The Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning are locked in a 1-1 tie after two periods of their winner-take-all Game 7 on Sunday night.
The winner of this game will take on the Buffalo Sabres in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs beginning on Wednesday.
Montreal entered the period with a one-goal lead thanks to captain Nick Suzuki who score late in the opening frame.
The Lightning dominated the second period, outshooting the Lightning 12-0 with the Canadiens bending but not breaking until Dominic James tipped a Charles Edouard point-shot past Canadiens netminder Jakub Dobes on the power play with just over six minutes remaining in the frame.
Tampa Bay continues win the shot battle 21-4 and are 1-for-2 on the man advantage. The Canadiens went 0-for-2 on the power play.
This has been a tightly contested first-round series with every game settled by only a goal and four of the first six games ending in overtime. The Lightning forced Game 7 on Friday after recording a narrow 1-0 victory in overtime at the Bell Centre in Game 6.
Montreal made the playoffs for the second straight campaign and are looking for their first series victory since they made a Stanley Cup Final appearance in 2021.
Tampa Bay has made 12 playoff appearances in the last 13 seasons but have failed to get past the first round since they lost to the Colorado Avalanche in the Stanley Cup Final in 2022.
