The Backcheck: Winning streak extended in Montreal

Make it five in a row.
The Tampa Bay Lightning collected a season-long, fifth-straight victory Saturday night with a 5-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens in the first game of a four-game road trip. Leading the way for the Bolts was Brandon Hagel, who recorded a three-point night with two goals and one assist for the second-straight game while extending his point streak to five games, tied for the longest of his career.

"That's what he's done for us," said Lightning head coach Jon Cooper. "His engine's always going, and he never gives up on pucks. He's always around the net, just as both those goals he scored.
"That was kind of Palat's spot for a lot of years and Hagel's fit seamlessly in there. He's been really good for us."
Hagel got Tampa Bay on the board early when he took a nice stretch pass from Ian Cole and sped into the Montreal zone before beating Jake Allen under the pad just 2:57 into the contest. It marked the fourth time during this five-game win streak that the Lightning have scored in the first four minutes of the contest.

The Bolts kept their foot on the gas and grabbed the 2-0 lead with 8:21 left in the first when Nick Paul jumped on a rebound in front off a shot from Nick Perbix and swept the puck past Allen for his 13th goal of the season.
Entering the second period with a 2-0 lead, the Lightning took advantage of multiple penalties taken by the Canadiens and scored two power-play goals to double the lead to 4-0 heading into the third.
Anthony Cirelli got his first goal of the season on a rebound in front of the net at the 9:26 mark before Hagel scored his second of the night 8:21 later when he redirected a shot from the point off the stick of Victor Hedman.
Nick Suzuki broke the shutout for Andrei Vasilevskiy 16 seconds into the third period, but that would be the only shot that got past Vasilevskiy on Saturday night. While the Bolts did a good job keeping Montreal out of high-danger scoring areas for the most part, the Canadiens did earn some big changes, and Vasilevskiy was there to slam the door shut with a big save on multiple occasions throughout the night.
As Lightning fans have grown accustomed to seeing over the past several years, Tampa Bay played an air-tight, shutdown third period that ended with just five shots on goal for Montreal. The Canadiens mustered nine shots on goal over the final two periods combined.
"We're playing well in the right areas of the ice," said Cooper. "There's no question. We've improved in that area and wins have followed.
"It was pretty consistent. We were giving up three or more goals a game and having to score our way to wins. Now, we're kind of defending our way to wins. Now, it's two or less we're giving up.
"When you do that, you've got a much better chance of winning games, so wins are following us because of that."
Nikita Kucherov put a bow on the win with 1:59 left in the third when he completed a smooth give-and-go with Hagel at the Canadiens blue line before going top shelf on Allen in another highlight-reel goal for number 86.
After assisting on the Cirelli goal in the second period as well, Kucherov finished the night with two points for his third straight multi-point game and extended his point streak to seven games with two goals and 10 assists for 12 points during that span.
Kucherov leads the NHL with 35 assists this season and his 47 points are the third-most in the league. He's on pace to record 128 points by the end of the regular season.
Then there's the two trade deadline acquisitions from last year in Hagel and Paul. Hagel has now scored 12 goals and added 14 assists for 26 points, while Paul has recorded 21 points with 13 goals and eight helpers.

Paul ranks third on the team in goals and Hagel is tied for fourth, while Hagel has the fifth-most points on the Bolts and Paul has the seventh-most. The two have provided consistent offense throughout the season for Tampa Bay, while combing for just $4.65M against the team's salary cap.
After his 14-game point streak came to an end against Columbus on Thursday, Steven Stamkos continued to truck along on Saturday with another two assists for his 12th multi-point game of the season. He's now pointed in nine straight games against Montreal with 13 points (5G, 8A) during that span.
The captain is up to 36 points on the year with 16 goals and 20 assists, putting him on pace for a 98-point season, which would tie the second-most he's recorded in a single season after posting 106 points last year.
Between the pipes, Vasilevskiy was excellent once again, stopping 22 of 23 shots and making some clutch saves along the way. Vasilevskiy has been outstanding against the Canadiens throughout his career. On Saturday night, he became the third goaltender in NHL history, and the first since 1941, to record a win streak of 10 consecutive regular-season games against Montreal and he improved to 7-1-1 in nine career starts at Bell Centre with his third-straight win of the season.
Despite being shorthanded three times, the Lightning killed off every penalty and improved to 14-for-14 on the penalty kill over the past six games. Things are really clicking for Tampa Bay, who has now scored four or more goals in five straight games and seven of the last eight.
The next big test comes on Tuesday night with another Atlantic Division matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. ET.