Josh Anderson has the game’s only goal, and the Montreal Canadiens lead the Tampa Bay Lightning 1-0 after one period in Tampa Bay.
Alexandre Carrier picked up the assist on Anderson’s goal.
Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes turned away all 10 shots he faced in the opening frame, while Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped three of four shots for Tampa Bay.
With 12 seconds remaining in the period, Brandon Hagel was whistled for interference on a pick play entering the neutral zone, but after further discussion, Montreal’s Kaiden Guhle was assessed a double-minor for high sticking on the same play, leaving Tampa Bay with their third power play of the game.
The Lightning got their first try on the power play with just over five minutes remaining in the period when Alex Newhook was sent to the penalty box for tripping, but were unable to seriously threaten Dobes in the Habs’ net.
Just one minute after Montreal successfully killed their first penalty, Juraj Slafkovsky was whistled for interference, and the Lightning went back on the man advantage. Montreal was able to kill the penalty once again.
The opening power play of the game went to the Canadiens midway through the frame, when the Lightning were whistled for too many men on the ice.
Tampa Bay finished the regular season with the third-best penalty kill percentage in the NHL (82.6 per cent), and they were able to repel the first man-advantage for the Canadiens without much trouble.
Moments later, the Canadiens found the game’s opening goal at even strength when Anderson drifted free in front of the net and deposited the puck over Vasilevskiy’s shoulder to give Montreal a 1-0 lead.
The Lightning went down a player early when Dominic James had a knee-on-knee collision and had to be helped off the ice. The 23-year-old had just been activated off IR entering this series after missing almost two months with a leg injury.
Montreal entered this series with a big hole on the blue line, as star defenceman Noah Dobson suffered an upper-body injury earlier in April and is unlikely to be ready to return to action in this series.
This series is a rematch of the 2021 Stanley Cup Final, which the Lightning won in five games.
