TBL@MTL: Game recap

MONTREAL – ‘Twas not a Super Sunday for the Canadiens—but not for lack of effort.

Montreal’s comeback bid fell short, dropping a 5-3 decision to the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Bell Centre in the hours leading up to Sunday’s Super Bowl.

Down 4-1 at the 6:43 mark of the second period, the Habs poured on the pressure, cutting the deficit to one but that’s as close as they would come.

Brendan Gallagher scored a pair of goals and Christian Dvorak added another for the home side in the loss.

The Canadiens outshot the Lightning 35-21 on Sunday.

For more stats, check out the NHL’s Gamecenter summary here.

Roster

Montreal goals

P1 18:53 2-[1] Gallagher (Newhook, Matheson) – PPG

P2 12:45 4-[2] Dvorak (Savard, Slafkovsky)

P3 09:19 4-[3] Gallagher (Unassisted)

Tampa Bay goals

P1 06:56 [1]-0 Paul (Hagel)

P1 10:28 [2]-0 Hedman (Goncalves, Cirelli)

P2 01:05 [3]-1 Point (Guentzel, Hedman) – PPG

P2 06:43 [4]-1 Girgensons (Atkinson, Eyssimont)

P3 19:44 [5]-3 Cirelli (Guentzel, Hagel)

What’s next

The 4-Nations Face-Off break. The Canadiens next play on February 22 in Ottawa.