Now, the Lightning find themselves just one point back of the Toronto Maple Leafs with one game left on their calendar. The Maple Leafs, however, still have two to go to officially punch their playoff ticket.
It certainly didn't help the Canadiens' cause to go down 2-0 through 20 minutes of play on goals by Tampa Bay's Yanni Gourde and Nikita Kucherov. That had them playing from behind early, which is never a recipe for success, especially against a club literally scratching and clawing to stave off elimination.
Dwight King's first tally in a Habs uniform at the 9:59 mark of the middle frame had them right back within striking distance, but Alex Killorn lit the lamp just 4:20 later to restore Tampa's two-goal advantage and put them in the driver's seat again.
The two teams traded goals 21 seconds apart in the third period with Artturi Lehkonen bringing the Canadiens back to within a goal at the 4:36 mark short-handed, before Gourde's second marker ultimately sealed the deal at 4:57.
"That was a desperate team we played. They came out firing and they obviously capitalized on some chances that we gave them," said Carey Price, who stopped 18 of 22 shots against in the 500th start of his NHL career. "We have to give that team credit. They played really well."