Lightning defeat Canadiens in shootout

MONTREAL -- Nikita Kucherov had a goal and an assist, and the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 in a shootout at Bell Centre on Saturday.
Brayden Point scored the deciding goal, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 29 saves for the Lightning (42-17-3), who won their third straight and have the best record in the NHL, one point ahead of the Vegas Golden Knights. Tampa Bay leads the Toronto Maple Leafs by four points for first place in the Atlantic Division.

"It was an exciting game, you know, good chances both ways," Point said. "Vasilevskiy*
Max Pacioretty had a goal and an assist, and Antti Niemi made 36 saves for the Canadiens (23-29-9), who have lost seven of eight (1-4-3). Montreal is 12 points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
"We had opportunities to score, and so did they," Pacioretty said. "[Niemi] played great and gave us an opportunity in the shootout."

Pacioretty had two breakaways when he failed to get a shot on goal, including one in overtime.
"[Vasilevskiy] comes out so far, so you think the shot's not there, and then you go very deep and he recovers so well," Pacioretty said. "You don't see that really with any goalie. I mean, his push is top notch. Maybe I should have looked at stuff like that before the game."
Kucherov scored on a power play at 7:32 of the second period to give Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead. He shot a one-timer past Niemi from the right face-off circle on a pass from Victor Hedman to extend his point streak to nine games.

Kucherov, who leads the NHL with 82 points, has 16 points (six goals, 10 assists) during his streak.
Joe Morrow scored at 8:50 to tie it at 2-2 with a wrist shot from the left circle. Pacioretty gave Montreal a 3-2 lead with a power-play goal at 16:29.
Ryan Callahan scored a power-play goal at 2:11 of the third period to tie it at 3-3 after Kucherov's shot from the point deflected off him and beat a screened Niemi.

"I thought the best we played was after we scored," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "So, we scored two minutes in and there was a little bit of urgency in our game and our game was a lot more responsible in that last 18 minutes than it was in the first two periods. But it's a good sign with our team because they knew it. … It was just high-risk all over the place and they knew it, so that's what I like about the group. They handled it themselves and then came out and won a hockey game because of it."
Byron Froese made it 1-0 at 8:52 of the first period when Jordie Benn's slap shot from the right point deflected off him past Vasilevskiy. Point tied it 1-1 at 12:07 with a wrist shot from the right circle that beat Niemi's blocker.

Goal of the game

Point's goal in the shootout.

Save of the game

Vasilvevskiy's save on Charles Hudon in the shootout.

Highlight of the game

Point's goal at 12:07 of the first period.

They said it

"Brayden Point was outstanding tonight. He was one of the guys who was playing responsible tonight and I felt, for him, that's why I had to put him in the shootout. There were so many breakaways I figure one of them had to go in, so it was timely that that was the one that went in."-- Lightning coach Jon Cooper
"Probably what you saw tonight is what you see every day in practice. How he battles and how he competes, he does that every day. So, tonight wasn't something that wasn't natural for him. It's just what he does." -- Canadiens coach Claude Julien about goalie Antti Niemi

Need to know

Kucherov leads the NHL with 27 multipoint games. … Canadiens forward Tomas Plekanec did not play for precautionary reasons ahead of the NHL Trade Deadline (Monday, 3 p.m. ET).

What's next

Lightning: Host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday (7:30 p.m. ET; TVAS, SUN, SNO, NHL.TV)
Canadiens:Host the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TSN2, RDS, NBCSP, NHL.TV)