Lightning shut out by Canadiens, fall from first

TAMPA-- Mike Condon made 26 saves for his first NHL shutout, giving the Montreal Canadiens a 3-0 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Thursday.
Tampa Bay (44-28-5) fell to second place in the Atlantic Division, two points behind the Florida Panthers, who defeated the New Jersey Devils 3-1 on Thursday.

"The guys are going to have to be held accountable a little bit here," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "We couldn't score goals. We had three shots in the third period and that just can't happen for a team that's making to push to get into the [Stanley Cup Playoffs]."
David Desharnais, Torrey Mitchell and Phillip Danault scored for the Canadiens (36-36-6), who are 3-0-0 against the Lightning this season. The teams play in their regular-season finale April 9.

"I thought we played the right way and with the right compete level," Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said. "We made the right decisions with the puck and had a good checking game. I'm happy for Condon to [get] his first shutout."
Lightning goalie Ben Bishop made 21 saves but lost for the 12th time when giving up two goals or fewer.
"It's not good enough; we were hoping to take a step forward after the Toronto game (a 3-0 win Monday) and it's just parallel," Bishop said. "It's a lot of people talking the talk and not many guys walking the [walk]. We've got five games left. We'll figure it out."

Desharnais made it 1-0 at 9:11 of the first period after he scored on a rebound of a shot by Sven Andrighetto. Alexei Emelin started the play with a shot from the point that Bishop saved but couldn't control.
"I was able to get in front of the net; I'm not going to score from the blue line obviously," Desharnais said. "Just getting into the right place to make a play."
Montreal led 2-0 52 seconds into the second period when Mitchell skated around the defense of Andrej Sustr and pushed a shot past Bishop. It was Mitchell's 10th goal.
The Lightning began to push back in the second period. Ondrej Palat had a penalty shot at 8:52 of the second period when Joel Hanley was called for hooking, but Condon made a pad save on the forehand attempt.

"He is a lefty if I remember correctly, so I wanted to stay patient and wait for him to make the first move," Condon said. "Fortunately I was able to get a pad on it."
With the Lightning on a power play later in the second period, Bishop sent an outlet pass to Steven Stamkos, who flipped the puck to Nikita Kucherov for a breakaway, but Condon made another pad save.
"It was a really fun game, I thought the guys played a great defensive effort," Condon said. "Things like Joel Hanley blocking a shot in the third period with his bare hand."
Danault scored his fourth goal of the season into an empty net with 2:28 remaining in the third period.
"Can't keep making excuses," Stamkos said. "Guys have to hold each other accountable and come to the rink and starting putting in the work. We can't keep having these sort of efforts this time of the year."