The Montreal Canadiens lead the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 after two periods in a hotly-contested Game 2 of their opening-round series.
Josh Anderson gave the Canadiens the lead late in the second period with his second goal of the series.
Brandon Hagel scored the opener for the Lightning in the first period, and Lane Hutson answered on the power play late in the opening frame to even the score.
Jakub Dobes has turned away 16 of 17 shots through two periods for the Canadiens, while Andrei Vasilevskiy has saved 19 of 21 for Tampa Bay.
The Canadiens will open the third period with just over a minute of power-play time thanks to Ryan McDonagh’s roughing penalty at the 19:19 mark - the fourth roughing penalty called on the Lightning in the game.
Anderson finally broke through on a ‘right place, right time’ kind of goal as he chipped a bouncing puck just outside the crease over Vasilevskiy’s pad to give Montreal their first lead of the game.
That goal came just moments after Dobes made a brilliant save on a dangerous chance for Brayden Point.
Through the midway point of the period, scoring chances were few and far between for the two sides as they tried to take the lead.
The two stars of the series thus far, Tampa Bay’s Brandon Hagel and Montreal’s Juraj Slafkovsky, let off some steam and dropped the gloves early in the second frame.
After the fight ended - in which both players landed some good shots - Hagel taunted Slafkovsky with a ‘too small’ hand signal as the two made their way to the penalty box.
Hutson found the opening marker for the Canadiens late on a power play in the first period on a shot from the point that fooled Vasilevskiy to even the score at 1-1.
Hagel continued his torrid start to the series with the game’s opening goal at the 8:40 mark in the opening frame - also on Tampa Bay’s first shot on goal of the contest.
A broken stick for a Habs player left the team undermanned on an even-strength play, and Hagel found a good spot to unleash a shot that banked in off the post to beat Dobes.
Montreal owns a 1-0 series lead thanks to a Slafkovsky hat trick in Game 1 - which included the overtime winner.
