Lightning stun Montreal in final seconds
TAMPA, Fla. — Tyler Johnson’s goal with 1.1 seconds remaining Wednesday night gave the Tampa Bay Lightning a 2-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens and a 3-0 lead in their NHL playoff series.
Johnson scored his eighth goal of the postseason off a pass from Victor Hedman in a stunning finish for the Canadiens, who tied it midway through the third period on Brendan Gallagher’s goal.
Ben Bishop stopped 30 shots for Tampa Bay, 8-0 against Montreal this season. The game appeared headed for overtime when the Lightning gathered to take one more crack at goalie Carey Price.
Hedman carried into the left circle and sent his pass through the middle just beyond defenseman P.K. Subban’s stick to Johnson converging on Price from the right.
The Lightning won their fifth straight playoff game and will go for a sweep of the Eastern Conference semifinal series on Thursday night in Tampa.
Alex Killorn scored a first-period goal for the Lightning, who were outshot 31-19. Price finished with 17 saves after giving up six goals in Game 2 in Montreal.
The Lightning won the opener on the road in double overtime, then scored four power-play goals en route to winning Game 2. Steven Stamkos contributed the go-ahead goal and two assists after going 11 consecutive playoff games without scoring — a stretch dating back to Montreal’s four-game, first-round sweep of Tampa Bay a year ago.
Montreal coach Michel Therrien talked about the need for his team to play more disciplined. The Canadiens killed off two penalties — one on Tomas Plakenic for tripping Bishop — and Price made a pair of nice saves in the first five minutes, rejecting J.T. Brown’s back-hander and Valtteri Filppula’s wrist shot from point-blank range on one sequence.
Killorn scored his third of the playoffs by beating Price from the lower right circle after taking a pass from Stamkos. Meanwhile, Bishop was not tested much in the first two periods, even though the Canadiens outshot the Lightning 16-9.
The closest the Canadiens came to scoring before Gallagher tied it midway in the third was Subban’s first-period shot that hit the post. Jeff Petry struck the post nine minutes into the third.
