The Tampa Bay Lightning forced a seventh game with a 1‑0 overtime win on Friday at the Bell Centre against the Montreal Canadiens. Gage Goncalves won a battle in the crease against Kaiden Guhle to knock in the puck at the 9:03 mark of the fourth period. Despite the low score, this turned into an entertaining contest. So far, every game in this series has ended with a one‑goal margin. The do-or-die game is on Sunday at Benchmark International Arena, with the winner facing the Buffalo Sabres.
It was a goaltending duel between Jakub Dobes and Andrei Vasilevskiy. After allowing a soft game‑winner to Alexandre Texier on Wednesday, Vasilevskiy was sharp. He made 30 saves for the shutout, notably robbing Ivan Demidov on back-to-back shots during a power play in the second period.
Overall, Dobes looked in control all night, stopping 32 shots. At one point, Philip Danault saved a goal in the second period when a shot trickled toward the net, clearing the puck out of danger. The netminder had a key role in the Canadiens killing third period penalties against Kaiden Guhle and Ivan Demidov.
Once again, Martin St. Louis switched up the lines for the second straight game. The Kirby Dach, Zachary Bolduc, and Texier line was the only line that remained intact. Meanwhile, Cole Caufield played his best game of the series with eight shot attempts, including a shot off the post in the first period.
Rocket Notes
The Laval Rocket began the North Division semifinals against the Toronto Marlies with a split at Place Bell. On Wednesday, Florian Xhekaj intercepted a pass and buried the puck in the first period to open the scoring. Joshua Roy doubled the lead in the third period, before Cedric Pare cut the lead to one goal. Samuel Blais sealed the 3-1 win with an empty netter in the final moments.
On Friday, Laurent Dauphin and Joshua Roy scored 2:24 apart in the first to grab the lead. Things went south afterwards as indiscipline crept into Laval’s game. The Marlies capitalized with three consecutive power play goals to go ahead through 40 minutes. Toronto added three more goals in the third period to tie the series with a 6-2 victory.
The best-of-five series continues in Toronto for the next two contests on Sunday and Tuesday.
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