The Tampa Bay Lightning passed a gut check Sunday night, rallying from two goals down to defeat the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 at Bell Centre and even their Eastern Conference First Round series at two wins apiece.
Brandon Hagel’s second goal of the game with 4:53 remaining in regulation capped the comeback. Hagel was battling for position in front of Montreal goaltender Jakub Dobes when Nikita Kucherov flung the puck at the net from the right boards near the top of the circle.
The shot hit him and deflected into the net to give the Lightning their first lead of the night.
WHO ELSE?! 🤯Brandon Hagel's sixth goal of the series gives the @TBLightning the lead in the third! #StanleyCup 🇺🇸: @espn 🇨🇦: @Sportsnet & @TVASports pic.twitter.com/dYnqGcCeMb
Hagel had tied the game 2-2 at 1:40 of the third period, winning inside position in front of the net and converting a cross-crease pass from Kucherov for a power-play goal.
Jake Guentzel’s goal in the final minute of the second period got Tampa Bay on the board after Montreal grabbed a 2-0 lead on goals by Zachary Bolduc and Cole Caufield.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 16 saves for his 69th career playoff victory. Dobes stopped 17 shots.
The teams get two days off before Game 5 at Benchmark International Arena on Wednesday night. The Lightning will try to win consecutive playoff games for the first time since the 2022 Eastern Conference Final, when they lost the first two games to the New York Rangers before winning the next four.
The Lightning got an early chance to grab the lead when Montreal was called for too many men just 2:04 after the opening face-off. They controlled the puck in the offensive zone for most of the two minutes, but Dobes stopped a rocket by Darren Raddysh and Canadiens defenseman Kaiden Guhle got his stick on Brayden Point’s open shot from the slot.
Montreal didn’t get a shot on goal until Caufield tested Vasilevskiy at 6:20. But the Canadiens got six shots in a 3:48 span after the Bolts took consecutive penalties – Max Crozier went off for high-sticking at 7:22 and Yanni Gourde was called for cross-checking at 9:10. Vasilevskiy was up to the challenge, stopping a shot by Game 3 hero Lane Hutson and denying Game 1 hero Juraj Slafkovsky on the rebound.
The last nine minutes of the period had penalty of hits by the Canadiens (who finished the period a 23-10 advantage), but few testing shots on either goaltender. Montreal finished the period with a 9-6 edge in shots on goal, but the Lightning held them to just three at 5-on-5 and none at all in the final 8:04 of the period.
The first half of the second period was more of the same. Tampa Bay did nothing with an early power play after Josh Anderson was sent off for boarding 41 seconds the period, and neither team generated much offense.
MONTREAL HAS THE ICEBREAKER IN GAME 4! 🔵⚪️🔴 #StanleyCup 🇺🇸: @espn 🇨🇦: @Sportsnet & @TVASports pic.twitter.com/hPoECDAcBU
But the game turned just after the midway point when the Canadiens finally opened the scoring.
Bolduc took a pass at the Tampa Bay blue line and cut for the net, with Raddysh trying to fend him off. As Bolduc got close to the net, Vasilevskiy poke-checked the puck, but it hit the Canadiens forward and bounced into the net at 10:06, giving Montreal a 1-0 lead.
Guentzel took a bad slashing penalty at 12:24 for taking a whack at Dobes after a save, and the Canadiens capitalized at 13:29 thanks to a slick play by their top line. Nick Suzuki controlled the puck in the left corner and Caufield, a 51-goal scorer during the regular season, went to the front of the net and got inside position before deflecting a perfect pass behind a helpless Vasilevskiy for a 2-0 lead.
But the Lightning appeared to get a jolt of energy after Crozier, playing in his first game of the series, leveled Slafkovsky at center ice with a ferocious but clean hit just before the 18-minute mark.
A GORGEOUS GIVE-AND-GO 🙌The @TBLightning cut the lead in half! #StanleyCup 🇺🇸: @espn🇨🇦: @Sportsnet & @TVASports pic.twitter.com/gXrRUDSMp9
Guentzel then made up for the power-play goal by getting the Lightning on the board with 54 seconds remaining. With the teams playing 4-on-4, he carried the puck around the net, gave it to J.J. Moser at the right point, raced to the front of the net and converted a sensational pass by Moser for his first goal of the season, cutting the deficit to 2-1.
The Lightning didn’t generate much on the power play in the first two periods, but they were nearly flawless after Oliver Kapanen was called for high-sticking 51 seconds into third. Tampa Bay worked the puck around the offensive zone before the Kucherov-to-Hagel combination tied the game.