Even though they had won the first two games of the road trip, the Lightning weren't happy with aspects of their defensive play. There's still work to be done. A d-zone turnover led to Byron Froese's opening goal. The Lightning allowed some dangerous chances off the rush and one of those resulted in Joe Morrow's second period goal. But at the other end of the ice, the Lightning did a pretty good job of pressing the attack. They finished with 39 shots on goal and 83 shot attempts.
There were a handful of pivotal moments in this game. One of the early ones came when Point scored at 12:07 of the first, answering the Froese goal. It was a perfect shot off the far post and in and helped the Lightning avoid having to spend a lot of time playing catch-up. Another occurred when Steven Stamkos challenged Karl Alzner after Alzner delivered a knee-on-knee hit to Nikita Kucherov. Stamkos stood up for his teammate but received an instigator penalty, so he missed the next 17 minutes of action.
During that time, the Lightning had to shuffle the forward line combinations and their power play units. So Tyler Johnson was on the ice with Victor Hedman and Kucherov during a second period power play. Johnson corralled a puck before it could leave the offensive zone and slid it to Hedman. Hedman eventually set up Kucherov for a one-timer goal, giving the Lightning a 2-1 lead.
Although the Canadiens tied the score just over a minute later, the Lightning enjoyed the run of play for most of the rest of the period. But Antti Niemi denied several good Lightning chances (and the Bolts put other excellent looks wide of the net). The Lightning's second period momentum was thwarted when the Habs received a late power play chance. Unfortunately, Anton Stralman broke his stick during the kill and Montreal took advantage - Max Pacioretty scored on a rebound, giving his team a 3-2 lead. Before the period ended, Vasilevskiy had to deal with breakaways from Pacioretty and Paul Byron. On the first one, Pacioretty tried to outwait Vasilevskiy and force the goalie to move first, but Vasy held his ground. Pacioretty never got a shot off.
The next key moment came early in the third. The Lightning received a long five-on-three power play. In two recent games, the Lightning hadn't converted on lengthy five-on-three chances and were guilty of not shooting the puck enough. That wasn't the case on this five-on-three. They brought a shooting mentality to the power play and narrowly missed on several chances. The Habs got through the two-man disadvantage and were seconds away from killing off both penalties. The crowd was ready to erupt. But Kucherov whistled a shot from the high slot that Ryan Callahan tipped past Niemi. Not only did the goal tie the game, it prevented the Canadiens from getting any momentum from the long kill.
The rest of the period was a frenetic, back-and-forth affair. Minutes after Callahan's goal, the Lightning successfully killed two penalties. They were helped with an amazing Vasilevskiy save on Pacioretty. Point also had a breakaway chance on each kill and Stamkos had an in-alone shorthanded chance as well.
The Lightning outshot the Canadiens, 6-1, in OT, but Vasilevskiy's one save came on a dangerous tip in front from Artturi Lehkonen. He also (again) outwaited Pacioretty on a breakaway, essentially forcing Pacioretty to carry the puck behind the net without attempting a shot. Niemi was also sharp, making four saves during a Lightning power play.
In the shootout, Point's goal in the second round was the only score and Vasilevskiy sealed the win when he spun around and blocked Hudon's attempt with his glove.
This long road stretch for the Lightning is finally over. In the past 25 games, they've played 18 on the road. Now, they get 10 of the next 11 at home, starting Monday against Toronto.
Lightning Radio Big Moment of the Game:
Callahan's tying goal in the third.
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game:
