Lightning lose East 1st Round to Canadiens, Dobes' goaltending among factors

TAMPA -- The Tampa Bay Lightning were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 2-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference First Round on Sunday, the fourth consecutive season they have failed to advance past the opening round.

The Lightning (50-26-6) finished second in the Atlantic Division. They have made the playoffs in nine straight seasons, winning the Stanley Cup in 2020 and 2021.

The skinny

Potential unrestricted free agents: Oliver Bjorkstrand, F; Mitchell Chaffee, F; Corey Perry, F; Scott Sabourin, F; Darren Raddysh, D; Brandon Halverson, G

Potential restricted free agents: None

Potential 2026 Draft picks: 6

Here are five reasons why the Lightning were eliminated:

1. No home cooking

The Lightning earned home ice for this series and lost three of four at Benchmark International Arena, including the deciding Game 7. They're 2-12 at home in their past 14 playoff games and have been eliminated from the postseason on home ice in four of their past five series beginning with Game 6 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final. "I don't know ... that's just the reality of the sport," Lightning forward Brandon Hagel said. "Everyone's a little better at home and we just weren't."

2. Top guys went cold

The Lightning's core of forwards -- Jake Guentzel, Brandon Hagel, Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point -- were held to a combined two points (one goal, one assist) in the final three games. Kucherov went without a point in Games 5-7. Hagel, who scored six goals in the first four games, was held to a single assist in the final three and Point had just one goal for the entire series.

3. Ran into a brick wall

Andrei Vasilevskiy, a finalist for the Vezina Trophy given to the top goalie in the NHL, was superb at times, but Jakub Dobes was just a little better. Dobes, 24, had a 2.03 goals-against-average and .923 save percentage and made 28 saves in Game 7. Vasilevskiy (2.18 GAA, .897 save percentage) gave up two goals in Game 7 that both came off of deflections, but in a series with no margin of error that was all Montreal needed. 

4. Power play outage

Tampa Bay has been a very good power-play team over the years with players on the top unit like Kucherov, Point and Darren Raddysh, who set a Lightning record for defensemen with 22 goals this season. But after going 2-for-5 in Game 1, the power play was 3-for-24 for the rest of the series.  

5. Those are the breaks

After the Lightning forced a Game 7 with a 1-0 overtime win in Game 6 in Montreal, coach Jon Cooper said that the winning team would likely get the most breaks. The Canadiens got them with their first goal off of J.J. Moser on a redirection from Nick Suzuki that would've otherwise went wide and the other off a shot from Alex Newhook on an airborne puck at the goal line that took a funny bounce and went off the back of Vasilevskiy's pad. Puck luck was on Montreal's side when it mattered.