{"id":626996,"date":"2026-04-25T04:25:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T04:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/626996\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T04:25:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T04:25:09","slug":"lane-hutson-scores-overtime-winner-as-montreal-canadiens-beat-lightning-to-take-2-1-series-lead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/626996\/","title":{"rendered":"Lane Hutson scores overtime winner as Montreal Canadiens beat Lightning to take 2-1 series lead"},"content":{"rendered":"

MONTREAL \u2014 Lane Hutson<\/a> scored the winner 2:09 into overtime as the Montreal Canadiens<\/a> edged the Tampa Bay Lightning<\/a> 3-2 in an exhilarating Game 3 of their first-round playoff series on Friday night.<\/p>\n

Hutson took a pass from Alexandre Texier<\/a> before blasting a slap shot from the point past Andrei Vasilevskiy<\/a> to give Montreal a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven matchup.<\/p>\n

Kirby Dach<\/a> and Texier added a goal and an assist each for Montreal, which overcame missed breakaway chances from Ivan Demidov<\/a>, Cole Caufield<\/a> and Josh Anderson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Zachary Bolduc<\/a> had two assists and Jakub Dobes<\/a> made 15 saves.<\/p>\n

Brandon Hagel<\/a> and Brayden Point<\/a> replied for Tampa Bay, while Vasilevskiy stopped 26 shots.<\/p>\n

It marked the third consecutive overtime game to open the series after the teams split two in Florida. Montreal took Game 1 with a 4-3 victory before falling 3-2 in a heated Game 2. Game 4 takes place Sunday at the Bell Centre.<\/p>\n

Dach tied the game 2-2 at 12:43 in the second period with his first of the playoffs, redeeming himself after his icing and missed coverage led to J.J. Moser<\/a>\u2019s winner in Game 2.<\/p>\n

His shot beat a screened Vasilevskiy as the crowd erupted into \u201cKir-by! Kir-by!\u201d chants in support for the injury-plagued forward, who has struggled to stay healthy the past three seasons.<\/p>\n

The momentum swung in Montreal\u2019s favour with the Lightning committing three consecutive penalties in the second half of the period \u2014 but the Canadiens failed to capitalize, going 0-for-4 on the night.<\/p>\n

Four minutes into the third, Canadiens sharpshooter Caufield broke in alone on a clear breakaway only to fan on his shot as he closed in on goal.<\/p>\n

Anderson, after putting the Lightning on the power play with 11 minutes left in the period, then received a breakaway pass when he exited the penalty box, but Vasilevskiy held the fort again as the game ultimately needed overtime.<\/p>\n

The crowd was amped up before puck drop as Canadiens great Ivan Cournoyer carried a torch into the stands and flames shot up near the rafters.<\/p>\n

The 21,000 fans inside the building \u2014 with a flurry of white towels rippling through the seats \u2014 then belted chants of \u201cGo Habs Go!\u201d and \u201cOl\u00e9, Ol\u00e9!\u201d to drown out public address announcer Michel Lacroix and delay the national anthems.<\/p>\n

Thousands more packed the streets outside for a massive party, filling the area between the Bonaventure and Lucien L\u2019Allier metro stations, where voice-overs from four Canadiens players announce the next stops in French.<\/p>\n

\u201cI walk in this morning, get a coffee, and there\u2019s, I don\u2019t know, 20-30 porta-potties outside,\u201d Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis<\/a> said following the team\u2019s morning skate. \u201cI mean, this place is ready to erupt.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fervour stretched 40 kilometres south to Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., where fans have cheered on the Habs from church pews at Cath\u00e9drale Saint-Jean-l\u2019\u00c9vang\u00e9liste, and across a province that treats the Canadiens as a cultural institution.<\/p>\n

And it was a perfect start Friday until the Lightning pushed back.<\/p>\n

Texier raised the roof with the opening goal 4:53 into the first period, firing a wrist shot past Vasilevskiy\u2019s blocker to finish a beautiful passing play from Dach and Bolduc.<\/p>\n

Tampa Bay evened the score on the power play at 7:42 when Point took a pass from Jake Guentzel<\/a> in the slot and beat Dobes, who put the Canadiens down a skater with a tripping penalty.<\/p>\n

Hagel then put the Lightning ahead 2-1 at 4:47 of the second period, trickling a weak wrist shot through Dobes after picking off Jake Evans<\/a>\u2019 breakout pass for his fourth goal of the playoffs.<\/p>\n

The Canadiens returned to the playoffs this spring after last year\u2019s unexpected berth signalled a new chapter in the team\u2019s full-scale rebuild.<\/p>\n

This time, they\u2019re not just happy to be here. The Canadiens posted 106 points \u2014 their highest total in more than a decade \u2014 in a regular season filled with milestones not seen in a generation, from Caufield\u2019s 50 goals and Nick Suzuki<\/a>\u2019s 100 points to Hutson\u2019s record-tying numbers from the blue line.<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 24, 2026.<\/p>\n

Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MONTREAL \u2014 Lane Hutson scored the winner 2:09 into overtime as the Montreal Canadiens edged the Tampa Bay…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":626997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[49,48,81619,78846,82,95645],"class_list":["post-626996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-lane-hutson-sports-hockey-player-player-nhl-api-8483457","tag-montreal-canadiens-sports-hockey-team-team-nhl-api-8","tag-sports","tag-tampa-bay-lightning-sports-hockey-team-team-nhl-api-14"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=626996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/626997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=626996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=626996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=626996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}