This game featured one of the most bizarre goals ever witnessed. It occurred in the second period, just past the halfway point of the frame. After Sam Montembault made a save and held the puck, Lightning players on the ice assumed the play was dead. They began skating towards their bench. Inside Amalie Arena, music started to play. At the other end of the ice, goalie Jonas Johansson skated out of his net to the corner boards. But because no Lightning player came close to Montembault, the referee never blew his whistle. So Montembault dropped the puck to Johnathan Kovacevic, who fired a shot from his own zone directly into the vacated net.
The goal was allowed to stand, and it gave Montreal a 2-0 lead at 11:59 of the second. It also seemed to wake up the Lightning, who had looked flat until that point. It also woke up what had been a quiet Amalie Arena crowd — the fans were incensed at the officials.
Now fully engaged in the game, the Lightning rallied. Brayden Point converted on a breakaway at 14:01, cutting the deficit to 2-1. Before the period ended, they tied the score. Austin Watson, playing his 500th NHL game, bounced a centering feed from the right circle that skipped between Montembault’s pads.
In the third period, the Lightning continued to dictate play. They broke the tie when Calvin de Haan netted his first goal of the season — he completed a rush chance by wiring a left-circle shot inside the far post at 7:49. Nikita Kucherov made it 4-2 at 14:54. Victor Hedman delivered a perfect pass from the top of the right circle to Kucherov at the back post. Kucherov wristed the puck into an open side of the net. That turned out to be an important insurance goal because Nick Suzuki tallied a sixth-attacker goal at 17:55. But the Habs would get no closer.
The Lightning not only overcame the adversity of the Kovacevic goal, but they also mounted their comeback with an injury-depleted lineup. During the second period, they lost both Erik Cernak and Haydn Fleury to injury, so they played much of the final two periods with only four defensemen. Luke Glendening also missed 17 minutes of time (mostly during the second period) after he picked up an instigator penalty. He fought Josh Anderson, who delivered a big check on Cernak that caused the injury.
The come-from-behind win allowed the Lightning to end their two-game losing streak and finish their key six-game stretch (in which five were played at home) with a 4-2-0 record. They’ll head out of town to begin 2024, playing games in Winnipeg, Minnesota, and Boston.
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game (as selected by Phil Esposito):
- Nikita Kucherov — Lightning. Goal and assist.
- Victor Hedman — Lightning. Two assists.
- Jonas Johansson — Lightning. 27 saves.
