John Kreiser
The Tampa Bay Lightning are one defeat away from their fourth straight opening-round elimination from the Stanley Cup Playoffs after a 3-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference First Round series at Benchmark International Arena on Wednesday night.
Alexandre Texier’s goal 1:06 into the third period broke a 2-2 tie and the Canadiens’ defense and goaltender Jakub Dobes combined to do the rest. The defense held the Lightning without a shot on goal for 10 minutes after Texier’s goal put Montreal ahead. Dobes made eight of his 38 saves after the Lightning pulled goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy for an extra attacker.
The Canadiens can close out the best-of-7 series by winning Game 6 before what’s sure to be a raucous full house at Bell Centre on Friday.
Montreal never trailed, getting an early goal from Brendan Gallagher and a goal by Kirby Dach in the second period. Dach’s goal came just 11 seconds after the Lightning tied the game on a goal by Dominic James.
Jake Guentzel tied the game 2-2 late in the second period. The Lightning had an excellent chance early in the third before Texier fired a shot from the left circle that hit Vasilevskiy’s glove and deflected into the net.
“We just lost a Game 5, so there’s lots going on in my head right now,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “Did I think we had our best game? We clearly did not. Is it really disappointing to come home and lose? It is.
“We gave ourselves chances to score, we just didn’t. Can we do some things better? No question. But the fact we kept going down, we had to keep chasing the game. That’s not a recipe for success.”
Tampa Bay is trying to avoid being eliminated from the playoffs in the opening round for the fourth consecutive year. The Bolts haven’t won a series since defeating the New York Rangers in six games to win the 2022 Eastern Conference Final. They lost to the Colorado Avalanche in the Stanley Cup Final and haven’t gotten past the first round since then.
The Canadiens had plenty of jump from the opening face-off, pushing the play and nearly scoring 26 seconds in. Vasilevskiy came up big by stopping rookie Ivan Demidov from close range.
But the Canadiens kept pushing and got on the board at the 3-minute mark. Gallagher, who replaced Oliver Kapanen in the lineup, got to the front of the net and popped in the carom of Alex Newhook’s shot to give Montreal a quick 1-0 lead.
Montreal had a chance to add to its lead when Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh was assessed a double minor for high-sticking at 7:30. But the Canadiens managed just one shot during the four-minute power play, and the kill appeared to give the Lightning a jolt of energy.
Oliver Bjorkstrand beat Dobes at 12:39, but his backhander from the left circle hit the post and the crossbar but bounced away. Tampa Bay also had a couple of good chances during its first power play after Jake Evans went off for delay of game at 13:06. The period ended with the Canadiens leading 1-0, though the Lightning had an 8-6 edge in shots on goal.
Tampa Bay came up empty on two power plays early in the second period. Vasilevskiy kept the deficit at one on the first advantage when he stopped Evans on a breakaway.
The Bolts then tied the game at 6:49 on James’ first career playoff goal. The speedy rookie came down the right side on a 2-on-1 with McDonagh, opted to shoot and beat Dobes high to the short side from near the right face-off dot.
But the Canadiens needed just 11 seconds to regain the lead. Dach bulled his way from the left wall to the front of the net. Vasilevskiy tipped the puck away, but he kicked it back onto his stick and buried it into the open left side to make it 2-1.
Montreal controlled the pace of play for the next 10 minutes, keeping the Lightning in their own zone for most of that time. However, the Bolts capitalized on another 2-on-1 to tie the score at 17:23. Defenseman Mike Matheson came down into the right circle, but his shot missed the net and he got caught. Guentzel picked up the puck, raced down the right side and beat Dobes from almost the same spot James scored from. That tied the score 2-2.
Darren Raddysh rang the post behind Dobes in the first minute of the third period. Nikita Kucherov picked up the rebound and had an open net but whiffed.
On the return rush, Texier took a long pass and fired from inside the left circle. It’s a shot Vasilevskiy should have stopped but didn’t. The puck hit the inside of the wrist area of the glove and floated into the net.
The Canadiens stifled the Lightning for the next 16-plus minutes before coach Jon Cooper pulled Vasilevskiy. Tampa Bay put on tremendous pressure in the final minute but couldn’t find the tying goal. They left for Montreal one loss away from another playoff disappointment.
Key takeaways after the Lightning’s 3-2 loss to Montreal in Game 5
Vasy’s night not Vezina-worthy
If there’s one area that the Lightning appeared to have the edge in this series, it was in goal. Vasilevskiy was named a finalist for the Vezina Trophy a few hours before Game 5. Dobes is a rookie in his first trip to the playoffs.
But the Czechia native has more than held his own — and on Wednesday, he was the better of the two goaltenders. Admittedly, he got a lot of help from his teammates. Montreal blocked 16 shots and limited the Lightning to six high-danger scoring chances at 5-on-5, according to Natural Stat Trick. But Dobes made all the saves he should have — and then some.
Vasilevskiy faced just 24 shots, and he’ll see Texier’s game-winner in his dreams. It’s a shot he has to stop – but he didn’t.
Outplayed — and outdrawn
The Canadiens were outshot but had the better of the play for all but brief periods of the game. They got the jump on the Bolts when Gallagher scored early, quieted the crowd when Dach scored before James’ goal could be announced and got the win when Texier scored the game-winner.
One other reason for the win was that they dominated the Lightning in the face-off circle. Tampa Bay won just 17 of the game’s 50 draws (34 percent). Take away Anthony Cirelli’s 9-9 showing and the rest of the Bolts were just 8-24, with James going 0-for-8.
It was the second straight game that saw the Lightning out-drawn badly. They were 20-37 (35 percent) in Game 4, although they rallied from two goals down for a 3-2 win. It’s hard to control the tempo and generate offense when the other team dominates like that in the circle. Tampa Bay paid the price this time.
Win or go home early – again
The Lightning are one of the NHL’s top teams since the late 2010s, winning it all in 2020 and 2021 and getting back to the Final in 2022. They’ve made the playoffs in eight consecutive seasons and finished with at least 98 points in each of the past four.
But they’re one loss away from failing to get out of the first round for the fourth consecutive season. A team with Vasilevskiy, Kucherov, Guentzel, Brandon Hagel and Brayden Point (and future Hall of Fame defenseman Victor Hedman, who’s out for this series) ought to be able to find a way to get past the first round at least once in that span.
The Bolts go to Montreal with their backs against the wall. Bell Centre will be roaring and as the Canadiens try to win a playoff series for the first time since 2021. That’s when they advanced to the Final before losing to Tampa Bay). It’s a test the Lightning can’t afford to lose.
“We’ve got no choice now,” Point said. “We’ve got to show up or we’re out.”
