The visiting Montreal Canadiens took Sunday’s Atlantic Division game against the Tampa Bay Lightning at AMALIE Arena by a 5-2 score.
Montreal scored the game’s first goal, but the Lightning tied the contest 37 seconds into the second period on Brandon Hagel’s 17th goal of the season. After the Canadiens had scored twice to make it 3-1, Nikita Kucherov scored with 1:06 left in the second to cut the lead to 3-2.
Montreal continued the scoring in the third period with a Joel Armia goal. Armia joined teammate Alexandre Carrier to lead all players with two points on Sunday.
Brendan Gallagher's empty-net goal sealed the 5-2 result for Montreal.
Tampa Bay goalie Jonas Johansson made 31 saves, while Sam Montembeault earned the win with 21 saves.
The Lightning are now 20-12-2. They continue play on Thursday when they visit the San Jose Sharks.
Scoring summary
First Period
MTL 1, TBL 0
12:07 Alex Newhook (7) - Mike Matheson, Patrik Laine
The Canadiens scored the game’s first goal 7:53 into play. Forward Alex Newhook scored on a one-timer from the left hashmark in front of the Tampa Bay net.
Shots on goal: TBL 10, MTL 9
Second Period
MTL 1, TBL 1
00:37 Brandon Hagel (17) - Unassisted
The Lightning tied Sunday’s game 37 seconds after the first intermission. Forward Brandon Hagel found a loose puck near the top of the offensive zone and danced his way to the front of the net, where he beat Montreal goalie Sam Montembeault on the glove side with a shot.
MTL 2, TBL 1
12:34 Christian Dvorak (3) - Kaiden Guhle, Alexandre Carrier
A blueline shot from defenseman Kaiden Guhle was tipped by Christian Dvorak and allowed the Canadiens to retake the lead in period two.
MTL 3, TBL 1
18:28 Jake Evans (10) - Joel Armia, Carrier
Montreal extended its lead on a 2-on-1, when Jake Evans roofed a shot into the top left corner of the net late in period two.
MTL 3, TBL 2
18:54 Nikita Kucherov (17) - Darren Raddysh
Tampa Bay’s leading scorer pulled his team back within a goal of the Canadiens 26 seconds after the Evans goal, tucking home a loose puck behind Montembeault near the net.
Shots on goal: MTL 14, TBL 8
Third Period
MTL 4, TBL 2
12:32 Armia (7) - Emil Heineman
The Canadiens capitalized on a 2-on-0 rush to extend their lead to two goals in period three when forward Joel Armia one-timed the puck inside the left post.
MTL 5, TBL 2
18:08 Brendan Gallagher (10) - Josh Anderson, Carrier - EN
Brendan Gallagher's empty-net goal ended the scoring.
Total shots: MTL 36, TBL 23
