The Montreal Canadiens did not have many scoring chances against\u00a0Andrei Vasilevskiy\u00a0and the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7 of their first-round playoff series on Sunday night.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But boy, did they take advantage of them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Canadiens scored on two of their first seven shots on goal \u2014 which were spread out through the first 51 minutes of the game \u2014 and pulled out a 2-1 win against the host Lightning thanks to some fantastic goaltending by rookie Jakub Dobes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Montreal moves on to Round 2 where it will face the Atlantic Division champion Buffalo Sabres starting on Wednesday night in western New York.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Lightning, which won the Stanley Cup in 2020 and 2021 before losing to the Avalanche in the 2022 Final, has been knocked out of the first round the past four postseasons.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tampa Bay lost to Toronto in 2023, the Panthers from 2024-25, and now the Canadiens.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This will be the first Stanley Cup Final without either the Lightning or Panthers in it since 2019 when the St. Louis Blues upset the Boston Bruins.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nick Suzuki\u00a0opened the scoring with 1:21 left in the first period when he deflected a shot from\u00a0Kaiden Guhle\u00a0\u2014 that then went off of Tampa Bay\u2019s\u00a0J.J. Moser\u00a0and past Vasilevskiy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Canadiens scored on their fourth shot of the game \u2014 and did not get another one until Suzuki was stopped by Vasilevskiy 5:36 into the\u00a0third\u00a0period.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tampa Bay tied it up on its 20th shot of the night at 13:27 of the second on the power play:\u00a0Charle-Edouard D\u2019Astous\u00a0rifled a point shot from his knees that\u00a0Dominic James\u00a0deflected and put past Dobes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Lightning outshot Montreal 21-4 after two periods \u2014 and 12-0 in the second alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dobes was, once more, fantastic.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was the first period Montreal was held without a shot in its postseason history.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yet it was the Canadiens who took a 2-1 lead in the game on yet another pin-balling puck.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alex Newhook\u00a0gave Montreal the lead at 11:07 of the third on an absolutely crazy goal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lane Hutson\u2019s shot bounded off the end boards but the puck bounced in the air by the goal cage \u2014 with Newhook batting the puck out of midair with the back of his stick and sending it home off of Vasilevskiy himself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Vasilevskiy ended with seven saves; Dobes had 28.\u00a0<\/p>\n
All seven games in the series were decided by a single goal \u2014 with four going to overtime.<\/p>\n
The second round of the postseason is now set: In the Eastern Conference, Carolina holds a 1-0 lead on Philadelphia with the Canadiens squaring off against the Sabres.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the Western Conference, Colorado and Minnesota opened on Sunday night in Denver; Vegas plays host to Anaheim in Game 1 on Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
ON DECK: FLORIDA PANTHERS\u00a0OFFSEASON<\/p>\n
NHL Draft Lottery:\u00a0Tuesday; Secaucus, NJ<\/a><\/p>\n