After falling into a 2-0 hole to start the contest, the Tampa Bay Lightning rallied together and wrapped up 2023 with a 4-3 win over the Montreal Canadiens Sunday night at AMALIE Arena.
Following Cole Caufield’s game-opening tally at the 3:58 mark of the second period, the Bolts found themselves down 2-0 when Montreal scored a goal at the 11:59 mark that got the crowd into the game and ignited the players as well.
Sam Montembeault made an initial save for the Canadiens and held onto the puck for a few seconds before music began playing in the arena and nearly everyone thought the play was over. But Kelly Sutherland’s whistle was never blown as Montembeault dropped the puck onto the stick of Johnathan Kovacevic, who fired the puck the length of the ice and into a wide-open net with Jonas Johansson skating off to the corner in his usual post-whistle routine.
The play was reviewed and the goal was upheld, sparking the crowd and setting up a response shift from Tyler Motte, Tanner Jeannot and Austin Watson. The trio produced arguably the most physical shift of the game, throwing multiple heavy hits and seemingly flipping the momentum.
Moments later, Brayden Point took a pass from Nick Paul and flew into the Canadiens zone before beating Montembeault glove side to make it a 2-1 game with 5:59 remaining in the middle frame.
