TAMPA — The Montreal Canadiens have an early series lead on the road — and they have Juraj Slafkovsky to thank.
Slafkovsky opened the playoffs with a hat trick Sunday, scoring the winner at 1:22 of overtime to lift the young Canadiens past the experienced Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 in a riveting Game 1 of their first-round matchup.
"He probably won us the game,” Canadiens goalie Jakub Dobes said. “He's been so good for us. I feel like in a big moment he wants the puck, and he's a big-time player.
“Hopefully, he will do the same thing (in Game 2) on Tuesday.”
Slafkovsky took a pass from Lane Hutson at the left circle, spotted an opening and beat Andrei Vasilevskiy clean with a wrist shot to complete the hat trick.
It was the type of shot he might have looked to pass up a couple of years ago, when he struggled to build confidence in the NHL under the weight of being the first overall pick in 2022. But this season, and especially Sunday, there was no hesitation.
"The evolution of Slaf, I think, is almost the same as the evolution of our team,” coach Martin St. Louis said. “We know what he's capable of bringing Slaf, and that's what he did tonight. He played to his identity. Not just the goals — he was physical, he won battles.
“It was a big game for him."
Slafkovsky, 22, became the third-youngest Canadien to score a playoff hat trick, behind Bernie Geoffrion and Howie Morenz, and the first in franchise history with three power-play goals in a post-season game since the NHL began tracking the stat in 1933-34.
The six-foot-three, 225-pound winger also made his presence felt physically with three hits, including one just 27 seconds into the game.
“Just try to go out there and hit some guys to get myself into the game,” he said. “It’s good to set the tone.”
Teammate Josh Anderson called Slafkovsky “one of the best power forwards in the game.”
“He's taken so many great strides in the last couple of years, and you can see him just evolving into the player he is now,” Anderson said. “He's still so young. I mean, it's going to be scary in a couple of years for him.
"He's brought it up a notch, like, this whole year.”
Slafkovsky broke out this season with 30 goals and 73 points to shatter his previous career highs, taking another massive leap after his difficult rookie year in 2022-23 had some fans concerned he would become a so-called bust.
His season also included a strong Olympic showing, with four goals and eight points at the Milan Cortina Games, leading underdog Slovakia to a fourth-place finish.
“The Olympics is kind of like a playoff series,” he said. “For sure it helped my confidence. I had a lot of the puck and just tried to bring that here and help the team win games.”
He called scoring the overtime winner and completing the hat trick a “nice” feeling, but was already looking ahead.
“We've got to still focus, we’ve got a game in two days,” he said.
CRANKY COOP
Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper lamented his team’s lack of discipline after the loss. The Lightning took five minor penalties, including two in the third period.
The first led to Slafkovsky’s second goal, giving the Canadiens a 3-2 lead. The second — a high-sticking penalty on Jake Guentzel — carried into overtime and set up the winner.
“No. I have a problem with us,” said Cooper, asked if he had a problem with the penalty calls. “Come on, four offensive-zone penalties. Just look at them. That’s not over-aggression, that’s stupidity, a lot of them.
“That was on us. That was a game where we gave them an opportunity to win, and this is the Stanley Cup playoffs. … It’s extremely disappointing the way we conducted ourselves and the amount of penalties we took.”
PLAYOFF JOSH
While Cooper avoided criticizing the calls, Anderson thought the officials were a little to happy to blow the whistle on a night that featured 12 minor penalties and one double-minor.
“I think you expect it to be a little bit different in the playoffs and kind of let us play hockey,” he said. “But at the end of the day, you have no control over that really."
Anderson, looked upon to lead the Canadiens’ physical presence come playoff time, was at the centre of the action Sunday.
The six-foot-three, 226-pound bruiser delivered four hits and opened the scoring in the first period when Gage Goncalves’ giveaway landed on his stick. In the second period, however, he sparked an unfortunate chain of events after being assessed a charging minor for his hit on defenceman Charle-Edouard D'Astous, who did not return.
Darren Raddysh tied the game on the ensuing power play, and Brandon Hagel scored again 29 seconds later with the Canadiens visibly rattled.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 19, 2026.
Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press
