Slafkovsky completes hat trick in OT, Canadiens defeat Lightning in Game 1 of Eastern 1st Round

TAMPA -- Juraj Slafkovsky scored his third power-play goal at 1:22 of overtime to give the Montreal Canadiens a 4-3 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Benchmark International Arena on Sunday.​

Slafkovsky beat Andrei Vasilevskiy with a snap shot from the left face-off circle after Tampa Bay forward Jake Guentzel was assessed a high-sticking minor with 21 seconds left in regulation.

He is the first Canadiens player with a playoff hat trick since Rene Bourque (Game 5 of 2014 Conference Final).

"I found some open space there and decided to shoot it, thankfully it went in, so we're real happy," Slafkovsky said. "But we've got to stay focused. We've got another game in two days, so we've got to make sure we're prepared for that."

Josh Anderson also scored, and Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield each had two assists for the Canadiens, who are the No. 3 seed from the Atlantic Division. Jakub Dobes made 20 saves.

Brandon Hagel scored twice, Darren Raddysh had a goal, and Guentzel had three assists for the Lightning, who are the No. 2 seed from the Atlantic. Nikita Kucherov had two assists, and Vasilevskiy made 15 saves.

Tampa Bay is 0-7 in its past seven playoff overtime games.

"I had a problem with us. We took four offensive zone penalties," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "Just look at them. That's not over aggression, that was stupidity, a lot of them. That was on us. That was a game that we just gave them an opportunity to win."

Game 2 is here on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN2, SN, CBC, TVAS, The Spot).

"They've always been a good team, they've got a lot of weapons on their team," Anderson said of Tampa Bay. "You've got to be careful when you're going up against them because they can turn the page quickly."

Anderson put the Canadiens up 1-0 at 13:24 of the first period. Alexandre Carrier won a puck battle below the goal line and sent the puck through the legs of Lightning forward Gage Goncalves out in front to Anderson, who snapped a shot past Vasilevskiy's glove.

Anderson appeared to make it 2-0 at 10:43 of the second period when he tipped Mike Matheson's point shot from in front, but the goal was overturned after a video review determined Anderson hit the puck above the crossbar.

Raddysh tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 12:15. Kucherov fed a pass to Raddysh at the top of the left circle, where he put a one-timer by Dobes' blocker.

Hagel gave Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead just 29 seconds later at 12:44, pouncing on a loose puck at the left of the net and lifting a backhand to the glove side from in tight.

"There's a lot of ups and downs and you've got to go out there and continue to play hockey," Hagel said. "I didn't hate what we did a little bit 5-on-5, and we can take some positives, but at the end of the day, we've got to do better."

Slafkovsky evened the score at 2-2 while on a power play at 19:36, scoring with a one-timer from the right circle that went over the outstretched glove of Vasilevskiy.

Slafkovsky then put Montreal up 3-2 with his second power-play goal at 5:56, taking a pass from Caufield and sneaking a snap shot from the slot under Vasilevskiy's left pad.

"He's been so good for us, and I feel like in the big moments he wants the puck," Dobes said. "He's a big-time player. I'm really proud of him and hopefully he'll do the same thing on Tuesday."​

The Lightning were the most penalized team in the NHL during the regular season, and the Canadiens took advantage of their undisciplined play, going 3-for-5 on the power play.

"Obviously, the opportunities that we gave and the number of penalties that we took are not the recipe for success in the regular season or playoffs," Tampa Bay defenseman Ryan McDonagh said. "They were able to run a lot of plays and feel the puck out there. Certainly the PK has got to step up and do a better job."

Hagel tied it 3-3 at 8:58 when he tapped in a backdoor pass from Guentzel from atop the crease.

"(Being down 1-0) is not a place you want to be, but at the same time you can look at this game and I think we shot ourselves in the foot," Hagel said. "By taking an O-zone penalty, and you can go down the list, I don't think any of those penalties we took prevented a goal. We just put goals in the back of our net."

NOTES: Slafkovsky (22 years, 20 days) became the third-youngest player in the franchise's playoff history with a hat trick, behind Bernie Geoffrion (21 years, 40 days in Game 2 of the 1952 Semifinals) and Howie Morenz (21 years, 183 days in Game 1 of 1924 Stanley Cup Final). He also became the third player in franchise playoff history to complete a hat trick with an overtime goal, joining Eric Desjardins (Game 2 of 1993 Stanley Cup Final) and Gerry Plamondon (Game 2 of 1949 Semifinals). ... Lightning forward Dominic James left in the first period after he appeared to reaggravate the lower-body injury he sustained in a 6-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Feb. 28 that caused him to miss the final 24 games of the regular season. He returned to the game and played 7:18. ... Tampa Bay defenseman Charle-Edouard D'Astous left the game in the second period after taking a hard check from Anderson, who was called for charging on the play.