Stamkos TBL-MTL

TAMPA-- Steven Stamkos scored two goals for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 3-1 win against the Montreal Canadiens at Amalie Arena on Thursday.

Brayden Point scored for the Lightning (27-7-2), who have won eight in a row at home and 10 of their past 11 games overall. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 31 saves to win his 24th game, an NHL career high which leads the League.
Brendan Gallagher scored for the Canadiens (16-18-4), who are 3-6-1 in their past 10 games. Carey Price made 31 saves playing his second of back-to-back games.
WATCH: [All Canadiens vs. Lightning highlights\]
Canadiens forward Jonathan Drouin was minus-1 with three shots on goal in his first game at Tampa Bay since being traded to Montreal for defenseman Mikhail Sergachev on June 15.
Sergachev, who played four games with the Canadiens last season, was plus-1 with two shots on goal.

"It's frustrating," Drouin said. "The offensive players are supposed to produce a number to help the team win and we haven't done that in a while. We're obviously not getting as many chances. It's not like we're missing chances, we just aren't [generating] many chances and that's frustrating."
Stamkos tied it 1-1 with 12 seconds left in the second period with a one-timer off a feed from Nikita Kucherov, who took a puck off the boards and passed to the trailing Stamkos between the hash marks.
"We knew we were going to get back on with about 20 seconds left and we were fresh," Stamkos said. "Kucherov beat the guy down the ice to beat the icing, and I knew he saw me, so I just tried to get the puck off quick. Price was really seeing the puck well, so I just tried to beat him with a quick shot."
Point gave the Lightning a 2-1 lead 30 seconds into the third period with his 15th goal of the season when he emerged with the puck out of a scrum in front of the net and scored over Price.
Stamkos made it 3-1 at 4:45 with his 15th during a 5-on-3 advantage. Vladislav Namestnikov set him up for a shot inside the left circle.
"I was a little worried because [Price] kind of had that look in his eye in the first period," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "But the game changes in 41 seconds; we get the break on [Kucherov] beating the icing out and [Stamkos] does what he does.

"Then to get that second one right away in the period when it started, it probably deflated them a little bit, and we kind of went off from there."
Gallagher gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 3:40 of the second period. Charles Hudon's slap shot from the point deflected off Gallagher's glove.
"I thought we've played well, and obviously we're very disappointed with the result," Price said. "You always want to come up with that save that's the game-changer. It would have been nice to stop that one late in the second, but that's the way it goes, I guess."

Goal of the game

Stamkos' goal at 19:48 of the second period.

Save of the game

Vasilevskiy's save on Daniel Carr at 14:02 of the first period.

Highlight of the game

Stamkos' goal at 4:45 of the third period.

They said it

"Just warmups emotions. As the game went on, you put those emotions aside and just play hockey. It was the same thing for the other side. We didn't joke around, we didn't laugh around, we played hockey." -- Canadiens forward Jonathan Drouin
"I've played against so many ex-teammates in the past, it's no longer a big deal." -- Lightning captain Steven Stamkos

Need to know

Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman (lower body) was a late scratch and is day to day. ... Canadiens forward Max Pacioretty played his 600th NHL game. ... The Lightning had failed on 15 power-play opportunities before Stamkos' goal. ... Lightning forward Tyler Johnson had an assist and has 15 points (five goals, 10 assists) in his 10-game point streak. ... Vasilevskiy, 24-5-1 this season, was 23-17-7 last season. … Montreal lost 3-1 to the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday. .. Drouin played 164 games for Tampa Bay, who selected him with the No. 3 pick in the 2013 NHL Draft.

What's next

Canadiens: At the Florida Panthers on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; CBC, CITY, TVA Sports, FS-F, NHL.TV)
Lightning: Host the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET; TVA Sports, SUN, NBCSP, NHL.TV)