The Canadiens look to build a commanding lead in their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series when they face the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 4 Sunday night in Montreal.
Lane Hutson’s goal at 2:09 of overtime in Game 3 Friday night gave the Canadiens a 3-2 win and a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. They now look to move within a game of advancing before the series shifts back to Tampa Bay for Game 5.
All three games between No. 2 seed Tampa Bay and No. 3 seed Montreal have ended in overtime with the teams alternating wins.
“I just believe in our system, all my teammates and coaching staff,” Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky said after an optional practice on Saturday. “I feel like we’re all prepared for any scenario. I feel like if we play our way and we have the puck a lot, we’re good defensively. I feel like we can for sure win again (Sunday).”
Alexandre Texier and Kirby Dach each had a goal and an assist, Zachary Bolduc had two assists and Jakub Dobes made 15 saves for the Canadiens.
Dach tied the game 2-2 at 12:43 of the second period.
“We weren’t as sharp as we needed to be, for sure,” Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh said. “Giving up breakaways and odd-mans, we haven’t done a lot of that in this series, but tonight it certainly got away from us defensively.”
Lane Hutson became the third Canadiens’ defenseman to score a playoff overtime goal in the past 25 years and the first since Jeff Petry in 2020.
The Canadiens have put themselves in a strong position without much production from their top line. Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki and Slafkovsky have no points during 5-on-5 play over the first three games. Slafkovsky had a power-play hat trick in Game 1, and Caufield and Suzuki each have three assists, all coming with the man advantage.
“There’s a lot of talk and a lot of pressure we put on ourselves to go out there and perform and do the best we can,” Suzuki said of Game 3. “But we had good looks all night. And Cole almost ended it in overtime.”
Brayden Point and Brandon Hagel scored for the Lightning in Game 3. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 26 saves, including three on Montreal breakaways.
“We’re three games in now. I think we’ve got a pretty good feel for each other, we have a pretty good feel for what the environment’s like in this building,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “But our execution has to be (better). We have to elevate now.”
Hagel has scored in all three games and has five points (four goals, one assist) in the series.
After outshooting the Canadiens 57-46 in the first two games of the series, the Lightning were outshot 29-17 on Friday night.
“We’re definitely still in the series, but the next one’s so important,” Point said. “We know we can be better. We’ve got to learn from our mistakes here tonight, and we’ve got to show better next game.”
Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman, who has taken a leave of absence for personal reasons, took part in the team’s optional practice on Saturday, but is not expected to return during this series.
