J.J. Moser scored 12:48 into overtime, giving the host Tampa Bay Lightning a 3-2 comeback victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday and evening their first-round Eastern Conference playoff series at one win each.
Tampa Bay fully controlled the game in the extra period and was rewarded when Moser found the net. He gained the puck off a faceoff win in the offensive zone, worked his way to a shooting position at the top of the right circle and wired a top-corner shot for his first career playoff tally.
“It’s a thing you dream of as a kid,” Moser said to Sportsnet. “There’s a lot of things you dream of, but that’s for sure one.”
Montreal, which won Game 1 in overtime, was outshot 9-0 in overtime of Game 2.
The series shifts to Montreal for Game 3 on Friday.
“Their back was against the wall and it showed that they wanted it, they really wanted it, so good for them,” said Canadiens goalie Jakub Dobes. ‘Everyone on our team has to be better and I’m really excited to show our game at home, what we can do. It’s a good series and I’m really excited for Friday.”
Tampa Bay’s Brandon Hagel collected a goal and an assist. Nikita Kucherov tallied once, Anthony Cirelli collected two assists and goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made 25 saves for Tampa Bay, which snapped a collection of playoff swoons.
“That was probably the best hockey we’ve played in this series, to be honest, in overtime,” said Hagel. “I think it was fun to watch and that’s a good thing for our team. We can kind of remember that feeling and remember the way we played and what worked, because it was a clinic in overtime for us.”
The Lightning had lost four in a row and 10 of their 11 postseason home games, plus seven straight overtime affairs during Stanley Cup playoff action.
Lane Hutson and Josh Anderson tallied for the Canadiens, while Dobes stopped 31 shots, including eight in overtime.
“Both games could have gone either way,” Canadiens forward Kaiden Guhle said. “It’s playoff hockey. It sucks right now, but I don’t think we played a bad game. Overtime got away from us a little bit, we were on our heels, but 1-1 going to Montreal, I like how that feels.”
The clubs traded goals in a chippy first period. Hagel put the Lightning on the board at 8:40 with his team’s first shot on target. The puck came to Hagel at the top of the left circle, and he unloaded a top-corner slap shot for his third goal of the series.
Hutson tied the clash less than eight minutes later with Montreal’s fourth power-play goal in the series. Hutson sent a one-timer from the point position that ricocheted off a defender and into the net for his first career playoff tally.
Anderson gave Montreal the lead with 84 seconds remaining in the second period. Jake Evans won a battle for the puck deep in the Tampa Bay zone and Phillip Danault chipped it to the front of the net, where Anderson was waiting to chip it into the cage for his second goal of the series.
Kucherov evened the score at 12:33 of the third period. Hagel intercepted a poor clearing attempt and fired a long shot wide. Kucherov grabbed the loose puck behind the net and converted a wraparound for his first playoff goal in 17 outings. His last playoff goal came on April 18, 2023, the opener of a first-round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
–Field Level Media
