Credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images
The building is loud, as it always is. It’s playoff hockey in Montreal.
First period
The Canadiens look sharp to start, using their speed to close down all attempted Lightning rushes in the neutral zone.
Zachary Bolduc gains the zone by getting the puck to Kirby Dach, who saucers it back to him. Bolduc makes a quick turn back to the slot to find a trailing Alexandre Texier, and the Frenchman makes it 1-0 for the home side.
Dach to Bolduc to Texier and it’s 1-0 Habs!
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) April 24, 2026 at 8:25 PM
The Lightning will get an almost immediate power play as Jakub Dobeš is getting a tripping penalty.
Brayden Point gets set up in the bumper position late in the power play, and the game is tied.
Dominic James tries to play the puck up the ice and Dach takes a swing at it. Feeling the stick on his leg he drops to the ice, and draws another tripping call.
Corey Perry wound up a slapshot and hit the post, the most dangerous chance the Lightning had on their second power play.
Back at five on five, Cole Caufield has his feet hooked out from underneath him after playing the puck into the offensive zone. The crowd wonders why no penalty was called that time.
Montreal gets its first power play as Nikita Kucherov kicks the back of Alexandre Carrier’s leg to knock him down in the neutral zone.
The Lightning play keepaway from the top unit for 1:15.
Andrei Vasilevskiy robs Bolduc on the cross-crease pass as he was looking for his second point of the period.
Montreal spends two shifts in the offensive zone, and that pressure ends with a hard shot from Dach off the crossbar.
Mike Matheson has three outlets to get out of the zone after a defensive-zone faceoff, and ends up getting stripped, and he has to hook Brandon Hagel to prevent a rush toward the net.
This isn’t a particularly close game at five-on-five. The Habs need to keep their sticks as far away from Lightning players the rest of the night to avoid these penalty calls.
First intermission
The Sportsnet panel is arguing that standing on skates is simply too hard for any of the Lightning players to stay on their feet through contact. After saying the refs had used up their quota of tripping calls on Canadiens players and therefore couldn’t call the one on Caufield.
Second period
Matheson comes out of the box and the Canadiens can go to work at five-on-five again.
Scott Sabourin shoves Jake Evans down by the back of the shoulders to disrupt a breakout. No call.
Hagel takes a shot from the circle that Dobeš should have had, but it’s the 2-1 goal.
Nikita Kucherov tried to skate right through Dobeš to get to the celebration, and the linesman had to get between them. Erik Cernak comes in afterward and gives Dobeš a bump. Cernak gets a penalty, so does Dobeš for some reason.
The Canadiens are having a tough time getting possession of the puck in this period. It’s looking eerily similar to overtime in Game 2.
Ivan Demidov gets sent in alone, but his compatriot denies the Habs a second goal.
Demidov tried to lift his stick over Ryan McDonagh after a chip-in and hits him in the face. That’s been an issue for him in recent games. He needs to be a little more mindful.
The Dach line is able to get the puck into the offensive zone on a cycle following the penalty kil. Dach is denied on a point-blank chance, but sticks with it and gets a friendly bounce off a defenceman’s leg on his next shot to tie the game 2-2.
Kirby Dach with the bank shot and we’re tied up at the Bell Centre!
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) April 24, 2026 at 9:37 PM
Now the Canadiens draw a penalty, Hagel for holding Caufield’s stick, and the Bell Centre is alive once more.
Newhook just missed a great setup from Dach in the dying seconds of the PK, but that second unit helps Montreal draw a second call immediately.
Let’s see the top unit with more of an emphasis on getting a shot, even just one for a rebound. Martin St-Louis is drawing something up during the TV timeout.
Demidov gets a one-timer that deflected and was headed for the top corner, but Vasilevskiy just got a piece of the puck with his glove.
Bolduc gets one last look in the final seconds, but the save is made.
Anderson has his helmet ripped off in the defensive zone. That penalty isn’t called, but Darren Raddysh’s cross-check to Jake Evans’s chin is, eventually, by the ref who was hesitant to raise his arm.
No goal to end the period despite a couple of cross-crease attempts, but there will be 90 seconds left on this power play to begin the third period.
It was a bad start to the frame, but an excellent finish that had the Lightning on their heels. Momentum is with Montreal.
Third period
Well the good news is they can’t execute any worse than they did in that 1:30 of PP time. No one wants to be the one to take the shot.
Caufield intercepts the puck at the blue line and goes up the ice on a breakaway, but misses the puck as he goes to shoot.
Demidov takes an elbow as he goes stride for stride with James in a race to a loose puck, but sticks with the play and throws a big hit at the end.
A sixth Lightning player jumps on the ice and plays the puck, but the lineman waves off a call.
Kucherov goes for a big hit on Alexandre Carrier and ends up slamming the back of his head into the glass instead. He better stick to flopping in open ice where it’s safe.
The Danault line comes out and chips the puck in, but Anderson catches his stick in the neck of Declan Carlile as he tries to get onto it. The Lightning get a power play form being just slightly in the way of a relentless Canadiens team since about the five-minute mark of the second period.
Needless to say, a big penalty kill coming up.
Anderson gets sprung on a break out of the box, but Vasilevskiy stops another breakaway.
Jake Guentzel beats Mike Matheson for the best chance the Lightning have had in a long time, but the shot goes off the post.
The Lighting load up a goon line and it caps off a puck to the crease by shoving Evans over top of Dobeš after he freezes the puck.
In the melee, Zemgus Girgensons lands a forearm on Danault’s nose.
Despite the Lightning clearly being the aggressors, the refs manage to even up the calls.
Demidov goes one-on-four through the Lightning defence, but trips before he can get in close enough for a shot.
The top line gets one final chance, but for the the third time in this series, we’re headed to overtime.
Third intermission
A highlight pack on Dach or Bolduc who have been great? Montreal for holding the Lightning to 11 shots in the final two periods? No, what this game needs is a two-minute segment on Scott Sabourin.
Overtime
Slafkovský and Caufield get an early two-on-one, but Cernak intercepts the pass attempt to the Habs’ 50-goal man.
Hutson just misses the chance at the winner late in regulation in Game 2, but he doesn’t miss his shot with the puck high in the zone in overtime. He accepts a pass from Texier and loads up the hardest shot of his life and sends it past the screen of Dach and over Vasilevskiy’s shoulder for the winner.
Lane Hutson smokes the OT winner
Habs up 2-1 in the series
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) April 24, 2026 at 11:13 PM
Still a point-per-game playoff performer.
That’s a critical win for Montreal, and they were the far superior team in about the final 40 minutes. They’re now two wins away from taking the series, and will try to reduce that to one on Sunday night.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) Party at Tythan’s house
2) He’s been excellent in this series
1) He’s launching his bid for the Conn Smythe
