The Tampa Bay Lightning extended their winning streak to four games with a 5-4 shootout victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday at Benchmark International Arena.
Tampa Bay took a 3-0 lead in the second period before Montreal got a goal early in the third period, but Pontus Holmberg’s third goal in as many games restored the three-goal lead 34 seconds later.
Montreal then scored three goals in the third period to tie the game, but Gage Goncalves and Brayden Point were the lone scorers in the shootout to win the game.
Kucherov scored two goals to co-lead the Lightning on offense alongside Oliver Bjorkstrand and Goncalves, each with two assists.
Goalie Jonas Johansson made 32 saves for his eighth win of the season.
Tampa Bay is now 22-13-3 this season and visits the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday.
Scoring summary
First period
None.
Shots on goal: MTL 9, TBL 3
Second period
TBL 1, MTL 0
2:28 Nikita Kucherov (16) - Gage Goncalves
A broken stick in the Lightning defensive zone led to a breakaway for Nikita Kucherov, which he ended with a snap shot into the bottom left corner of the net for 1-0 lead.
TBL 2, MTL 0
12:11 Kucherov (17) - Brayden Point, Goncalves
A Lightning 2-on-1 rush chance missed the net, but Kucherov’s second goal of the period followed up the rush and buried the second chance in front of the net to double Tampa Bay’s lead.
TBL 3, MTL 0
14:49 Nick Paul (4) - Oliver Bjorkstrand, Maxim Groshev
A rebound goal for Nick Paul extended the Lightning lead with the help of defenseman Maxim Groshev’s first NHL point.
Shots on goal: TBL 13, MTL 7
Third period
TBL 3, MTL 1
1:04 Ivan Demidov (10) - Juraj Slafkovsky, Noah Dobson
A chance at the left post snuck into the bottom right corner for Montreal in the opening minutes of the third period to get the visitors on the scoreboard.
TBL 4, MTL 1
1:40 Pontus Holmberg (6) - Bjorkstrand, Charle-Edouard D’Astous
Pontus Holmberg restored the three-goal lead only 34 seconds after Montreal got on the board by deflecting an Oliver Bjorkstrand shot.
TBL 4, MTL 2
9:16 Juraj Slafkovsky (12) - Oliver Kapanen
The Canadiens scored their second goal of the period after a Lightning turnover burying a shot from the top of the circles.
TBL 4, MTL 3
12:17 Noah Dobson (7) - Cole Caufield, Mike Matheson
A point shot for Noah Dobson made it a one-goal game.
TBL 4, MTL 4
19:56 Slafkovsky (13) - Demidov, Lane Hutson
The Canadiens tied the game with 3.8 seconds remaining at 6-on-5.
Overtime
None.
Total shots: MTL 36, TBL 22
Shootout
Goncalves
Point
