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05/03 21:00 CDT Canadiens outlast Lightning 2-1 in Game 7 to win thrilling
1st-round series
Canadiens outlast Lightning 2-1 in Game 7 to win thrilling 1st-round series
By ROB MAADDI
AP Sports Writer
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) --- The Montreal Canadiens made the most of their limited
opportunities.
Alex Newhook broke a tie with 8:53 left and Montreal --- with only nine shots
on goal --- outlasted the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 in Game 7 on Sunday night to
end the thrilling first-round series.
The Canadiens will face the Buffalo Sabres in the second round after finishing
off their first series victory since losing the Stanley Cup Final to Tampa Bay
in 2021. Game 1 is Wednesday night in Buffalo.
Rookie goaltender Jakub Dobes made 28 saves and Nick Suzuki got his first goal
of the series for Montreal. The Canadiens are the first team to win a playoff
game with fewer than 10 shots on goal since shots were first tracked in the
1959-60 season.
"Sometimes you win the game and not the score," Lightning coach Jon Cooper
said. "When it's Game 7, there's no moral victory."
Each game of the series was decided by one goal and four went to overtime. The
score was tied or within one goal for all but six minutes in the seven games.
"It's a tough building to play in, it's a chaotic environment out there,"
Suzuki said. "We've been a good road team all season. We knew we had to come in
here and anything can happen in a Game 7."
The Lightning were eliminated in the first round for the fourth straight season
after falling two wins short of a Stanley Cup three-peat in 2022.
Tampa Bay's tough defense held the Canadiens without a shot for nearly 27
minutes from the first period into the third and just four through two periods.
Brandon Hagel made an outstanding, sliding stick save with an open net in the
final minute but the Lightning couldn't get the tying goal during a 6-on-5 and
6-on-4 for the final six seconds.
Montreal got a couple lucky bounces to score twice on its first eight shots on
goal.
After Lane Hutson fired a slap shot that went wide and bounced back out,
Newhook backhanded the puck out of the air and in off Andrei Vasilevskiy's pad
and his backside.
"Great hand-eye coordination by Newy," Suzuki said. "He's been a big-game
player. I'm definitely happy for him."
Playing in front of their 461st consecutive sellout crowd and hundreds more
fans watching from Thunder Alley outside Benchmark International Arena, the
Lightning lost for the 11th time in their last 13 playoff games at home,
including three times in this series.
"You can't lose three at home," Hagel said.
The Canadiens didn't have a shot on net in the second period despite two
power-play chances. They became the first team to have zero shots in a playoff
period since Pittsburgh in Game 1 of the 2017 Stanley Cup Finals against
Nashville.
Dominic James tipped in Charle-Edouard D'Astous' one-timer from just inside the
blue line to tie it at 1 on a power play in the second period.
Suzuki opened the scoring 1:21 left in the first. After scoring 29 goals in the
regular season, Suzuki needed a lucky bounce to get one. His redirection of
Kaiden Guhle's slap shot was heading wide but the puck hit Lightning defenseman
J.J. Moser and went in.
Montreal's Martin St. Louis, a Hockey Hall of Famer whose No. 26 is retired by
the Lightning, became the fifth player to appear in a Game 7 for a team and
coach against them in another.
___
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
