Montreal Canadiens vs. Tampa Bay Lightning Trend Finder

Calvin de Haan ends 46-game goal drought with tiebreaking score as Lightning top Canadiens 4-3

Sun, Dec 31, 2023
NHL News (AP)

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Calvin de Haan ended his 46-game goal drought with the tiebreaking score in the third period, and the Tampa Bay Lightning rallied past the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 on Sunday night.

The defenseman put Tampa Bay up 3-2 with a shot from the left circle at 7:49 off a pass from Nikita Kucherov, who became the first NHL player to reach 60 points this season. It was his 22nd goal in 606 career games.

"It's nice to score once in a while," de Haan said with a smile.

Kucherov added an insurance goal before Nick Suzuki pulled Montreal to 4-3 with 2:05 left.

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Tampa Bay backup Jonas Johansson made 27 saves in his first game since Dec. 7. The Lightning got also goals from Brayden Point and Austin Watson.

Lightning captain Steven Stamkos had an assist and set a franchise record by playing in his 1,038th game.

Johnathan Kovacevic scored from his own defensive zone and Cole Caufield had the other Montreal goal. Sam Montembeault stopped 16 shots.

"We played well enough to win," Canadiens right wing Josh Anderson said. "It's too bad."

Montembeault gloved a blue-line shot by Darren Raddysh. After holding the puck for a few seconds with no whistle from the referees, the goalie dropped the puck to Kovacevic. The defenseman took a couple of strides forward and, seeing that most players thought play was stopped, including Johansson, who had skated into the corner, fired home a long-distance shot into the vacated net to make it 2-0 at 11:59 of the second.

"I was on the ice. I didn't know what happened there for a second," said Anderson, who thought the play was over.

It was a "weird" situation, de Haan said.

"I've never seen that before," he explained. "Music came on and everything."

Point and Watson scored later in the period to tie it at 2. Watson, playing in his 500th game, sent a bouncing shot from along the left-wing boards that eluded Montembeault.

Caufield opened the scoring 3:58 into the second after he stole the puck from Stamkos deep in the Tampa Bay zone.

Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak left after taking a hard check behind the Tampa Bay net from Anderson nine seconds after Caufield's goal. Anderson was assessed a charging penalty after a video review.

"From what they told me, there's no call on the ice," Anderson said. "They were just seeing if he touched the puck. Obviously, I was shocked to get the charging penalty there."

Tampa Bay defenseman Haydn Fleury also left in the second after taking a shot off his right hand. Lightning forward Nicholas Paul skated off gingerly after being hit in the right knee by Stamkos' shot in the third.

Another defenseman, Mikhail Sergachev, missed his fifth straight game after being hit on the back of the left foot by a shot.

Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said it was "a tough night" on the injury front.

Montreal center Christian Dvorak sat out with an upper-body injury.

UP NEXT

Canadiens: Play at Dallas on Tuesday night.

Lightning: Start a three-game trip Tuesday night at Winnipeg.

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