Jake Evans scored the winner with 2:15 remaining in the third period to lift the Montreal Canadiens to a 3-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night at the Bell Centre.
Sam Montembeault made 33 saves in the win. Montembeault got the nod in goal for the Habs after Jakub Dobes backstopped the team to an overtime victory on Sunday against the New York Rangers.
The potent Lightning power play went 0-4 with the man advantage. The Habs capitalized on one of their two power plays on the night.
Evans’s goal was not only the winner, it was the first lead Montreal held all night.
With an assist on Juraj Slafkovsky’s power-play goal, Lane Hutson extended his point-scoring streak to nine games. The defenceman trails only Joe Malone’s 14-game streak from 1917-18 for the record among Habs rookies.
The Lightning played on Monday, but they came out firing in the first period. With 5:40 left in the opening frame, Tampa Bay opened the scoring when Nikita Kucherov picked up a bouncing puck that got lost in Kaiden Guhle’s skates and beat Montembeault to make it 1-0.
Early in the second period, the Bolts jumped out to a 2-0 lead when Michael Eyssimont won the battle behind the net and found Jake Guentzel alone in front.
The Habs didn’t back down from the two-goal deficit. After Conor Geekie took a penalty for Tampa, Slafkovsky got the Habs on the board by squeezing a shot through Andrei Vasilevskiy from a sharp angle.
Less than two minutes later, Alex Newhook scored on a one-timer blast in the high slot for the 2-2 equalizer. Patrik Laine got primary assists on both goals.
Montembeault weathered a 15-shot barrage by Tampa Bay in the third period. At the other end off the rush, Joel Armia set up Jake Evans for a knuckler one-timer that caught Vasilevskiy off guard. Montreal took a 3-2 lead with 2:15 left in regulation. The assist was Armia’s 100th in his career. Yes, right now he has 100 career goals and 100 career assists.
An unheralded hero in the final minute was David Savard. He parked his keister on the puck along the end boards, preventing the Bolts from getting one last chance.
A hard-fought win like this, where the Habs battled back against a relentless Lightning squad, shows more about the developing character of this club than a game where everything goes hunky-dory. Montembeault and the penalty-killers kept hope alive when Tampa was firing on all cylinders, so it’s appropriate that Evans and Armia teamed up for the winner. It was Evans’s first goal in 10 games.
With the win, the Habs are temporarily in a playoff spot. To give you a sense of how tight the Eastern Conference and Atlantic Division standings are, the Canadiens are only a point back of the Lightning. No wonder Tampa coach Jon Cooper called them both “good teams” during the telecast.
Besides getting outshot 35-22, the other blemish for the Habs on the night was taking three first-period penalties and four in total. Their lack of discipline nearly proved costly.
Here’s what the Liveblog commenters had to say about the comeback victory.
(Note: there may not be a Liveblog on Thursday and Saturday. Call it a game-time decision.)
3. “Another strong game by the Habs. Feels like we have been waiting 4 years for them to play this hard and consistent. Nice to be a Habs fan these days!” – Bob Taylor
2. “Can we stop saying there is a goalie controversy? Let’s just keep rotating these guys.” – Michael Way
1. “If I was HuGo I’d sign Jake Evans right now. He may be a late bloomer. And I certainly don’t think he will let down his guard/change his work ethic just cuz he got a good contract (term and money). I really think this is not just a break out year for him. I think he’s really found his groove. Great 200 foot player. That’s what we need on this team.” – HabsSki Fan