TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Victor Hedman scored in the sixth round of the shootout and the Tampa Bay Lightning stopped a four-game home losing streak with a 4-3 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.
The Lightning won the shootout 2-1 to tie Detroit for the first Eastern Conference wild-card spot. The Red Wings have two games at hand,
“Two points is the most important thing in a game like this,” Hedman said. “You take them any way you can.”
ampa Bay got goals from Brayden Point, Anthony Cirelli and Tyler Motte. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves in regulation to tie Tiny Thompson for 49th place in wins with 284.
NHL points leader Nikita Kucheropicked up an assist and now has 105 points. The Lightning right wing lost an edge and went hard into the boards midway through the second but returned a short time later.el Armia, Jake Evans and Josh Anderson scored for the Canadiens, who are 2-7-2 over their last 11 games. Cayden Primeau stopped 30 shots during regulation. Montreal was coming off a 4-3 shootout loss to NHL-leading Florida on Thursday night.
We’ve been very competitive for awhile, and it’s everybody,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. “There have been no passengers.”
Montreal killed off Cole Caufield’s hooking penalty during overtime when Tampa Bay got four shots during the man advantage.
Anderson put Montreal ahead 3-2 with a deflection of Caufield’s shot from the top of the right circle at 6:23 of the third before Motte’s short-handed goal pulled Tampa Bay even with 9:42 remaining in regulation.
Point and Cirelli had second-period goals to tie it at 2.
