and downs. No team really took control of the series. No team won back-to-back games. It's something we dealt with all year, being able to respond to adversity."

BROSSARD, Quebec -- When Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin held a press conference prior to the start of their Eastern Conference Second Round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning, he was asked about third-year forward Alex Galchenyuk.

Bergevin could have chosen many ways to respond, and he said Galchenyuk had reached a stage in his career, albeit at the age of 21, when he should be making more of an impact for the Canadiens.

"It's time," Bergevin conceded.

There would be no better time for Galchenyuk to break out than right now.

The Canadiens have scored four non-empty net goals in their past four games, including one in a 2-1 double-overtime loss to the Lightning in Game 1 on Friday, and that will need to change starting in Game 2 on Sunday at Bell Centre (6 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports).

BROSSARD, Quebec -- Montreal Canadiens forward Devante Smith-Pelly immediately wanted to change the subject.

Coming off a 2-1 double-overtime loss in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Second Round against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Smith-Pelly was asked Saturday what the Canadiens did to limit the effectiveness of Lightning captain Steven Stamkos.

"I don't really want to talk about it," Smith-Pelly said with a smile. "Maybe jinx it."

Stamkos was not much of a factor offensively in Game 1 and will hope to snap out of what has become one of the worst scoring slumps of his NHL career in Game 2 at Bell Centre on Sunday (6 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports).

MONTREAL -- When Nikita Kucherov had an apparent goal waved off during the first overtime of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Second Round against the Montreal Canadiens on Friday, Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper was understandably upset.

Luckily for him, the Lightning recovered much quicker than they did a year ago.

"We didn't care. Honestly," Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman said. "The next shift we just went about our business, played as we should. It didn't affect us in a negative way, which is good."

Kucherov scored the winning goal at 2:06 of the second overtime, giving the Lightning a 2-1 victory and a 1-0 lead in this year's best-of-7 series.