Nikita Kucherov and the Lightning were not going to be denied in overtime. Certainly not twice. Kucherov scored 2:06 into the second overtime to give Tampa Bay a 2-1 victory against the Canadiens in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference Second Round series at Bell Centre. Kucherov took a pass from Valtteri Filppula and beat Montreal goalie Carey Price with a low shot from the top of the slot. Kucherov had an apparent goal waved off 2:56 into the first overtime. Referee Eric Furlatt ruled that the puck went over the goal line as a result of Kucherov pushing Price's pad into the net after the goaltender made the initial save. Tyler Johnson gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead 2:34 into the third period. Lightning coach Jon Cooper conceded that the no-goal call was the right one. Michel Therrien took a lot of positives from the game, though he complained that the Lightning were offside on the play that led to the winning goal. Max Pacioretty drew Montreal even at 1-1 with his third goal of the Stanley Cup Playoffs with 5:13 remaining in the third period. Pacioretty's shot from the top of the left faceoff circle popped out of the base of the webbing of Lightning goalie Ben Bishop's catching glove, flew into the air and dropped behind him before crossing the goal line. Johnson scored his seventh goal of the playoffs to give the Lightning a 1-0 lead at 2:34 of the third. He deflected Matt Carle's shot from the left point past Price 16 seconds after Alexei Emelin's hooking penalty expired. Pacioretty's goal ended Bishop's shutout streak at 133:18. Bishop, who made 43 saves, got his first playoff shutout Wednesday with a 31-save effort in the Lightning's 2-0 win against the Detroit Red Wings in Game 7 of their first-round series. Johnson's goal ended Price's shutout streak at 103:24. Price made 33 saves Friday after making 43 on Sunday for his fifth playoff shutout in Montreal's 2-0 first-round series-clinching win against the Ottawa Senators.
Bishop made a sensational save on Tomas Plekanec's shorthanded chance at 17:27 of the second period. The 6-foot-7 goaltender stacked his pads and flashed his glove to snare Plekanec's 2-on-1 shot on a pass from Pacioretty. Bishop also stopped Pacioretty on a shorthanded breakaway 6:55 into the second. Montreal came out flying from the opening faceoff, and David Desharnais nearly put the Canadiens ahead on his first shift when he fired a wrist shot that beat Bishop but hit high on the right post 1:51 into the game.
Bishop got some help from the right post again when Pacioretty's low shot from the left side hit the post, and Bishop denied Brendan Gallagher's shot with a pad save off the rebound at 11:38. Alex Galchenyuk was called for the Canadiens' first three minor penalties. Each team's power-play struggles during the playoffs continued. Tampa Bay went 0-for-4; the Lightning are 2-for-34 (5.9 percent) with the man advantage. Montreal went 0-for-3 and is 1-for-23 (4.3 percent).
Game 2 - Tampa Bay @ Montreal 6-2 - Sun, May 3 - Bolts Lead 2-0
What Jon Cooper liked most about his power play was that it scored, so his players gave him a lot to like. Nikita Kucherov scored two of Tampa Bay's four power-play goals, and Steven Stamkos and Valtteri Filppula each had a goal and two assists in a 6-2 win against the Montreal Canadiens in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference Second Round series at Bell Centre. The Lightning, who entered the game in an 0-for-23 power-play drought and failed to score during a four-minute advantage in the first period, scored on four consecutive power-play shots and cruised the rest of the way. Filppula broke the Lightning's power-play drought when he scored with 24 seconds remaining in the first period. Kucherov and Victor Hedman each scored with the man-advantage in the second period to give Tampa Bay a 4-1 lead, and Kucherov scored his second power-play goal of the game at 6:37 of the third to increase the Lightning's lead to four. Filppula, who set up Kucherov's double-overtime goal in Game 1, one-timed a wrist shot from the right side on a return pass from Hedman for the first power-play goal, which tied the game at 1-1. Montreal had dominated the first period, and Cooper said Filppula's goal changed the game's momentum. The goal came moments after Torrey Mitchell went in on a shorthanded breakaway but was stopped by Lightning goalie Ben Bishop. Stamkos scored his first goal of the playoffs in the second period and assisted on each of Kucherov's power-play goals. Bishop is 12-1-2 with a 1.49 goals-against-average in 16 regular-season and playoff games against the Canadiens. He missed the Canadiens' first-round playoff sweep of the Lightning last spring because of an elbow injury. Stamkos, who had not scored a goal in his previous nine games, including eight in the playoffs, gave Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead at 8:06 of the second period. The Lightning captain got behind Tom Gilbert and Andrei Markov and drove in on a breakaway. He deked Price and tucked the puck inside the right post for his ninth goal in 31 Stanley Cup Playoff games. Kucherov made it 3-1 when he scored at 12:29 during a 4-on-3 power play. Kucherov shot into an open right side to finish off a passing play with Tyler Johnson and Stamkos 15 seconds after Gilbert was called for cross-checking while each team was already a man short. Hedman increased Tampa Bay's lead to 4-1 with 14 seconds remaining in the period by scoring Tampa Bay's third power-play goal. Johnson got his second assist on Kucherov's second power-play goal of the game, at 6:37 of the third. Gilbert scored his second goal of the playoffs at 11:06 to draw the Canadiens within 5-2, but J.T. Brown restored the Lightning's four-goal lead at 16:05. Jeff Petry scored his first NHL playoff goal at 7:20 of the first period to put the Canadiens ahead 1-0 when he beat Bishop with a wrist shot from the right point. It was the second time Montreal has scored first in eight playoff games. Carey Price, who made 18 saves, had not allowed more than five goals in his 73 previous games this season, including the first seven in the playoffs. Montreal went 0-for-3 on the power play. The Canadiens are 1-for-26 in the playoffs. Cedric Paquette did not play after taking a shift of the second midway through the period. He sustained an undisclosed injury and did not return. David Desharnais was a late scratch because of the flu and was replaced in the lineup by Brian Flynn. Penalties
| 1st Period | ||
|---|---|---|
| 01:13 TBL | Matthew Carle Roughing against Brendan Gallagher | |
| 13:45 MTL | Brandon Prust Roughing against Braydon Coburn | |
| 13:45 MTL | Brandon Prust Unsportsmanlike conduct | |
| 18:04 MTL | P.K. Subban Cross checking against Ryan Callahan | |
| 2nd Period | ||
| 01:30 TBL | Alex Killorn Holding against P.K. Subban | |
| 04:35 TBL | Brenden Morrow Illegal Check To Head against Greg Pateryn | |
| 10:49 MTL | Alexei Emelin Interference against Vladislav Namestnikov | |
| 10:49 TBL | Vladislav Namestnikov Embellishment against Alexei Emelin | |
| 12:15 MTL | Tom Gilbert Cross checking against Tyler Johnson | |
| 18:57 MTL | Jeff Petry Interference against Ondrej Palat | |
| 3rd Period | ||
| 06:10 MTL | Torrey Mitchell Interference on goalkeeper against Ben Bishop | |
| 11:06 MTL | Dale Weise Misconduct (10 min) | |
| 11:06 MTL | Torrey Mitchell Delay Gm - Face-off Violation | |
| 18:07 MTL | Brandon Prust Fighting (maj) against Braydon Coburn | |
| 18:07 TBL | Braydon Coburn Fighting (maj) against Brandon Prust | |
| 18:07 MTL | Brandon Prust Tripping against Ben Bishop | |
| 18:07 MTL | Brandon Prust Misconduct (10 min) | |
| 18:07 MTL | Brandon Prust Game misconduct | |
Game 3 - Montreal @ Tampa Bay 1-2 - Wed, May 6 - Bolts Lead 3-0
Tyler Johnson scored with 1.1 seconds remaining to give the Lightning a 2-1 win in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Second Round against the Canadiens at Amalie Arena. It was Johnson's League-high eighth goal of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and it was set up by Victor Hedman, who has more points than any Eastern Conference defenseman with six. It was the eighth consecutive win by the Lightning against the Canadiens this season and gave them a 3-0 lead in the best-of-7 series. With time running down and the Lightning buzzing in the Canadiens zone, Johnson went to the net, took a pass from Hedman and put the puck past Carey Price. The time on the scoreboard read 0:00 while the Lightning celebrated, but a video review determined the puck went in with 1.1 seconds remaining. Johnson never would have had the opportunity to win the game for the Lightning were it not for goalie Ben Bishop at the other end of the ice.
Bishop continued his stellar play, withstanding a push from the Canadiens over the final two periods. After making 30 saves, he has allowed four goals on 135 shots in his past four games, a save percentage of .970, a run that began as soon as the Lightning faced elimination against the Detroit Red Wings in Game 6 of the first round. Brendan Gallagher, on his 23rd birthday, tied the game at 10:03 of the third period when he slid a rebound behind Bishop while Brian Boyle was falling on him. Gallagher's goal came on Montreal's 27th shot while the Lightning had 12, seemingly content up until that point to sit on their 1-0 lead. The Lightning put seven shots on Price over the final 9:57 after generating 12 in the first 50:03. With a little more than a minute remaining, Stamkos jumped on the ice and his line had a dominant shift in the Canadiens zone. Johnson's line followed, and another magical moment for the undrafted center ensued. Alex Killorn opened the scoring at 12:00 of the first period when he completed a nifty give-and-go play with Stamkos to get in on Price and beat him to the glove side. The Canadiens began to pressure the Lightning from the second period onward, controlling long segments of play and hitting the goal post or the crossbar three times. Michel Therrien refused to find fault with his players after the game and would not discuss who made a mistake on the winning goal. Instead, he wanted to focus on the effort put forth in a desperate situation. They don't have time to with fewer than 24 hours before Game 4, with the Canadiens fighting for their lives and the Lightning aiming to pay back their sweep at the hands of the Canadiens in last season's playoffs.
Game 4 - Montreal @ Tampa Bay 6-2 - Thu, May 7 - Bolts Lead 3-1
The Canadiens avoided being swept out of the Eastern Conference Second Round with a 6-2 win against the Lightning in Game 4 at Amalie Arena. Max Pacioretty scored a shorthanded goal and had two assists, helping Montreal take a 5-0 lead midway through the second period. Andrei Markov, David Desharnais, Jeff Petry, Brendan Gallagher and Brandon Prust scored for the Canadiens, who defeated the Lightning for the first time since sweeping their Eastern Conference First Round series last season. Markov scored 2:44 into the game on the Canadiens' first shot on goal. Pacioretty started the play by escaping from Matthew Carle and cycling the puck to P.K. Subban, who found Markov open in the slot, where he scored top-shelf over a sprawling save attempt by Ben Bishop. Pacioretty scored his fourth goal of the Stanley Cup Playoffs at 8:43 with the Lightning on a power play. Tom Gilbert raced to an open puck and passed it to Pacioretty, who scored on the breakaway to give the Canadiens a 2-0 lead. Desharnais' goal at 5:08 of the second period came off a slap shot from the left circle. Bishop tried to make a glove save but the puck bounced out and into the net. Bishop, who had won eight straight games against Montreal, was pulled for Andrei Vasilevskiy. The Canadiens scored twice on Vasilevskiy, a 20-year-old rookie making his NHL playoff debut, in a 15-second span with Petry's power-play goal at 9:39 and Gallagher's wrist shot at 9:54. Nikita Kucherov got the Lightning within 5-1 with his fourth goal of the playoffs at 12:28 of the second. Tampa Bay's Ondrej Palat and Prust scored in the third period.
Game 5 - Tampa Bay @ Montreal 1-2 - Sat, May 9 - Bolts Lead 3-2
Canadiens were fed up with their shots ringing off goalposts when PA Parenteau fired a one-timer off the crossbar that struck just the right note and kept their Stanley Cup hopes alive. Parenteau scored with 4:07 remaining in the third period on a shot that went in off the crossbar to give Montreal a 2-1, Game 5 win against the Lightning at Bell Centre, extending the Eastern Conference Second Round series a second time. Parenteau beat Tampa Bay goalie Ben Bishop from the top of the slot on a pass from P.K. Subban. Devante Smith-Pelly scored his first goal of the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs 9:01 into the first period for Montreal, which hit the post three times while going 0-for-2 on the power play in the second period. It is the first time the Canadiens won Game 5 in a series they trailed 3-0. Montreal led the Ottawa Senators 3-0 in the Eastern Conference First Round and lost Games 4 and 5 before winning that series in six games. Therrien said hockey is a game of momentum and it is up to the Canadiens to maintain it. Smith-Pelly scored on a wrist shot from the top of the left faceoff circle. Play continued briefly even though referee Steve Kozari immediately signaled a goal, and a video review confirmed his on-ice ruling that the puck struck the bar inside the top of the net. Bishop, who was pulled in Game 4 after allowing three goals on 14 shots, made 27 saves. Subban struck the crossbar during a brief 4-on-3 advantage after Tampa Bay's Nikita Nesterov was called for interference with each team short a skater. Parenteau, who came out of the penalty box at the same time as Victor Hedman, hit the post later in the same power play. Jeff Petry hit the left post on another power play, and Anton Stralman cleared the loose puck behind Bishop to deny Alex Galchenyuk's scoring chance. Price, who is a finalist for the Hart and Vezina trophies, made 24 saves. He got his left glove on Lightning forward Valterri Filppula's wrist shot from the right side at 7:21 of the third period. Price had his right pad in position to make the save on Tampa Bay left wing Brenden Morrow's shot in the second.
The 2014 Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings are among the four teams in NHL history to come back from 3-0 down to win a best-of-7 series. Los Angeles did so in the first round against the San Jose Sharks. The Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1942 Stanley Cup Final against the Detroit Red Wings were the first team to accomplish the feat, which was achieved by the New York Islanders against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the quarterfinals in 1975, and the Philadelphia Flyers against the Boston Bruins in the 2010 Eastern Conference Semifinals.
Game 6 - Montreal @ Tampa Bay 1-4 - Tue, May 12 - Bolts Win 4-2
The pressure, everyone kept saying, had shifted to the Lightning. After winning the first three games in their Eastern Conference Second Round series, they were on the verge of blowing it. The Canadiens had found their game and were brimming with confidence. A Game 7 at Bell Centre would have been akin to a Canadiens coronation. The Lightning won the best-of-7 series at Amalie Arena with their most complete game of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, stifling the Canadiens in a 4-1 defensive masterpiece. Nikita Kucherov had two goals and an assist, and Ondrej Palat had a goal and an assist to make sure the collapse people were predicting didn't happen, with the Lightning dominating play from the first intermission onward and getting solid goaltending from Ben Bishop, who made 18 saves to continue his impressive run in his first career appearance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Bishop has allowed one goal in two series-clinching wins. The Lightning advanced to the Eastern Conference Final for the first time since 2011. The only Lightning players who were also on that 2011 team are Victor Hedman and captain Steven Stamkos, who finally looked like his usual, dominant self in Game 6 after struggling offensively for much of the playoffs. The Lightning advanced again this time because of the "Triplets" line of Kucherov, Palat and Tyler Johnson. After Johnson dominated the first round with six goals against the Detroit Red Wings, it was Kucherov's turn in the second round with six goals in six games. Carey Price lost in an elimination game for the first time in eight tries dating to the 2014 Sochi Olympics, where he helped Canada win the goal medal. In his previous seven elimination games, three at the Olympics, two in last season's playoffs and Games 4 and 5 of this series, Price had allowed five goals on 176 shots. Price allowed three on 28 shots. It was hardly Price's fault the Canadiens lost, even though he felt differently. The first period turned significantly on two plays that took place in a span of less than three minutes just past the midway point, and Tomas Plekanec was in the middle of each. Brendan Gallagher made a great play in the Tampa Bay end to chip the puck around Jason Garrison and get it in front to Plekanec. Bishop got across and made a pad save on Plekanec, who was all alone but could not elevate the puck, at 13:09. Plekanec had an opportunity to clear the puck from the Canadiens zone on his next shift but didn't, and Palat wound up taking a sharp-angled shot on goal that Kucherov tipped into the top corner behind Price at 15:35 for his fifth goal of the series. Plekanec felt the turnaround there typified what ended the Canadiens' season. The first period was evenly played aside from that stretch, with the Lightning coming out with a decisive 13-6 edge in shots based on testing Price five times on the lone power play of the opening 20 minutes. The second period, however, was not evenly played. And that's when the Lightning won the game. The Canadiens came out for the second looking jittery, unable to string passes together or get the puck through the neutral zone effectively. The Lightning were ready to pounce, and it didn't take long for their captain to do just that. Stamkos skated into the offensive zone, took a pass in the slot from Alex Killorn and deftly maneuvered the puck in front of Jeff Petry before putting a shot over Price's left shoulder at 5:12 of the second to put the Lightning ahead 2-0. It was Stamkos' third goal of the series after he was held without a goal in seven games against Detroit. Stamkos scored on Tampa Bay's fourth shot of the period; Montreal did not get its first until a minute later. The Lightning continued to carry the play through much of the period before Andrej Sustr was called for slashing at 16:05, giving the Canadiens' embattled power play an opportunity to make an impact in the series. It didn't, and when the Lightning got the same opportunity 33 seconds after killing off the Sustr penalty when Devante Smith-Pelly was called for holding, they capitalized almost immediately. Palat sent the puck to Kucherov in the corner and cut straight to the net, taking the return pass and quickly beating Price with a shot to the far post for his third of the playoffs at 18:56 of the second, making it 3-0. The score was fitting, considering it represented the lead the Lightning once held in this series, but the Canadiens made only a minor dent in it when Max Pacioretty scored late in a third period that played out more like a parade toward the inevitable. Kucherov iced it with an empty-net goal with 2:01 to play. The final period gave the sellout Amalie Arena crowd, one that appeared nervous when the game began, a chance to cheer and exhale a sigh of relief. Their beloved Lightning players on the ice could do the same thing as they, and their fans, await their next opponent.
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