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| 4:00 PM PT5:00 PM MT6:00 PM CT7:00 PM ET23:00 GMT7:00 4:00 PM MST6:00 PM EST3:00 UAE (+1)19:00 ETNaN:� BRT, March 18, 2023 Amalie Arena, Tampa, Florida Attendance: 19,092 |
Canadiens aim to rebound against tough Lightning squad
Montreal Canadiens at Tampa Bay Lightning
- Tampa Bay has taken points in nine straight (8-0-1) and won 13 of the last 15 meetings against Montreal, including wins in the two December meetings this season by a combined score of 9-2. The Habs, meanwhile, have dropped eight of their nine trips to Tampa dating back to the 2017-18 season, with the lone win coming via shootout on April 2 last season.
- Montreal surrendered seven first-period goals on Thursday in Florida, the sixth time in NHL history that a team has allowed seven goals in the opening frame and the first since the Habs did so in Hartford on October 19, 1985. The Canadiens have been involved in all six instances, as the scoring team three times and as the conceding team three times.
- Mike Matheson's opening goal at 16 seconds in was the second-earliest goal by the Canadiens this season -- Juraj Slafkovksy scored at 13 seconds on December 1 against Calgary. Matheson has 12 points (5g, 7a) in his last 14 games after tallying 11 points (2g, 9a) in his first 21 skates this season.
- Tampa Bay took both ends of a two-game road trip to New Jersey, including a 4-3 shootout win on Thursday. The Lightning scored the first goal of Thursday's win at 1:06 in the first period, their 10th goal in the first two minutes of play -- tied with the Canucks for most in the NHL.
- Steven Stamkos was involved in all three Tampa goals in Thursday's win, scoring two himself and assisting on the other. Stamkos has 22 goals in 45 career skates against Montreal, tied for fourth-most among active skaters; only Alex Ovechkin (37), Patrice Bergeron (24), and Jeff Skinner (23) have more.
- Nikita Kucherov notched his 70th assist of the season on Thursday, second only to Connor McDavid (74). Kucherov has been involved in 40.8 percent of the Lightning's goals this season, third in the NHL behind McDavid (48.9 percent) and Erik Karlsson (42.9 percent).
The Montreal Canadiens will be looking for a few things to show up in their play when they travel up Florida's Gulf Coast to play the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night -- a short memory and the ability to bounce back.
Stung by a 9-5 throttling by the Florida Panthers in a very forgettable Thursday night in south Florida, Montreal (27-36-6, 60 points) surrendered seven goals in the match's opening 13:18 and saw goaltenders Sam Montembeault and Jake Allen tag in and out as the home side scored on nine of 42 shots.
Starting in goal and returning to finish the blowout, Montembeault made 21 saves on 24 shots. In his stint of 21:29, Allen let in six goals on 18 shots.
The Panthers became the first club to score seven times in the first period since the Hartford Whalers beat Montreal 11-6 on Oct. 19, 1985.
"We gave up way too many chances the whole game," said Montreal captain Nick Suzuki. "Against a team like that, with the offensive players they have, they're going to score.
"It felt like we were playing shinny hockey in the summer and they were playing to make a playoff spot. So it's pretty unacceptable from us."
The Habs got a goal and an assist each from Mike Matheson and Anthony Richard. Michael Pezzetta, Rafael Harvey-Pinard and Rem Pitlick found the net, but the Canadiens lost for the eighth time in nine games (1-6-2) -- in epic fashion, no less.
"There's nothing we can do about it," said Pitlick, who tallied on the power play. "I thought we made some push-back, too. (Coach) Marty (St. Louis) kind of left us as a group in between periods, and some things were said. I did think that we made some pushes."
The Lightning (41-22-6, 88 points) had to push to the end, hung on in overtime and saw Alex Killorn ring home the game-deciding goal in the shootout's bottom of the third round of a 4-3 win at the New Jersey Devils.
In a critical third period with the game knotted at 2-2, Tampa Bay killed off a full two-minute, five-on-three Devils power play. Steven Stamkos then exited the penalty box and scored the go-ahead goal with less than five minutes to play.
New Jersey's Timo Meier did tie it over two minutes later with his second tally of the match, but the enormous effort on the penalty kill and the 29th marker by Stamkos -- who had two goals and an assist -- put the visitors in position to win.
"I think the turning point was the penalty kill for us, the five-on-three," said defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, who dealt out two assists. "(Defensively), we were on the inside. We didn't let them do much. They were shooting from the outside."
In two victories this season, the defending Eastern Conference champions have a 9-2 scoring advantage over the Habs.
--Field Level Media
Updated March 17, 2023
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