Canadiens rally around Dach heading into Game 3 against Lightning

BROSSARD, Quebec -- The Montreal Canadiens demonstrated their pack mentality by standing together to defend Kirby Dach in the blame game.

The Canadiens center iced the puck in overtime and then lost coverage on J.J. Moser off the ensuing face-off before the Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman scored to give his team a 3-2 victory at Benchmark International Arena on Tuesday to even the best-of-7 Eastern Conference First Round series 1-1.

“Obviously stuff doesn’t go your way all the time,” Montreal defenseman Jayden Struble said after practice Thursday. “Everything’s just heightened in the playoffs, which doesn’t help. But we all love him and we all know he’s a great player. At a certain point you’ve just got to tune everything out. The only opinions that matter are the ones inside this room. We all have his back and we’re here for him, and just move on, things happen.”

Dach’s actions on both plays were scrutinized by local media in the wake of the defeat.

“Those situations are sad to see but it’s part of the business, even more here in Montreal,” Canadiens forward Zachary Bolduc said. “Sometimes they’re really high, sometimes they’re really low, and you’ve got to be able to handle all this. But I think Kirby’s a grown man.”

Montreal coach Martin St. Louis agreed.

“We need all hands on deck, fans included,” St. Louis said. “We’re not perfect. Guys are going to make a mistake but I can tell you we have good intentions out there.”

Game 1 was also decided in overtime, when forward Juraj Slafkovsky completed his first Stanley Cup Playoffs hat trick in overtime for a 4-3 Canadiens win in the series opener Sunday.

“I honestly thought we dominated that game,” Struble said of Game 2. “We had the lead most of the game. Obviously there were a couple of chances we didn’t convert on, maybe turnovers, this and that. I think we’re in a great spot, nothing really changes in terms of the series. They were able to get one in OT, we got one in OT, but I think our performance has been better these past two games.”

The hotly-contested physical series continues with Game 3 at Bell Centre on Friday (7 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, HBO MAX, The Spot) with Montreal playing the role of the good guys on home ice now that Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper embraced the opposite for the Lightning when he said after Game 2, "Somebody's got to be the villain, I guess."

The teams combined for 23 penalties worth 52 minutes Tuesday; the Lightning were called for 12 penalties (27 minutes).

“If they want to think that, that’s OK," Canadiens defenseman Arber Xhekaj said. "But we’re here. We’re ready for whatever they have to offer for us.”

Forward Josh Anderson and defensemen Mike Matheson and Noah Dobson were not on the ice for practice. 

Anderson went to the dressing room in the third period Tuesday after he was hit from behind by Tampa Bay forward Scott Sabourin but returned to play in overtime. Matheson played the first two games of the series and Dobson is out with an upper-body injury. There was no update on any of the three.