There are no friendships within the Atlantic Division.
That lack of kinship was visible in the latest divisional bout for the Tampa Bay Lightning, this one a 2-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night at the Bell Centre.
The Lightning and Canadiens combined for 126 penalty minutes and numerous fights in a possible playoff primer for both sides, one that finished as a 2-1 win for the Canadiens despite a third period rally by Tampa Bay.
Defenseman Darren Raddysh scored his 22nd goal of the season for the tying goal with less than two minutes to play, but the Canadiens snuck out the win by scoring with just over a minute left in regulation.
The Lightning are now 48-25-6.
“That’s a playoff-type game,” forward Corey Perry said. “You never know, we might meet these guys in a couple weeks here. We did some good things, and we battled.”
Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy helped his team stay even through the opening period, making numerous stops in tight as Tampa Bay erased a four-minute penalty.
Despite Tampa Bay being outshot eight to three and out-attempted 27 to seven in the first period, neither side found the back of the net.
Montreal changed that 6 minutes, 30 seconds into the second period, this one a milestone goal for Canadiens forward Cole Caufield. Caufield finished a look off the rush when his shot in the right faceoff circle found the left half of the net for a 1-0 lead and his 50th goal of the season.
The second period was a lengthy one, with the teams combining for 110 penalty minutes behind numerous fights, post-whistle scrums and an increase in physicality.
“I’ve been a part of so many of those this year, so it’s nothing new to us,” Bolts coach Jon Cooper said of an emotional second period. “I was a little surprised it happened, though. I was probably even more surprised how they got put on the power play six times in a row. We must have been, I guess, the aggressors, apparently.”
Tampa Bay answered on the scoresheet, too, with the Raddysh goal—the defenseman wound up a one-timer atop the right circle at 6-on-5, a shot which blistered past Montreal goalie Jakub Dobes with just 1:56 remaining in regulation.
The goal was Raddysh’s 70th point this season, making him just the second defenseman in franchise history to post a season of 70-plus points (Victor Hedman, three times).
Montreal ended the game in regulation following a turnover in the defensive end. Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki tapped a pass to Juraj Slafkovsky in the slot for a quick shot and a 2-1 lead with 1:04 left to play.
“The disappointing thing is to give it up the way we gave it up. That’s a play we make 1,000 times,” Cooper said of the ending. “That’s really disappointing, but yeah, pat the guys on the back for making it a tie game for 59 minutes. We just didn’t get it done. And it was tiring for some of the guys. I think we killed 13 minutes in penalties, and that’s a fair amount of the game.
“But listen, we’ve got more wins than losses this year and we’re still in a playoff spot. We’re probably just not playing like a playoff team right now. But we’ll turn the page and move on.”
Bolts defenseman Ryan McDonagh said Thursday’s game wasn’t a big step back despite the final result.
“There’s no quit,” McDonagh said of the Lightning. “We believe we’ve got a chance to win regardless of the situation. It’s an unfortunate ending but a good game for us to experience (with) the intensity, the atmosphere is unbelievable. It’s going to be loud like that regardless of where you play on the road and for sure for our fans at home. We just need to keep our composure a little bit here and learn to execute, finish the job.”
Slafkovsky led the Canadiens on offense with a goal and an assist, and Dobes finished with 17 saves. Vasilevskiy made 19 for the Lightning, including seven on the power lay and numerous of the Grade A quality to start the third period.
The Lightning penalty kill was busy in the whistle fest but finished a perfect 7-for-7 on a night Tampa Bay amassed 17 infractions and 71 penalty minutes.
With only three games left in the regular season, the Lightning are taking note of every moment—good and bad—that’s left in the 2025-26 regular season.
“We’ve got to find a way to dial in our starts a little bit more, but we definitely know how to find our intensity and pushback and sticking up for one another. We’ve proven that time and time again,” McDonagh said. “That doesn’t need to be proven anymore to anyone in this room. It’s a shame somebody has to lose that game because it was neck-and-neck, at least for the last 40 minutes. That was a good game for us to experience, pretty close to what playoff hockey is—the intensity, the small plays, the importance of every puck on your stick and how close it can be.”
Tampa Bay continues its Atlantic Division road trip with a visit to play the Boston Bruins on Saturday, the final road game of the 2025-26 regular season.
Benjamin’s Three Stars:
- Juraj Slafkovsky, MTL (Goal, assist)
- Nick Suzuki, MTL (2 assists)
- Andrei Vasilevskiy, TBL (19 SVs)
