MONTREAL 鈥� The Tampa Bay Lightning weren鈥檛 going to let the Montreal Canadiens avenge their loss in the 2021 Stanley Cup final.
Exactly five months after lifting their second straight cup, Ondrej Palat scored a late winner with 38 seconds left to steal a 3-2 win from Montreal at the Bell Centre Tuesday night.
Tampa Bay (16-5-4) fell behind 2-1 after surrendering goals to Montreal鈥檚 Nick Suzuki and Mike Hoffman, but the thunder rolled and the Lightning struck late in the third period.
In his first game back in Montreal, Corey Perry levelled the score late in the third period after the Lightning had pulled Andrei Vasilevskiy. Palat nailed the final coffin with 38 seconds to complete the comeback.
鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 a perfect game but it鈥檚 two points on the road so I鈥檒l take it,鈥� Palat said. 鈥�(Alex Killorn) made the right play, it was a two-on-one and I scored. I thought we did a good job in the last ten minutes.
Head coach Jon Cooper said his team is in the middle of their toughest stretch of the season, with seven of eight games coming on the road. But instead of falling to the Eastern Conference鈥檚 bottom dwellers -- Montreal is now 6-18-3 -- the Bolts tied the game and bypassed overtime to claim a fourth straight win.
鈥淚t is a different group (from the 2020-21 season), but they are finding a way,鈥� Cooper said. We've been in 10 overtime games already this year, we weren't at 10 all year last year. So I've got to give credit, they're finding ways to win.鈥�
鈥淚f we can steal a couple like we did tonight we鈥檙e taking them and running and we鈥檙e off to Toronto. You have to get darn near 100 points in this league now to get in the playoffs.鈥�
For Cooper, Perry鈥檚 has proved to be a worthy addition to Tampa鈥檚 roster. The winger lost to the Bolts in back-to-back finals but said that there was no animosity in him after he joined.
鈥淗e鈥檚 got an aura about him. When he walks in the room, he鈥檚 got a pedigree,鈥� Cooper said. 鈥淭o me, Corey Perry just makes sense. Everything that he says makes sense. There鈥檚 no fluff to him, there鈥檚 no BS, he tells it how it is in a way that 鈥榶ou know what, you鈥檙e right.鈥欌��
Cooper gave credit to general manager Julien BriseBois for adding players like Perry after losing assets to free agency and the expansion draft.
鈥淭hey find their way and you try to put them in situations where they can succeed but they鈥檙e all team-first guys,鈥� Cooper said. 鈥淚 think Julien鈥檚 done a good job of finding players that just fit with what we鈥檙e doing and Corey is a perfect example of that and one of the guys leading the way.鈥�
On the other side of the ice, the Canadiens barely had enough time to realize that two points had slipped away from them. Head coach Dominique Ducharme believed his team came out to play against the two-time champions and deserved the win but dropped the game in the final two minutes.
鈥淚t鈥檚 frustrating because we obviously deserved better,鈥� Ducharme said. 鈥淭wo plays at the end and they took advantage of the chances they had.鈥�
鈥淗aving that result tonight, I thought it would鈥檝e been a positive in the group.鈥�
The Habs had yet another blow to their squad as Christian Dvorak left the game with a lower body injury. Ducharme said that Dvorak will undergo more tests on Wednesday.
鈥淚t seems like we lose a player or two every day,鈥� Ducharme said. 鈥淎nd on a game like that where we play a solid game and they make the difference on two last plays.鈥�
Patrick Maroon scored a first-period goal for Tampa Bay. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 21 saves.
Jake Allen stopped 24 of 27 shots for Montreal.
The Canadiens made an early mistake when Habs newcomer Kale Clague turned the puck over in front of his own net, giving Maroon an easy opportunity to give the Lightning a 1-0 lead in the first period.
Montreal levelled the score on the rush at 4:20 of the second period. Suzuki drove his team forwards and bagged his sixth goal of the season.
Hoffman scored the go-ahead goal, his first since Halloween. The winger鈥檚 shot from the top of the faceoff circle zoomed through the crowd of players and beat Vasilevskiy to put the Habs up 2-1.
Perry ruined the Habs鈥� party, tying the game 2-2 with 2:06 to go.
Palat then put the final nail in Montreal鈥檚 coffin with a game-winning goal at 19:22 of the third period, throwing yet another cold shower on Habs fans at the Bell Centre.
Tristan D鈥橝mours, The Canadian Press
