{"id":238084,"date":"2026-04-19T18:41:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T18:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/238084\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T18:41:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T18:41:10","slug":"puck-drops-in-tampa-lightning-and-canadiens-face-off-to-open-postseason-quest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/238084\/","title":{"rendered":"Puck Drops In Tampa: Lightning And Canadiens Face Off To Open Postseason Quest"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Nikita<\/p>\n

Nikita Kucherov (Tampa Bay Lightning)<\/p>\n

TAMPA, Fla. \u2013 The road to the Stanley Cup officially begins tonight at Benchmark International Arena as the Tampa Bay Lightning host the Montreal Canadiens for Game 1 of the NHL Playoffs First Round.<\/p>\n

The puck is scheduled to drop at 5:45 p.m. ET, with the national broadcast airing on TNT and streaming options available via Fubo.<\/p>\n

The Lightning enter the postseason as the heavy betting favorite at -189 on the moneyline, while the Canadiens sit as the underdog at +156.<\/p>\n

Oddsmakers have set the over\/under for total goals at 6. Statistically, Tampa Bay holds a slight edge in defensive reliability, ranking 3rd in the league for goals allowed (2.79 per game) and 3rd in penalty kill efficiency (82.56%). Montreal, meanwhile, boasts a more potent power play, converting at a 23.14% rate, good for 10th in the NHL.<\/p>\n

READ: Bolts Shake Up Roster With Five-Player Shuffle Ahead Of Playoffs<\/a><\/p>\n

Tampa Bay has shown consistent strength when favored this season, winning 60.9% of those matchups. However, the Canadiens have proven to be a dangerous underdog, winning 65.8% of the 38 games in which they were not favored.<\/p>\n

Both rosters are navigating significant injury concerns heading into the series opener.<\/p>\n

\"Victor<\/p>\n

Victor Hedman Credit: Tampa Bay Lightning<\/p>\n

The Lightning will be without defenseman Victor Hedman<\/a>, who is out for personal reasons, along with Pontus Holmberg (upper body) and Dominic James (leg). Goaltender Jonas Johansson is currently listed as day-to-day.<\/p>\n

The Canadiens are also missing key contributors, including Patrik Laine (abdomen) and Noah Dobson (thumb), while Alexander Carrier remains day-to-day with an upper-body injury.<\/p>\n

With 50 of Tampa Bay\u2019s 82 games and 53 of Montreal\u2019s games exceeding a total of six goals this season, fans can expect a high-paced offensive contest as these two Atlantic Division rivals battle for an early series lead.<\/p>\n

Please make a small donation to the Tampa Free Press to help sustain independent journalism<\/a>. Your contribution enables us to continue delivering high-quality, local, and national news coverage.<\/p>\n

Sign up: Subscribe to our free newsletter<\/a> for a curated selection of top stories delivered straight to your inbox<\/p>\n

Puck Drops In Tampa: Lightning And Canadiens Face Off To Open Postseason Quest<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nikita Kucherov (Tampa Bay Lightning) TAMPA, Fla. \u2013 The road to the Stanley Cup officially begins tonight at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238085,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1618,96123,51845,16976,105645,105644,96120,135,1526,862,137,136,16555],"class_list":{"0":"post-238084","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa","8":"tag-fla","9":"tag-jonas-johansson","10":"tag-montreal-canadiens","11":"tag-nikita-kucherov","12":"tag-noah-dobson","13":"tag-patrik-laine","14":"tag-pontus-holmberg","15":"tag-tampa","16":"tag-tampa-bay","17":"tag-tampa-bay-lightning","18":"tag-tampa-headlines","19":"tag-tampa-news","20":"tag-victor-hedman"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}