TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Alex Newhook broke a tie with 8:53 left and the Montreal Canadiens outlasted the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 on Game 7 on Sunday night to end the thrilling first-round series.
The Canadiens will face the Buffalo Sabres in the second round after finishing off their first series victory since losing the Stanley Cup Final to Tampa Bay in 2021. Game 1 is Wednesday night in Buffalo.
Rookie goaltender Jakub Dobes made 28 saves and Nick Suzuki
got his first goal of the series for Montreal.
Each game of the series was decided by one goal and four went to overtime. The score was tied or within one goal for all but six minutes in the seven games.
The Lightning were eliminated in the first round for the fourth straight season after falling two wins short of a Stanley Cup three-peat in 2022.
Tampa Bay’s tough defense held the Canadiens without a shot for nearly 27 minutes from the first period into the third and just four through two periods. Brandon Hagel made an outstanding, sliding stick save with an open net in the final minute but the Lightning couldn't get the tying goal during a 6-on-5 and 6-on-4 for the final six seconds.
Montreal got a couple lucky bounces to score twice on its first eight shots on goal and finished with only nine.
After Lane Hutson fired a slap shot that went wide and bounced back out, Newhook skated backhanded the puck out of the air and in off Andrei Vasilevskiy’s pad and his backside.
Playing in front of their 461st consecutive sellout crowd and hundreds more fans watching from Thunder Alley outside Benchmark International Arena, the Lightning lost for the 11th time in their last 13 playoff games at home, including three times in this series.
The Canadiens didn’t have a shot on net in the second period despite two power-play chances. They became the first team to have zero shots in a playoff period since Pittsburgh in Game 1 of the 2017 Stanley Cup Finals against Nashville.
Dominic James tipped in Charle-Edouard D’Astous’ one-timer from just inside the blue line to tie it at 1 on a power play in the second period.
Suzuki opened the scoring 1:21 left in the first. After scoring 29 goals in the regular season, Suzuki needed a lucky bounce to get one. His redirection of Kaiden Guhle’s slap shot was heading wide but the puck hit Lightning defenseman J.J. Moser and went in.
Montreal’s Martin St. Louis, a Hockey Hall of Famer whose No. 26 is retired by the Lightning, became the fifth player to appear in a Game 7 for a team and coach against them in another.
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