Tampa Bay Lightning Jon Cooper mentioned it following Game 1 of a First Round series against the Montreal Canadiens—with each passing moment of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the intensity and animosity grows.
Fans at Benchmark International Arena got to see it firsthand from the opening moments of Game 2 between Tampa Bay and Montreal on Tuesday, which finished with 52 combined penalty minutes, a Gordie Howe hat-trick, plenty of post-whistle activities and 77 hits.
More importantly, it ended as a 3-2 overtime victory for Tampa Bay to even the First Round series 1-1 with the exclamation point that was defenseman JJ Moser’s game-winner 12:48 into the extra period.
The game-winning tally was the cap to a near perfect overtime period, one in which the Lightning finished with a 9-0 advantage in shots on goal and Moser’s winning tally.
“I thought that overtime, we just kept rolling, just kept going, kept putting the puck in, kept getting after their D,” forward Corey Perry said. “That’s how we play. We play fast. We were out of our zone quickly and (it was) a hell of a shot by Mo.”
Brandon Hagel was once again central in Tampa Bay’s attack, and it was Hagel who got the action started on Tuesday by giving the hosts a 1-0 lead just shy of nine minutes into the game.
Hagel released an initial look from the top of the circles, but it was blocked by a Canadiens defenseman. The puck then bounced off the wall and back to Hagel at the top of the left faceoff circle, where he wound up and ripped the 1-0 goal over Dobes’ glove inside the right post.
It marked his third goal through two games, already tying his career high for goals during a Stanley Cup Playoffs run.
“What can you say about Hags? The kid does everything, man,” Perry said. “He can do everything, and he’s an emotional leader of our club.”
Montreal’s power play continued its strong pace to open the series with the game-tying goal late in the first period. Defenseman Lane Hutson’s shot from distance ricocheted off a Lightning player and into the net with under two minutes to play for the tying score.
’There was Nikita Kucherov’
The emotions skyrocketed further after the tying goal, as multiple post-whistle scrums broke out throughout the night. Hagel took action into his own hands—literally—by accepting a fight against Montreal’s Juraj Slafkovsky and dropping his opponent with one punch.
It was still the visitors who broke the tie, this time on a breakdown in the defensive zone. Montreal forward Phillip Danault won a battle for the puck below the goal line and then slid a pass to the front of the Tampa Bay net, where Josh Anderson got open and potted the 2-1 goal with 1:24 to play in the second period.
That deficit, though, didn’t matter in the end.
Nikita Kucherov forced overtime on his goal with just 7:27 left in regulation. A shot by Hagel got a piece of Anthony Cirelli near the cage, and Kucherov picked up the loose puck below the goal line and buried the wraparound at the right goalpost for a 2-2 game.
“He just seems to deliver for us at the big times,” Cooper said, “and we needed that big goal to tie it. There was Nikita Kucherov.”
Hagel’s assist on the play made him the first player in franchise history to record a Gordie Howe hat trick (a goal, assist and fight in a single game) during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
“I never really would have expected that to be honest…Whatever it takes to win,” Hagel said. “Sometimes it’s going to take fighting, and sometimes it’s going to take scoring goals, and I was lucky enough to squeak one by. And then Kuch made a good play, so obviously a good feeling just that we won tonight.”
The Lightning had to earn a chance at overtime, erasing a Montreal power play with just over two minutes left in regulation. Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy was crucial on the penalty kill, denying Hutson with a glove save that also hit the post but stayed out. Many of Vasilevskiy’s 25 saves on the night were at crucial times, including on the game-saving penalty kill late in the game.
“That was a huge penalty kill,” Kucherov said, “and everybody who played on the PK put their body on the line and was trying to block everything and execute. Hell of a job by them.”
Once the game got to next-goal-wins time, Tampa Bay dominated.
Montreal didn’t register a shot on goal in the extra period, and Moser put an end to the madness with his first career overtime goal and first career playoff goal—Moser accepted a won faceoff by Anthony Cirelli, danced across the blue line and then blasted a snap shot from the right circle that whistled past Dobes, smoked the post and ended the game in the 12th minute of extra hockey.
“The puck squirts out, try to keep in, skate with it,” Moser said of the play. “All of a sudden it opens up and you take it down and take a shot. We talked about bringing a lot more pucks on net, and that’s how you score in the playoffs.”
Moser is the first Swiss-born defenseman in league history to score an overtime goal in the postseason.
Hagel joined Cirelli with multi-point games, and the former said overtime reflected how the team needs to play.
“That was probably the best hockey we’ve played in this series, to be honest, in overtime,” Hagel said. “I think it was fun to watch, and that’s a good thing for our team. We can remember that feeling and remember the way we played and what worked. Because it was a clinic in overtime for us.”
Now the series shifts to Quebec, with Game 3 set for Friday at 7 p.m.
Tampa Bay enters the weekend with a game in favor of each side, and the Lightning know that the work has just begun against a divisional opponent that also ended the regular season as one of the league’s best.
But they have more room to work with, too, thanks to Moser.
“Nobody said this was going to be easy,” Perry said. “They had 106 points, we had 106 and the two teams match-up well against each other. This is what the playoffs are all about. There’s somebody new every single night making a name for themselves, and tonight it was Mo (Moser).”
Benjamin’s Three Stars:
1. JJ Moser, TBL (OT GWG)
2. Brandon Hagel, TBL (Goal, Assist)
3. Andrei Vasilevskiy, TBL (25 SVs)