As Jon Cooper stated afterwards, there have been a number of games this year in which the Lightning have outplayed the opponent but didn’t gain two points. There have been far fewer of the opposite scenario, when the Lightning were outplayed but earned two points anyway. This was one of the second type.
Circumstances weren’t favorable for the Lightning. They’d competed in a hard-fought, emotional game against the Panthers the night before. Less than 24 hours later, they started the second half of a back-to-back against a Montreal team that hadn’t played since the holiday break and was waiting for the Lightning in Tampa.
Just because the Canadiens had a circumstantial advantage didn’t guarantee that they’d have an advantage on the ice. But they did. The Habs carried play for a vast majority of the game, particularly in the first and third periods. They outshot the Lightning, 36-22, and owned an 86-48 shot attempt advantage.
An outstanding performance from Jonas Johansson helped keep the Habs off the board in the first period. He finished with 11 first-period stops, most of which came on high-danger chances. The Lightning were slow to loose pucks and struggled to alleviate pressure when they did have possession. They also took three penalties in the frame.
Thanks to Johansson, the Lightning escaped the opening frame in a scoreless tie. Then early in the second, momentum shifted. The Canadiens had the puck in the offensive zone but lost track of Nikita Kucherov when they lost possession. Gage Goncalves sprang Kucherov on a breakaway, and Kucherov finished his shot past Jacob Fowler at 2:28.
That goal sparked the Lightning, who added two more goals off the rush before the period ended. They caught a break on the second tally—Juraj Slafkovsky’s dump-in attempt hit an official and caromed back towards the Montreal blue line. The Lightning countered on a three-on-two. Brayden Point set up Goncalves for a Grade-A chance at the right circle that Fowler stopped, but Point tracked the rebound behind the net and passed to Kucherov in front. With Fowler still recovering from the initial save, Kucherov buried the shot into an open net at 12:11.
Just over two and a half minutes later, Nick Paul extended the lead. Max Groshev, making his NHL debut, floated an outlet through the neutral zone. It bounced to Oliver Bjorkstrand, who skated into the offensive zone and fired a low shot from the left circle. Fowler made the initial save, but Paul got to the front of the net and sticked in the rebound. Groshev earned his first NHL point on the play.
Unfortunately, the third period unfolded just like the first. The Lightning spent much of the final 20 minutes without the puck. This time, however, the Canadiens converted on some of their looks. Slafkovsky backhanded a centering feed to Ivan Demidov, and Demidov chipped it in from the slot at 1:06. Although the Lightning answered that goal on the next shift—Pontus Holmberg tipped in a Bjorkstrand shot—the Habs didn’t stop pushing. A Lightning turnover in the offensive zone fueled a three-on-two counter goal for Slafkovsky at 9:16. Just over three minutes later, Noah Dobson fired in a shot from the right circle, cutting the Lightning lead to 4-3.
Montreal had some close calls over the next several minutes but didn’t convert. When the Habs pulled Fowler for an extra attacker, the Lightning couldn’t finish a couple of looks at the empty net. Following a Tampa Bay icing in the closing seconds, the Canadiens won a 50-50 faceoff and, after a shot block, maintained possession. Demidov passed to Slafkovsky at the right circle for a one-timer that beat Johansson at 19:56, tying the game.
Montreal owned most of the possession in overtime, but the Lightning dug in defensively to prevent any breakdowns. As a result, the Canadiens mostly worked the puck around without shooting. There were only four shot attempts from Montreal, with two on net.
The shootout ended quickly. Goncavles and Point scored, while Demidov and Cole Caufield didn’t.
Brandon Hagel, who returned from a four-game injury absence, said after the contest that in an 82-game season, there are always games like this (when the team is outplayed). The good news for the Lightning is two-fold: first, there haven’t been many, and second, they still earned two points in this particular game against a divisional opponent.
The Lightning head to California on Monday to get ready for a New Year’s Eve afternoon game against Anaheim.
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game (as selected by Bobby “The Chief” Taylor):
Nikita Kucherov — Lightning. Two goals.
Juraj Slafkovsky — Canadiens. Two goals and assist.
Gage Goncalves/Jonas Johansson — Lightning.