Jakub Dobes made 32 saves for the Canadiens, the No. 3 seed in the Atlantic.
“We have to pick ourselves up and do that again,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. “We played an excellent game. We were good. There’s no panic; we just had everyone going tonight. It’s unfortunate you don’t get the result, but what a hockey game.”
The tightly contested series has had four games go to overtime, including each of the first three. All six games have been decided by one goal.
“We were the better team for pretty much most of that game, we just didn’t score,” Canadiens forward Nick Suzuki said. “I thought Vasilevskiy kind of won them that game. I thought everyone played a great game, we just didn’t get the result, and we’re ready to go down to Tampa and win Game 7.”
Ivan Demidov’s penalty for goalie interference with 3:18 remaining in the third period nearly proved costly for Montreal, but Dobes made a right pad save on Brayden Point’s one-timer from the slot on the ensuing power play.
“Obviously the goalies were perfect and near perfect,” Canadiens forward Jake Evans said. “Tampa’s playing for their lives, we’re playing to get to the next round, so everyone’s getting in shot lanes, everyone’s making it hard and not giving up those second chances or those tips. We’ve just got to find a way to put a couple more in.”
Guentzel drove a shot off the left post on Tampa Bay’s third power play of the game at 6:22 of the third, moments after Kucherov hit the left post.
Dobes gave the Lightning an early scoring opportunity when he mishandled the puck behind the net. Yanni Gourde stripped the puck but fell as he came out front and his backhand completely missed a wide-open net at 2:25 of the first period.
Tampa Bay came close to scoring at 5:40 of the second when the puck slid between Dobes’ pads and was heading into the net before Phillip Danault cleared it off the goal line.
Vasilevskiy made a pair of saves on Demidov on a Montreal power play at 18:35 of the second period.
“He’s the best goaltender in the world for a reason,” Guentzel said. “He gives us a chance every night and some of the saves he made were just incredible and obviously that was a big-time performance by him.”
The Vezina Trophy finalist stuck out his left pad to deny the Canadiens forward’s one-timer before making a glove save on Demidov’s backhand off the rebound.
“For the fans it was probably a roller-coaster, but for me, it was pretty even,” Vasilevskiy said. “I’m pretty experienced, so I don’t want to show my emotions.”
Cole Caufield hit the post in the first and the second, and Alexandre Texier put a shot off the left post at 2:58 of the third for the Canadiens.
“The goal posts were great,” Evans said. “Hopefully we can control our own destiny but sometimes when it comes to Game 7, it could come down to a bounce, so hopefully the posts are nice to us.”
NOTES: Vasilevskiy became the first active goaltender to record two career shutouts when facing elimination (also Game 7 of 2021 SCSF). The last goaltender with more shutouts in that scenario was Henrik Lundqvist (Game 7 of 2013 CQF, Game 6 of 2013 CQF & Game 4 of 2008 CSF). … Lightning defenseman Charle-Edouard D'Astous had four shots on goal in 18:29 of ice time after missing the previous four games with an undisclosed injury sustained on a hit by Montreal forward Josh Anderson in Game 1. … Tampa Bay forward Nick Paul had four hits in 12:25 after missing a 3-2 loss in Game 5 on Wednesday. … Hagel had the secondary assist on Goncalves’ goal for his eighth point (six goals, two assists) of the series.
