Victory: Montreal in a playoff position

Dose
Crédit:

After a weekend break, the CH returned to action tonight against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

A big four-point game.

Here are the lineups:

The two teams seemed headed to the locker room tied after one period, but towards the end of the engagement, Nikita Kucherov took advantage of a strange rebound in the crease to open the scoring.

This marked his 10th consecutive game with at least one point for the Russian.

Right from the beginning of the second period, Jake Guentzel doubled the lead for his team after another defensive lapse by the home team.

He enjoys facing the CH, that one.

But a bad penalty in the offensive zone by Conor Geekie turned the game around.

First, Juraj Slafkovsky found the net from an impossible angle.

1 minute and 49 seconds later, Alex Newhook scored with a powerful and accurate shot.

My colleague Félix Forget actually asked in the group chat DLC: “Since when has Alex Newhook become Shea Weber?”

During this sequence of two quick goals, Patrik Laine recorded two assists and Lane Hutson extended his streak to nine games with at least one assist.

In the third period, the officials put away their whistles.

But that didn’t prevent Montreal from scoring. Late in the game (2:15 remaining), Jake Evans outsmarted Andrei Vasilevskiy with a weak shot that surprised the Russian. On the play, Joel Armia collected his 100th career assist.

Both played an outstanding game!

This was the game-winning goal.

Final score: 3-2. Montreal is in the playoffs as I write this.

Martin St-Louis’s team will be in Detroit on Thursday. Another big game for them.

Overtime

– After a tough game against Toronto on Saturday, Samuel Montembeault bounced back very well, stopping 33 of the 35 shots directed his way against Tampa Bay. No controversy in front of the net (for now), then.

– He continues to impress.

– Yes.

– The officials are strong too.

– Still.