The Montreal Canadiens lost 5-4 in a shootout to the Tampa Bay Lightning after an amazing 3rd-period comeback. The Habs entered the 3rd period down 3-0 and even faced a 4-1 deficit before turning everything around in the 2nd half of the final frame, which included a 2-goal and 1-assist performance from Juraj Slafkovsky, who led the way in the 3rd period.

The Montreal Canadiens comeback falls short as they lose to the Lightning 5–4 in a shootout.

Thoughts?

Les Canadiens de Montréal s’inclinent 5‑4 contre le Lightning en fusillade.

Prochain match : Canadiens @ Panthers
30 décembre à 19h00#GoHabsGo #thesickpodcast @TonyMarinaro pic.twitter.com/kjTMlkUuhT

— The Sick Podcast with Tony Marinaro (@thesickpodcasts) December 29, 2025

Despite the loss, the Canadiens should be proud of the effort that they put into getting the loser point when it had seemed like the game was out of reach just before the midway point of the 3rd period. The Lightning won basically off having great bounces in the 2nd period and taking advantage of a rookie goaltender in his first NHL shootout, where it seemed they had figured him out, as both goals were scored from the same area.

In Jacob Fowler’s first start in his home state, the numbers on the night look much worse than how he actually played. He made just 18 saves on 22 shots, but many of the stops were big ones that happened to keep the Habs alive later in the game when they were finally able to solve Lightning netminder Jonas Johansson. Nonetheless, Fowler played far from his best game, but he didn’t have an awful night that would be the reason they lost, as the final stats may have shown. As for the shootout, Fowler will need to work on not being as predictable in that situation, given how easy both Gauge Goncalves and Brayden Point made it to beat him.

So many broken fucking sticks this year. Habs have broken at least 3 so far tonight, 2 of them on Demidov one timers. Terrible luck

— Jordan Decker (@_JordanDecker) December 28, 2025

One aspect of the game that continues to haunt the Habs is just how often their sticks break in serious situations. Tonight’s game saw Ivan Demidov break his stick multiple times in prime scoring chances, but the worst of all came on a play that led directly to the Lightning opening the scoring. With each passing game, it is seemingly looking like all the sticks that are getting manufactured for the Habs are faulty at this point. Every game it seems like the Canadiens are breaking many more of their sticks than their opponents.

The first period featured total dominance from the Canadiens, who outshot the Lightning 9-3 in the opening frame, but they weren’t able to solve Johansson. They even had 3 power plays, but they weren’t able to make anything of their opportunities. Their best chance came from a cross-crease pass over to Cole Caufield, who was robbed by Johansson.

The Lightning’s backup goaltender has really improved over the last few years when it comes to making cross-crease saves, as he used to struggle massively earlier in his career with the Colorado Avalanche and Florida Panthers. Johansson made multiple saves that would allow the Lightning to come out in the 2nd period and play opportunistic hockey.

Kucherov on a breakaway, that’s a scary sight 🫣 pic.twitter.com/kjhBGFcFtp

— Spittin’ Chiclets (@spittinchiclets) December 28, 2025

As mentioned earlier, Demidov’s stick broke after a good chance in the slot early in the 2nd period that allowed forward Gauge Goncalves to get the puck and feed Nikita Kucherov for a breakaway where he would beat Fowler to open the scoring 2:28 into the 2nd period. If there are any guarantees in life, it’s death, taxes, and Kucherov scoring against the Habs.

The Habs continued to push to attempt to tie the game after the goal, but Johansson continued to deny the Canadiens players on prime scoring chances.

Make that ✌️ for Nikita Kucherov! pic.twitter.com/4zondgFNhY

— Sports on Prime Canada (@SportsOnPrimeCA) December 28, 2025

Meanwhile, the Lightning would extend their lead, which started off with a bad bounce. Slafkovsky went to dump the puck into the zone before going off for a change. Unfortunately, the puck bounced off a linesman’s skate and onto the stick of Brayden Point, who would start a 2-on-1 rush with Goncalves. Point would slide the puck over to Goncalves, who would miss the net on his shot. The puck then bounced right over to Point’s stick behind the net, where he would feed a trailing Kucherov, who had a wide-open net to put the puck into after Fowler had moved across his crease to attempt to stop Goncalves. For the 2nd time of the night, Kucherov would score a goal off a bad bounce for the Habs.

Nick Paul makes it 3-0 in the second period! ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/sRZpF6IfVP

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) December 28, 2025

After the Habs failed to score on their 4th power play of the game, Lightning defenseman Maxim Groshev, who was playing in his first NHL game, threw the puck out of the zone and right onto the stick of Oliver Bjorkstrand to spring another 2-on-1. Bjorkstrand would take a perfectly placed shot onto Fowler’s pads that would bounce over to Nick Paul’s stick at the other side of the net, where he would tap the puck into the net and give the Lightning a 3-0 lead after 2 periods of play. While the Lightning were the better team in the 2nd period, they shouldn’t have been up 3-0 at that point based on the overall play of the game.

Demidov complète le jeu!

No look feed, and Demi buries it#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/cYoXCyJHsj

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) December 29, 2025

Despite being down by 3 goals heading into the 3rd period, the Canadiens started the frame off fast as Slafkovsky would drive towards the net before sending a backhand pass right on Demidov’s stick in the slot, where he would redeem himself for breaking his stick earlier by beating Johansson to get the Habs on the board just 1:06 into the period.

“That might have been tipped by Holmberg!!!”

A deflection goal and a new career high for Holmy!#MTLvsTBL

🎧: https://t.co/S6Y9Tynk9H
📻: @1025TheBone pic.twitter.com/iuSNaxnXTy

— Lightning Audio Network (@BoltsRadio) December 29, 2025

However, the Lightning would extend their lead back to 3 goals just 34 seconds later after Pontus Holmberg tipped an Oliver Bjorkstrand shot past Fowler to give the Bolts a 4-1 lead. Just when all seemed lost for the Habs, things would soon turn around quickly.

This is a different Juraj Slafkovsky.

He wants the puck. He wants to be the difference maker. pic.twitter.com/5y4O7xQWCl

— /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) December 29, 2025

At the 9:16 mark of the 3rd period, Slafkovsky would rip a wrist shot from the slot past Johansson to cut the lead to 4-2. While it may have just been a goal to cut the lead to 2 goals, it was the marker that officially turned the game around and gave the momentum the Habs lost after Kucherov’s goal in the 2nd period right back.

Dobson fait dire que ce n’est pas fini

Noah doubt about it#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/KREBPjYmiI

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) December 29, 2025

Just 3 minutes later, Noah Dobson would bring the Habs within one after he fired a perfectly placed wrist shot into the net from just inside the right faceoff circle to make it a 4-3 game.

JURAJ SLAFKOVSKY TIES THE GAME WITH 3.8 SECONDS TO GO IN 🤯🚨 pic.twitter.com/LOx7JU2NTe

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) December 29, 2025

It wasn’t until 3.8 seconds left in the 3rd period, with Fowler pulled, that the Canadiens would capitalize off a set play coming off the faceoff win by Phillip Danault. Lane Hutson’s original shot was blocked and went onto Demidov’s stick before he got the puck over to Slafkovsky, who would rip a one-timer past Johansson from the right half wall to tie the game and send it to overtime. Since being paired with Demidov on the 2nd line, Slafkovsky has been the team’s best offensive forward over the last few weeks. Without Slafkovsky and Demidov carrying the team on their backs, there is no way there would have been overtime tonight.

During overtime, the Canadiens controlled most of the play with multiple scoring chances where they could have ended it at 3-on-3. However, the best chance in the entire 5 minutes likely came when Kucherov got another breakaway chance on Fowler, but this time he would stand tall and keep the game going. As for the Canadiens, the best chance likely came when Mike Matheson attempted to deke out Johansson with a spin in front of the net, but his move failed to fool the Lightning netminder, and a shootout would be needed.

First round:

Goncalves ✅
Demidov ❌

— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) December 29, 2025

In the shootout, the Canadiens were dominated, as both Demidov and Caufield weren’t able to score, while Goncalves and Point would beat Fowler low glove side, which gave the Lightning the win. They also moved into 1st place in the Atlantic Division with the victory.

It was an up-and-down matchup where, at one point, the Habs looked like they had no chance of winning the game, but they worked hard and got the job done on a night that they had one of their most frustrating 2nd periods of the regular season, thanks to bad bounces. A single point coming from a massive comeback like that could end up being the difference between making the playoffs and missing out at the end of the year.

The Canadiens will be back in action to take on the Florida Panthers on Tuesday at 7:00 pm ET, where they will be hoping to carry the momentum from their late game comeback.

Are you happy to see the Habs escape Tampa Bay with a point, or are you disappointed that they couldn’t get the 2nd point?