Hedman has four assists for Lightning in win against Canadiens

TAMPA -- Steven Stamkos got his 800th NHL point, and Victor Hedman had four assists for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 5-4 win against the Montreal Canadiens at Amalie Arena on Saturday.

Alex Killorn had two goals and an assist for the Lightning (19-13-4), who got their second straight victory and third in five games despite allowing the first 17 shots on goal in the game and falling behind 2-0. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 39 saves.
"We dipped our toes into this game, and Montreal dove in head first," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "So good on them, but good on our guys to regroup after the break. Killorn's first] goal was the big swing and then ..."
***[WATCH: [All Canadiens vs. Lightning highlights]*
The line of Killorn, Anthony Cirelli and Stamkos combined for four goals and three assists.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored in his first game since Dec. 5 for the Canadiens (18-14-6), who lost for the second time in five games. Carey Price made 25 saves.
"The first period, we played the exact game we wanted to," Montreal defenseman Jeff Petry said. "We were skating, moving the puck, playing good defensively. They got better in the second, but I think we got away from what was working for us in the first."

Kotkaniemi, who missed the past eight games with a concussion, scored at 2:08 of the first period to give the Canadiens a 1-0 lead.
Max Domi scored at 10:00 to make it 2-0 and extend his goal streak to four games. Play continued for 1:02 before the Situation Room contacted the off-ice officials to inform them Domi's shot crossed the goal line and have them sound the in-arena horn.
"I thought we had a good start, [17-0] on shots, we had a 2-0 lead," Canadiens forward Phillip Danault said. "We should've played better defensively. We didn't play like we've played the last couple of games."
Killorn made it 2-1 when he scored with 59 seconds left in the first. Stamkos had an assist for his 799th point.
Stamkos reached the milestone when he scored to tie the game 2-2 at 1:34 of the second.
"Another one of those things you are just fortunate enough to be in the League as long as I have, played with some great players," said Stamkos, who has 407 goals and 393 assists in 779 NHL games. "Hopefully a lot more to come, but it's again something to probably look back on when you are done, but nice to get it in a win tonight."
Mitchell Stephens scored his first NHL goal at 4:56 to give the Lightning a 3-2 lead.
"A pretty cool feeling just to get my first, and it's a big win for our team too," Stephens said. "That's two really big points for us."

Killorn scored his second of the night to make it 4-2 at 12:00.
"There haven't been many games that we've done that this year, coming back from a two-goal [deficit], especially that early in the game," Killorn said. "I looked up and it was [17] shots to zero. It's a little embarrassing, and the crowd gets on you. But after that, I thought we played really well."
Ben Chiarot scored on the rebound of a Brendan Gallagher shot to get Montreal within 4-3 at 12:13.
Cirelli gave Tampa Bay a 5-3 lead 55 seconds into the third when he backhanded the rebound of a Hedman shot.
Jordan Weal made it 5-4 with a power-play goal with 1:28 remaining.
"I really liked our [first] period, it got sloppy in the last minutes of the first, and they came out with the momentum," Canadiens coach Claude Julien said. "The second period really hurt us with the amount of goals we gave and there's different people on all of them. We tried to make a game of it, but the damage was done in the second."

They said it

"Bounce back, that's all we can do. Bounce back, and you've got to get on your horse tomorrow (at the Florida Panthers) and understand that the game tomorrow is just as important as this one was tonight." -- Canadiens coach Claude Julien
"[Bad starts] are going to happen. It's how you respond as a group." -- Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman

Need to know

Canadiens rookie forward Nick Suzuki had an assist on Domi's goal and has one goal and four assists during a four-game point streak. ... Defenseman Shea Weber played his 200th game with Montreal. ... Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov had his point streak end at six games (three goals, six assists). He had one shot on goal and a minus-2 rating in 17:37. ... Hedman has 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in 12 games in December. ... Tyler Johnson scored for Tampa Bay at 8:58 of the third, but the call on the ice that he played the puck with a high stick was upheld by video review.

What's next

Canadiens: At the Florida Panthers on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; SN, FS-F, RDS, NHL.TV)
Lightning: Host the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; SUN, FS-D, NHL.TV)