Branden Hagel’s two goals were enough to win game four for the Tampa Bay Lightning in Montreal.
It was another Habs v. Bolts nail-biter, stressing out both sets of fans for the better part of 60 minutes.
In the end, the Lightning eked out the one-goal win 3-2 to even the best-of-seven series two games apiece.
Every game of the series has been decided by one goal.
The first period-and-a-half was cagey, with neither team racking up many shots or scoring opportunities.
Things changed when third-liner Zachary Bulduc took a beaut of a pass from Kaiden Guhle held off Lightning defenceman Darren Raddysh along the right wing, and shot a puck that bounced off Andrei Vasilevskiy’s pad, then off Bulduc and into the net.
The Bell Centre faithful let out their pent-up energy and stress and took the noise level to 11 after the goal with the Habs in the ascendancy.
That noise got even louder when 51-goal scorer Cole “Bilbo” Caufield snapped a wrister in for his first of the playoffs on the power play from 101-point captain Nick Suzuki.
It was as loud as the capacity crowd got on the night.
The energy was sucked out of the arena shortly after Caufield’s goal when Tampa Bay’s Max Crozier lined up Juraj Slafkovsky and knocked the Slovakian winger to the ice, causing a collective gasp from the fans.
Slafkovsky went straight to the dressing room, but was back on the ice to start the third period.
The Lightning weren’t done sucking good vibes out of the city on Sunday night.
Jake Guentzel scored with under a minute to play in the second period, and the Lightning nearly scored a second to tie it in the dying seconds.
Lightning villain no.1 Hagel did just that under two minutes into the second period, however, off a pass from villain no. 2, Nikita Kucherov.
It was Hagel’s fifth goal of the series.
The one-two combo wasn’t done as Kucherov snapped a bank shot off Hagel that beat Jakub Dobes moments after the Habs killed a five-on-three power play.
Make it a half-dozen for no. 38 in purple and white.
The Habs got a big slice of “here’s your chance” with 2:33 left in the game when Kucherov slashed Mike Matheson and was sent to the bin for a minor.
However, with Dobes riding the pine and Habs with a cool half-dozen players on the ice to the Bolts’ four, the Lightning penalty kill stood strong.
The Habs pressed but were not able to even the score, and for the first time in the series, the game ended in regulation.
Game three is in Tampa Bay on Wednesday.
