Tampa Bay Lightning v. Montreal Canadiens – Game 3
Tampa Leads Series 2-0
Game Recap:
Heading into Game 3 the Montreal Canadiens look to stay alive against the Tampa Bay Lightning as the series heads north of the border. However, for the Habs the game would not start very well for them. Less than two minutes into the game Jan Rutta would strike as Carey Price would be screened and unable to see the puck as the Bolts took the fast 1-0 lead. Then Eric Staal would accidentally flip the puck over the glass to take the delay of game penalty, and the Bolts would strike again, this time Victor Hedman would launch a point shot to grow their lead to two. The Habs would get revitalized as Phillip Danault would strike for his first of the playoffs to bring the Habs back within one. The Habs would also get a late powerplay opportunity, but would not be able to convert on the extra man advantage as the Bolts take the 2-1 lead into the first intermission.
In the second period the Bolts would continue to strike quickly as Nikita Kucherov would score to retake the two goal lead 1:40 into the period,and the Tyler Johnson would score off a rebound 3:33 into the period to give the Lightning the 4-1 lead. Late in the second period Nick Suzuki would show his speed and would get one past Andrei Vasilevskiy to cut the Lightning’s lead down to two, but it’s a tough battle uphill for the Canadiens.
In the third period Corey Perry would score for the Habs, but Johnson’s second of the game, and a Blake Coleman empty netter would give the Lightning the 6-3 victory and a 3-0 series lead as they look to close out the series on Monday night.
Lineups:
Tampa Bay Lightning:
Ondrej Palat — Brayden Point — Nikita Kucherov
Tyler Johnson — Anthony Cirelli — Steven Stamkos
Barclay Goodrow — Yanni Gourde — Blake Coleman
Pat Maroon — Ross Colton — Mathieu Joseph
Victor Hedman — Jan Rutta
Ryan McDonagh — Erik Cernak
Mikhail Sergachev — David Savard
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Curtis McElhinney
Scratched: Luke Schenn, Alex-Barre Boulet, Boris Katchouk, Taylor Raddysh, Gemel Smith, Mitchell Stephens, Daniel Walcott, Fredrik Claesson, Cal Foote, Ben Thomas, Christopher Gibson, Spencer Martin
Injured: Alex Killorn (undisclosed)
Montreal Canadiens:
Artturi Lehkonen — Phillip Danault — Brendan Gallagher
Tyler Toffoli — Nick Suzuki — Cole Caufield
Paul Byron — Jesperi Kotkaniemi — Josh Anderson
Joel Armia — Eric Staal — Corey Perry
Ben Chiarot — Shea Weber
Joel Edmundson — Jeff Petry
Erik Gustafsson — Jon Merrill
Carey Price
Jake Allen
Scratched: Jake Evans, Cale Fleury, Alexander Romanov, Lukas Vejdemo, Laurent Dauphin, Jesse Ylonen, Alex Belzile, Xavier Ouellet, Otto Leskinen, Michael Frolik, Brett Kulak, Tomas Tatar, Cayden Primeau, Charlie Lindgren, Michael McNiven
Injured: None
First Period:
TB Goal – 1:52 – Jan Rutta (2) from Ondrej Palat (7) and Victor Hedman (16)
MON Penalty – 2:54 – Eric Staal 2 minutes for Delay of Game
TB PPG – 3:27 – Victor Hedman (2) from Nikita Kucherov (24) and Anthony Cirelli (7)
MON Goal – 11:16 – Phillip Danault (1) from Shea Weber (5)
TB Penalty – 17:29 – Mikhail Sergachev 2 minutes for Interference
| End of First | TB – 2 | MON – 1 |
| Shots | 12 | 17 |
| Faceoff Wins | 10 | 11 |
| Hits | 19 | 18 |
| Powerplay | 1/1 | 0/1 |
Second Period:
TB Goal – 1:40 – Nikita Kucherov (8) from Ondrej Palat (8) and Erik Cernak (9)
TB Goal – 3:33 – Tyler Johnson (3) from Mathieu Joseph (1) and David Savard
MON Goal – 18:04 – Nick Suzuki (7) from Jeff Petry (6) and Cole Caufield (6)
| End of Second | TB – 4 | MON – 2 |
| Shots | 21 | 25 |
| Faceoff Wins | 20 | 18 |
| Hits | 36 | 33 |
| Powerplay | 1/1 | 0/1 |
Third Period:
TB Goal – 15:19 – Tyler Johnson (4) from unassisted
MON Goal – 15:58 – Corey Perry (4) from Brendan Gallagher (4)
TB ENG – 16:48 – Blake Coleman (3) from Barclay Goodrow (4)
| End of Third | TB – 5 | MON – 3 |
| Shots | 30 | 35 |
| Faceoff Wins | 31 | 30 |
| Hits | 45 | 38 |
| Powerplay | 1/1 | 0/1 |
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