MTL@TBL: Game recap

TAMPA - The Canadiens enter the New Year with a 4-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Sunday. 

It comes as no surprise that the building was chalk full of Habs fans.

Cole Caufield notched his second tally in as many games, bringing his total to 10 goals and 26 points so far this season.

Johnathan Kovacevic also found the back of the net on a bizarre play that ultimately resulted in a Habs goal.

The Lightning thought the referees had blown the whistle when Samuel Montembeault briefly isolated the puck under his glove, but the play was still alive. So, the netminder passed the biscuit to Kovacevic who shot it into a vacant net from his own end.

The blue-liner, who had been a healthy scratch since Dec. 22, returned to the lineup after the Club announced that forward Christian Dvorak is out with an upper-body injury. He will undergo further tests.

As a result, the Canadiens played with seven defensemen.

Nick Suzuki earned a 10th point in his last eight outings after beating Jonas Johansson near the very end of the game. 

Montembeault, who earned an assist on Kovacevic’s fifth goal of the season, made 16 saves. For more stats, check out the NHL Gamecenter summary here. 

Montreal goals

P2 03:58 [1]-0 Caufield (Unassisted)

P2 11:59 [2]-0 Kovacevic (Montembeault)

P3 17:55 [3]-4 Suzuki (Slafkovsky, Matheson)

Tampa Bay goals

P2 14:01 2-[1] Point (Paul, Hagel)

P2 17:36 2-[2] Watson (Hedman, Perbix)

P3 07:49 2-[3] de Haan (Kucherov, Stamkos)

P3 14:54 2-[4] Kucherov (Hedman, Cirelli)

What’s next

The team will ring in the New Year in the air as they fly over to Dallas to wrap up their seven-game road trip. The Canadiens will face the Stars on Jan. 2 at 8:00 p.m. ET.