The Montreal Canadiens played very well in this game and were deserving of the two points they collected. The Lightning weren’t as sharp as their opponent, both with and without the puck. They ceded some high-danger chances with sloppy coverage, and they fueled Montreal’s attack with turnovers. They also passed up some opportunities to shoot, especially in the second half of the game. As a result, they wrapped up what had been a good overall month of December with a regulation loss.
The Canadiens took control of this contest in the middle of the second period, breaking open a 1-1 tie. The first half, though, was mostly evenly played. At the second TV timeout of the middle stanza, which came with just over nine minutes remaining in the period, shots were 16-16. Just prior to that timeout, though, the Canadiens had strung together a couple of strong successive shifts. This trend continued after play resumed. But through the first 27 minutes or so, the Lightning had created more dangerous scoring chances. Sam Montembeault yielded a goal to Brandon Hagel in the first minute of the second — Hagel finished an open look from the slot, tying the game at one. But Montembeault made several saves on other Grade-A scoring looks, including two additional shots from Hagel, one from Conor Geekie, and one from Brayden Point.
Montreal had gotten a first-period goal from Alex Newhook, a tally that came after the Lightning lost coverage on Newhook in the slot. But the Canadiens really started dictating action as the second period neared the halfway point. After that middle TV timeout of the second period, the Canadiens decisively controlled play the rest of the way. They outshot the Lightning, 21-7, over the final 29 minutes and dominated possession. They grabbed a 2-1 lead at 12:34 of the second when Christian Dvorak established position in the low slot and deflected home Kaiden Guhle’s right-point wrist shot. Jake Evans extended the lead when he converted on a two-on-one rush at 18:28, a play that started with a Lightning offensive-zone turnover. Although Nikita Kucherov answered with a goal on the next shift, the Lightning struggled to create good looks the rest of the way.
Credit the Canadiens for defending well and limiting chances in the game’s second half. But the Lightning also hurt themselves by passing out of possible shot opportunities. The Canadiens extended their lead at 12:32 of the third when Joel Armia finished a two-on-zero rush chance, and Brendan Gallagher finished the scoring with an empty-netter at 18:07.
Montreal entered the game having won four of its last five games and was coming off an impressive 4-0 win against the Panthers on Saturday afternoon. The Habs delivered another strong performance tonight.
The Lightning have come out of the holiday break with two subpar outings. They overcame their issues on Saturday against the Rangers, thanks to their special-teams success and Andrei Vasilevskiy’s 42-save outing. But they weren’t able to replicate that against Montreal.
Still, it was a strong finish to 2024 for the Lightning, who went 8-3-0 in December. They’ll look to raise their level to the pre-holiday break standard when they begin their California trip on Thursday in San Jose.
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game (as selected by Phil Esposito):
- Sam Montembault — Canadiens. 21 saves.
- Alexandre Carrier — Canadiens. Two assists.
- Jonas Johansson — Lightning. 32 saves.
