MTL@TBL: Habs zapped by Bolts

TAMPA - Taking a lead into the second period against the League's best team may have seemed promising to the Canadiens, but two quick goals and a fair bit of penalty trouble sealed their fate and they fell 3-1 to the Lightning on Thursday night in Tampa Bay.

Although they put up a good fight against a red-hot Tampa Bay team - who have dropped only a single game in December - things weren't so rosy from the get-go. The Lightning had registered their 11th shot on net to the Habs' one shortly after the game reached the seven-minute mark and, if not for a superb effort by Carey Price, they probably would have had a lead in the scoring department, too.
"Our goalie was extraordinary tonight," praised head coach Claude Julien of Price, who followed up a 33-save performance in Carolina the night before with 31 stops against the Lightning. "If we continue to have a goalie who keeps making saves like that tonight, he'll continue to give us a chance to win. It's on the defensemen and forwards to up their game and find a way to score goals."

With Price keeping his team in the hunt for two points in the standings, the Habs found their footing as the period went on and closed out the first trailing Tampa Bay by just one shot. So when the puck went in the Lightning net off Brendan Gallagher on the power play early in the second period, the Canadiens had a lead they could build on.
Unfortunately, some penalty trouble in the middle frame hurt their cause and was foreshadowing for what was to come in the third. So was Steven Stamkos' equalizer with under 12 seconds remaining in the second, which came right before Braydon Point put the Lightning ahead 2-1 just 30 seconds into the final third.
"We played a good game. That goal at the end of the [second] period, and all the power plays in the third, we gave them a lot of chances and it was tough to turn the tide for us," said Paul Byron, who saw a prime scoring opportunity off a deflection turned aside by the crossbar. "Everyone worked hard tonight."
Those power plays Byron was referring to included a five-on-three late in the third period which put the game out of reach after Stamkos capitalized for his second of the outing to pad the lead for the hosts. Still, everyone agreed that the Habs put in a good night's work, even if the end result didn't go their way.
"I thought we played pretty well. We're very disappointed with the result, but for the most part, I thought we played pretty well," affirmed Price. "It's not ever fun to lose, but we hung in there with one of the best teams in the League."
The game held special significance for at least two players on the visiting side. In addition to being Max Pacioretty's 600th career NHL game, the contest also marked the first time Jonathan Drouin had returned to Tampa Bay since being traded to Montreal in the summer. Drouin admitted he felt a bit of nostalgia early on, but was quickly able to focus on the task at hand.
"[There were] some emotions in warmups," admitted the 22-year-old, who saw 16:55 of ice time and registered three shots on net against his former team. "But as the game started and went on, you put that aside and just play hockey."