Vasilevskiy made an acrobatic first period save on a Montreal wraparound attempt, but that was his toughest save in the frame. Instead, most of the activity in the first period occurred in the Montreal zone. The Lightning repeatedly attacked the Montreal end with speed and forced Carey Price to make a handful of tough saves. In particular, Nikita Kucherov was especially dangerous in the first period. He had six shot attempts, including an early point blank chance from the slot that Price stopped. But just past the halfway point of the period, Kucherov zipped a shot from the slot that clanged off the crossbar. Price was out of position on the rebound, which came directly to Yanni Gourde at the right circle. Gourde put it in the net for a 1-0 Lightning lead.
Kucherov would add to the advantage in the closing seconds of the first. After the Lightning forced a turnover in their own end, Ondrej Palat floated the puck down the ice. After it landed, Kucherov picked it up, swooped in on Price and whistled a shot from the left circle over Price's stick. The goal came with just under 10 seconds left in the period. It was Kucherov's 40th goal of the season.
Over the final 40 minutes, the Lightning weren't able to maintain the same level of puck possession. But they weren't passive. The Habs did got a goal back midway through the second when the Lightning lost track of Dwight King coming off the Montreal bench. He took a long outlet and scored on a breakaway. But Alex Killorn answered that goal at 14:19 with a great individual effort. Cory Conacher cleared a puck to center ice, where Killorn touched it past Brandon Davidson towards the Montreal end. Killorn outraced Davidson to the puck and chipped it past Price's glove. That gave the Bolts their two-goal lead back.
The third period was a grind for the Lightning. Much of it was spent in the Tampa Bay zone. After recording just 15 shots in the first two periods, the Habs had 14 more in the third period alone. They cut the Lightning lead to 3-2 when Artturi Lehkonen's shorthanded backhand shot deflected off Victor Hedman past Vasilevskiy. But just 21 seconds later, moments after the Lightning power play expired, Conacher wired a backdoor feed to Gourde, who put it into the top of the net.
