The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-1 to win a thrilling Game 2 in the Stanley Cup Final. This gives them a 2-0 series lead, and makes it closer to a back-to-back Stanley Cup championship.
Although it wasn’t pretty, the Lightning won despite Montreal playing some great hockey and outshooting Tampa Bay by 43 to 23.
The Canadiens kept the first period scoreless by successfully killing off two penalties and Carey Price making 13 saves. Montreal missed an opportunity to lead the Habs in the second period. With just over 1:30 remaining, Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh was given a double minor for high sticking.
Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay’s goaltender, had six saves during the first period.
Six minutes into the second period, Center Anthony Cirelli broke the silence after taking an innocent-looking shot at the blue line to give Lightning a 1-0 lead.
Montreal would respond shortly after, with Nick Suzuki scoring a power play goal off a win on a faceoff. Defenseman Mikhail Sergachev was sent into the penalty box for interference.
The Habs controlled the second period. They outshot the Lightning 16-7 in that second period and 29-13 overall. However, this was overshadowed by Blake Coleman scoring with just 0.03 seconds remaining. Tampa Bay took a 2-1 lead.
According to SportsNet Stats, Coleman was the first player to score a playoff goal within the final second of a period.
Montreal was the stronger team in the third period, but Vasilevskiy was the most dominant Lightning player. Tampa’s win was secured by Ondrej Palt, who scored with 4:18 remaining after being fed the puck by Joel Edmundson.
After the buzzer sounded, two fights broke out. This was Montreal’s frustration at not being able convert dominating play into victory.
The series returns to Montreal for Games 3 & 4, which will begin Friday night.
