After one of the most tightly fought, evenly matched series in NHL playoffs history, it was the Montreal Canadiens that eeked out a 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7 to reach the second round.
Alex Newhook’s goal just under half-way through the third period proved the difference maker as the Habs won the seventh of seven one-goal games in the series.
It is just the third time an entire series consisted of one-goal games.
Rookie goalie Jakub Dobes was outstanding, facing 29 shots to nine on the other end of the rink for Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Dobes saved all but one; Vasilevskiy saved seven.
Outshot but not outplayed
After 18 minutes, it looked like fans may have been in for another goose-egg Czech-Russian goalie duel.
Then things changed.
Montreal struck first when a Kaiden Guhle shot bounced off captain Nick Suzuki and then Bolts defenceman J.J. Moser and past Vasilevskiy.
It was Suzuki’s first goal and first from the Habs no. 1 line on five-on-five play in the entire series.
It was shot number four for the Habs from no. 14 for his 14th playoff goal all-time.
It was the last Hab shot on net for over 26 minutes.
Meanwhile, in the second period, the Bolts took advantage of Guhle’s holding penalty, and Dominic James tipped a Rimouski, Que. native Charle-Edouard D’Astous shot from the point past Dobes to even the score at 13:27.
Tied... Again... Let’s head to three.
“He knows the moment’s big and
The third period saw the first two shots from the Habs since the first period, and then the third.
It’s not the shot, but what you do with it, as the saying goes. At least, that might be a saying.
An opportunity arose, and it was Newhook who took advantage and showed his quality with the team’s eighth shot at 11:07 of the third.
“It’s kind of what you dream of when you’re younger is those big moments; game seven,” said Newhook after the game.
Following a blocker save from Vasilevskiy, the St. John’s, Newfoundland son snuck behind the net to squeeze one past the Russian on the short side to retake the lead, stunning the Bolts fans into silence.
The shots at that point: MTL - 8, TBL - 25. Score: 2-1.
The Habs held strong and won the game to book a second-round series against the Sabres, who eliminated the Boston Bruins.
“We cannot get satisfied, we’ve got to keep going,” said Dobes after the game. “I don’t want to get emotional but I’ve been dreaming of this from I don’t know when.”
Dobes admitted that he grew up idolizing Vasilevskiy and said he wanted to speak with him more in the post-game handshake lineup.
“Every game I play, it’s like game seven,” said Dobes, the first rookie Habs goalie to play in a Game 7 since Ken Dryden in 1971.
The Habs have now won seven of eight Game sevens since the turn of the century, all of them away from home.
Montreal’s Martin St-Louis, a Hockey Hall of Famer whose No. 26 is retired by the Lightning, became the fifth player to appear in a Game 7 for a team and coach against them in another.
The Lightning were eliminated in the first round for the fourth straight season after falling two wins short of a Stanley Cup three-peat in 2022.
Playing in front of their 461st consecutive sellout crowd and hundreds more fans watching from Thunder Alley outside Benchmark International Arena, the Lightning lost for the 11th time in their last 13 playoff games at home, including three times in this series.
With files from The Associated Press.
