Two of the NHL’s most proficient scoring teams this season played to a different tune on Tuesday night.
The Tampa Bay Lightning and Montreal Canadiens traded their fair share of scoring chances, but 5-on-5 goals weren’t as easy to find in a 4-1 win for the visitors at Benchmark International Arena.
The Lightning are now 46-22-6 this season after the loss.
“We had 37 shots, we probably should have had 57,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said.
“I didn’t think we created enough. I think we gave them a lot of one-and-dones, we let the goalie see pretty much everything most of the night. So, that’s going to make it tough on you a bit. And when we did get a decent chance, the goalie made a save…We’ve pointed in seven straight (games) and pucks had been going in for us when we needed them to, and tonight they didn’t.”
The visiting Canadiens opened the scoring 12:25 into the game with a 5-on-3 power-play chance as forward Juraj Slafkovsky finished a one-timer in the right circle.
Lightning forward Jake Guentzel then extended his goal streak to five games on Tuesday, tying the game just over a minute after the opening goal.
Zemgus Girgensons’ shot went off the end boards, and Guentzel corralled the puck below the goal line, cutting back the other way before slipping the puck through goalie Jakub Dobes on the ice with 6:19 left.
“The start was better, for sure,” Brayden Point said of the effort. “Obviously give up the 5-on-3 goal, but Guentz makes a great play there to tie it up and we come out even after the first, which was a step in the right direction.”
The teams played back and forth hockey in the second period until the visitors restored their advantage with 7:11 left in the middle frame–Cole Caufield sent his 47th goal of the season into the Lightning net near the right post, finishing a rush chance after a pass from Slafkovsky.
Slafkovsky led all players with his two points.
Tampa Bay earned numerous scoring opportunities late on Tuesday, possessing the puck in the Canadiens end for much of the third period after ending the second period with a shorthanded Brandon Hagel rush shot that was stopped by Dobes.
More looks flowed for the home team in the third period as Tampa Bay outshot Montreal 29 to 14 over the final 40 minutes, but the tying goal did not as Dobes maintained the denials.
Montreal’s goaltender finished with 35 saves in a game that ended with a pair of empty-net scores for Canadiens defenseman Mike Matheson and captain Nick Suzuki.
Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy was also strong in the game, making a pair of sliding saves in the third period to keep the deficit at one before denying Caufield on a 1-on-1 chance with just over eight minutes left in the game.
Vasilevskiy finished with 19 saves and a .905 save percentage.
“They played well. We had some looks in the third, and I mean they did too,” Point said. “Vasy made some big saves to keep us in that game…We had some looks, just weren’t able to finish.”
The night ended with some animosity and post-whistle scrums as both teams continue their respective divisional pushes. Only eight games remain for Tampa Bay this regular season.
“We know where each other are at in the standings here, and it’s getting down to the wire,” McDonagh said. “Each team is trying to set the tone. I know we’ve got another one against them in a week here or two. You’re trying to get points and you’re trying to play up to the standard of your game. We knew it was going to be tight all over the ice.”
The Lightning will now focus on another team in playoff position in the Eastern Conference, as the Pittsburgh Penguins visit Benchmark International Arena for a 7 p.m. start on Tuesday.
Take notes of how to improve on Tuesday’s performance and move on.
“They obviously defended well and the goalie had some big stops for them, too,” McDonagh said. “We had a lot of shots there in the third, but it took us 40 minutes to really get some sustained offense and sustained O-zone time and really just shooting the puck, creating havoc off of that. We have a tendency to have games like that where we hang onto it and pass our way around the perimeter, but we can take a lesson today of shooting to create havoc and offense coming off that.”
Benjamin’s Three Stars:
- Jakub Dobes, MTL (35-save win)
- Andrei Vasilevskiy, TBL (19 saves)
- Juraj Slafkovsky, MTL (Goal, assist)
