Price, Canadiens defeat Lightning in shootout

MONTREAL -- Carey Price made 44 saves, including a spectacular one in overtime, and did not allow a goal facing three shootout attempts to help the Montreal Canadiens defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 at Bell Centre on Thursday.

Paul Byron scored the only shootout goal, and the Canadiens (17-20-4) ended a five-game losing streak.
\[WATCH: All Lightning vs. Canadiens highlights\]
Price, who faced Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos in the shootout, made a save on Kucherov's backhand shot on a breakaway in the third period, before making two saves in quick succession early in overtime. He made a glove save on Tyler Johnson at 1:00, then rolled over on his back to kick out his right pad and make an incredible toe save on Ondrej Palat's shot on the rebound at 1:03.
"I lost it for a second," Price said, "but when I rolled over I regained sight of it."
Byron said, "We all saw it from the bench. The first save, it was incredible. And then the barrel-roll save, I don't really know what to say. Speechless, incredible by him. Every time you think you've seen it all from him he goes and does something even better."

Andrei Vasilevskiy, who had shutouts in consecutive wins for Tampa Bay (29-8-3) the past two games, made 37 saves. He has saved 87 of 88 shots in three consecutive starts.
"Well he for sure got us the point," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said.
Max Pacioretty gave Montreal a 1-0 lead 20 seconds into the second period with his first goal since Nov. 30, a span of 14 games. He scored unassisted with a shot past Vasilevskiy from the inside edge of the right face-off circle for his ninth of the season.

The goal ended the longest shutout streak of Vasilevskiy's NHL career at 184:49. His longest had been 178:02 from Nov. 10-23, 2016.
"[Vasilievskiy] played an amazing game," Price said. "He definitely tested our guys' confidence again tonight, but we stuck with it and it was nice to see [Pacioretty] put one past him."
Kucherov tied it 1-1 at 1:04 with his 26th goal, which tied Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin for the NHL lead. Kucherov leads the League with 57 points.

"We didn't start the game on time but I think as the game went on we got better and we deserved that point," Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman said. "I think we battled hard and two great goaltenders [were] keeping it at 1-1, and we had some opportunities to score there, and in overtime as well."

Goal of the game

Byron's goal in the shootout.

Save of the game

Price's save on Palat at 1:03 of overtime.

Highlight of the game

Vasilevskiy's save on Phillip Danault at 12:17 of the second period.

They said it

"I didn't know who stopped it. I was about to walk off the bench, I thought it was in the net, and I saw the replay. Price got his pad on it, and he's been doing it for years. And I feel like we've had a really close look at it for playoff series and all the times we get to play them. But he's a special talent back there and anytime you play Montreal they have a chance to win the game, no matter what, because he's in net. And he made a big save at a big time, and that was it." -- Lightning coach Jon Cooper about Canadiens goalie Carey Price's save on Ondrej Palat in overtime
"It's definitely fun to be a part of, and you want to do your part." -- Canadiens goalie Carey Price about playing in a tight game against Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy

Need to know

Lightning forward Ryan Callahan returned after missing eight games because of an upper-body injury. … Canadiens center Jonathan Drouin played his 200th NHL game. … Montreal traded goalie Al Montoya to the Edmonton Oilers after the game for a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2018 NHL Draft.

What's next

Lightning: At the Ottawa Senators on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; SN1, CITY, TVA Sports, SUN, NHL.TV)
Canadiens: Host the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; SN, RDS, NHL.TV)