The Montreal Canadiens hold a 2-1 lead over the Tampa Bay Lightning after two periods in Game 4 of their first-round series on Sunday night.
Montreal is looking to take a commanding 3-1 series lead over the Lightning in a highly-contested series where all three games of the series have gone to overtime.
The Canadiens opened the scoring half way through the frame when Zachary Bolduc powered his way to the net and beat Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy for the 1-0 lead.
Cole Caufield doubled the Canadiens lead on the power play when he tapped in Nick Suzuki’s pass past Vasilevskiy with just over six minutes remaining in the period.
Jake Guentzel cut the Canadiens’ lead in half late in the period when he beat Habs netminder Jakub Dobes with the teams 4-on-4.
Forward Josh Anderson left the game early in the second period after colliding with Lightning blueliner Ryan McDonaugh but returned to the game.
Canadiens star Juraj Slafkovsky took a huge hit from Lightning defenceman Max Crozier at centre ice near the end of the period. The 6-foot-3 forward was shaken up on the hit and immediately went to his team’s locker room.
The Lightning are outshooting the Canadiens 16-14 after two periods.
Montreal is 1-for-4 on the man advantage while Tampa Bay has gone 0-for-4 on the power play.
The Canadiens are looking to win a series for the first time since they advanced all the way to the Stanley Cup Final in 2021.
Tampa Bay has made the playoffs in 12 of the last 13 seasons, winning two Stanley Cups during that span. They are looking for their first series win since the 2021-22 campaign.
The series is set to shift back to Benchmark International Arena in Tampa Bay for Game 5 on Wednesday.
