This was not a game for the faint of heart. If the intensity of an NHL playoff game is not your cup of tea, this was not the game for you. Tonight the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the visiting Montreal Canadiens by a score of 4 to 2 at Amalie Arena.
Personally, I love the way this new Atlantic Division rivalry is heating up. Last season, the Tampa Bay Lightning took the season series but Montreal swept the Ben Bishop-less Lightning out of the playoffs.
This season while Carey Price has been a brick wall to the rest of the NHL, the Lightning has beaten him in all four games, with one remaining. And they haven’t just eked out a win here and there; they have outscored the Canadiens and Price by a composite score of 16 to 5.
After an initial feeling out by each team tonight, Valtteri Filppula opened the scoring a little over 10 minutes in the first period.
Filppula was attempting to pass it to a wide open Jonathan Drouin in front of the net but his pass (shot) hit a sliding Montreal defender sliding through the five hole of Carey Price. They don’t have to be pretty; they just have to go in the net.
Five minutes later, still in the first period, an uncharacteristic error on the part of Montreal captain, Max Pacioretty, as he blindly fed a back pass to a wide open Steven Stamkos coming out of the Canadiens zone. Stammer turned around on a dime and zeroed in on Price wide open and blasted a slap shot for a 2 to 0 lead.
To epitomize the intensity of this budding rivalry, there was a fight in each of the three periods. In the undercard, Mike Angelidis went toe to toe with the Canadien’s Brandon Prust. For a few seconds, Angelidis landed a couple of punches before falling and taking Prust with him to the ice.
The game got a little chippy at times and at about the 15 minute mark of the first, Alex Galchenyuk and Victor Hedman had offsetting penalties after Galchenyuk lifted the stick of Anton Stralman right into the face of Ben Bishop. Hedman naturally took exception and earned the roughing call.
Heading into the second period, with a two goal lead, the Lightning seemed determine to keep the petal to the metal and scored just under the three minute mark when Alex Killorn flipped a sweet saucer pass to a streaking Victor Hedman coming up the middle. Hedman went in alone on Carey Price and lifted the puck past him for a 3 to 0 lead. This turned out to be the game winner.
Looking to spark his team, Prust took an opportunity to hit Ben Bishop while the Lightning goalie was behind his net clearing out the puck. Prust nailed Bishop hard and the entire Lightning five took exception a a huge scrum ensued.
A two minute goaltender interference call was called on Prust. Continuing the fight schedule for the night, Vlad Namestnikov and Brendan Gallagher met halfway in the 2nd and while the fight was a draw, Names certainly got his punches in on Gallagher.
Splitting a pair of goals in the second period, the Lightning took a 3 to 1 lead into the final period. Everyone in the capacity crowd knew that Montreal was going to come out of their dressing room and give it all they have. They did and the Lightning appeared not to be ready. A whole 34 seconds into the 3rd, Montreal scored to put the pressure on the Lightning and make it a 3 to 2 game.
In a rematch of the first fight of the night, Mike Angelidis and Brandon Prust met again on center ice and this fight lasted a little longer than the preliminary with Angelidis getting in a few good licks on the Bishop basher. The game remained Lightning 3, Montreal 2 until with a little over two minutes left in regulation, Lars Eller did a take down on J.T. Brown and was called for a holding penalty.
Shortly after the Bolts Power Play began, the Canadiens pulled Price for the extra attacker. That plan did not work. Steven Stamkos took a nice feed from Namestnikov to seal the game with a little over a minute to go. The game ended that way 4 – 2 Lightning.
So, for 88 regular season games now the Tampa Bay Lightning have not lost three games in a row. That streak continued tonight. They also tied the Canadiens atop the Atlantic Division with 93 points. Next up is the Detroit Red Wings on Friday night at the Amalie Arena. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m.
Next: Nikita Kucherov Unlikely to Face Supplemental Discipline for Enstrom Hit
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