Hagel scores twice in 3rd, Lightning rally in Game 4 against Canadiens

MONTREAL -- Brandon Hagel scored twice in the third period, and the Tampa Bay Lightning rallied for a 3-2 win against the Montreal Canadiens in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Bell Centre on Sunday.

The best-of-7 series is tied 2-2. Game 5 will be at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa on Wednesday (TBD).

Jake Guentzel had a goal and an assist, Nikita Kucherov and J.J. Moser each had two assists, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 16 saves for Tampa Bay, which is the No. 2 seed in the Atlantic Division.

“There was no panic in our room and on our bench,” Guentzel said of falling behind. “We just felt like we were playing well. We just had to get one shot to go in, and obviously, once we got one, it kind of felt like the game was coming to us.”

Zachary Bolduc and Cole Caufield scored, and Jakub Dobes made 17 saves for Montreal, which is the No. 3 seed in the Atlantic.

Tampa Bay went 1-for-7 on the power play while Montreal was 1-for-6.

“We put ourselves in situations where there’s a chance the (referee) is going to call a penalty,” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. “That’s a veteran team, they’re very good at drawing penalties. They’ve got talented players. They’re a tough team and we knew it was going to be a tough series, and we’re right in it. We’re in a battle. There’s a fine line between winning and losing in these games, but we’re battling.”

Guentzel cut it to 2-1 during 4-on-4 play at 19:06 of the second period. He got behind Montreal defenseman Jayden Struble while driving the slot, took a return pass from Moser and scored with a snap shot past Dobes' blocker.

“That was huge 4-on-4,” Lightning forward Yanni Gourde said. “Jake made a really good play holding onto the puck, and he kind of gave us a little bit of relief seeing that puck go in.”

The goal came after Tampa Bay defenseman Max Crozier delivered a big open-ice hit to Montreal forward Juraj Slafkovsky.

“That’s a big-time hit getting everyone into the game,” Guentzel said. “The bench got fired up, and sometimes something like that can change a game.”

Hagel tied it 2-2 on a power play at 1:40 of the third period. He set up at the edge of crease and escaped coverage to finish a backdoor pass from Kucherov across the blue paint.

Hagel then teamed up with Kucherov again to give Tampa Bay its first lead at 15:07. Shortly after Montreal killed off a 5-on-3 power play that lasted for 1:11, Hagel planted himself at the front of the net and had Kucherov's shot from the right circle deflect in off his chest.

“He’s the best player in the world,” Hagel said of Kucherov. “He’s been doing it continuously every single year. Yeah, I got the opportunity to play with him for many years, so maybe you can say I gained a little bit of chemistry with him. But at the same time, you put that guy out with any five guys, he’s going to make five guys around him better.”

Bolduc put Montreal up 1-0 at 10:06 of the second period. Vasilevskiy poked the puck away from Bolduc on a drive to the net, but the puck deflected in off the Canadiens forward. 

Caufield, who scored 51 goals in the regular season, pushed it to 2-0 at 13:29 with his first of the postseason. He set up at the edge of the crease and tapped in Nick Suzuki’s backdoor pass from the left corner.

“It’s tight. There’s a reason that we had three games go into overtime,” Montreal defenseman Kaiden Guhle said. “It’s just weird bounces. Certain plays impact the game, it’s just the way it goes. Hopefully next time the puck doesn’t go off a guy’s face into the net.”

NOTES: It was the Lightning’s first multigoal comeback in a playoff game since Game 3 of the 2022 Eastern Conference Final. … All four games of the series have been come-from-behind wins.