{"id":644050,"date":"2026-05-03T00:20:31","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T00:20:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/644050\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T00:20:31","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T00:20:31","slug":"canadiens-lightning-to-settle-series-in-game-7-montreal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/644050\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadiens, Lightning to settle series in Game 7 – Montreal"},"content":{"rendered":"

MONTREAL \u2013 Four overtimes. Six one-goal games. A single two-goal lead \u2014 lasting just 5:37 \u2014 in 360 minutes of hockey.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s only right that the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning are headed to Game 7 in a first-round series defined by razor-thin margins.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so even, from the special teams to the goaltending to the everything,\u201d Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. \u201cThat\u2019s how you get Game 7s. To win this, I mean, you\u2019re going to have a special game from your team, and I\u2019m assuming that the team that wins is probably going to get one more break than the other one.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two sides will decide Sunday in Tampa, Fla., who advances to face the Buffalo Sabres in the second round after the Lightning staved off elimination Friday with an epic 1-0 overtime win in Game 6 at the Bell Centre.<\/p>\n

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Gage Goncalves scored the winner 9:03 into overtime, while Andrei Vasilevskiy made 30 saves in a spectacular goaltending duel with Jakub Dobes.<\/p>\n

The Canadiens missed a chance to clinch a series in front of a full-capacity home crowd \u2014 something they haven\u2019t done since 2014 \u2014 and to advance past the first round for the first time since their 2021 run to the Stanley Cup final.<\/p>\n

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As disappointing as it was, Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis framed the loss and upcoming Game 7 as an opportunity for his inexperienced group \u2014 the youngest team in the playoffs \u2014 to grow.<\/p>\n

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Only six players remain from that surprising, pandemic-era run that ended with a loss in five games to the Lightning.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s meant to be, it\u2019s destiny for our young team,\u201d St. Louis said. \u201cA lot of players haven\u2019t taken part in a Game 7, I think that\u2019s part of our path and you have to embrace the moment. It\u2019s about getting back up and let\u2019s go.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou can\u2019t buy these reps like this. These guys are getting unbelievable reps right now and it\u2019s fun to watch. I keep telling them I got the best seat in the house.\u201d<\/p>\n

Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki said post-game the team\u2019s mentality was to \u201cstay positive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were the better team for pretty much most of that game, and just didn\u2019t score,\u201d he said. \u201cThought Vasilevsky kind of won them that game, so I thought everyone played a great game, just didn\u2019t get the result.<\/p>\n

\u201cReady to go down to Tampa and win Game 7.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Canadiens have already won twice in Tampa, defeating the Lightning in Games 1 and 5 in this see-saw series. Montreal also posted a 24-9-8 record on the road this season, second-best in the NHL behind only the Colorado Avalanche.<\/p>\n

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The experienced Lightning, meanwhile, are trying to avoid a fourth consecutive first-round exit, a run that has featured its share of heartbreak on home ice.<\/p>\n

The message out of their room following the emotional Game 6 win? Job\u2019s not finished.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure guys were pumped, but we haven\u2019t won anything yet,\u201d Cooper said. \u201cAll we did was win a game to send us back to Tampa and keep our season alive.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou don\u2019t want to rain on the parade because what a hell of a win by the guys, but we haven\u2019t accomplished anything yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is only the sixth NHL playoff series to have each of the first six games decided by one goal. If recent history is any indicator, it might become just the third to extend that streak to seven on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been unreal to be honest, obviously we both had 106 points coming in this series. They\u2019re a really good hockey team over there, we\u2019re a really great hockey team here,\u201d Lightning forward Brandon Hagel said. \u201cI don\u2019t think we expected anything else other than what\u2019s been going on here.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to come down to one game and I\u2019m excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 2, 2026.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 The Canadian Press\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MONTREAL \u2013 Four overtimes. Six one-goal games. A single two-goal lead \u2014 lasting just 5:37 \u2014 in 360…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":644051,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[49,48,2338,743,72244,448,97637,82],"class_list":["post-644050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-montreal","tag-montreal-canadiens","tag-national-hockey-league","tag-nhl","tag-quebec-sports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644050","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=644050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}