The Tampa Bay Lightning stared down a two-goal deficit in one of hockey’s loudest buildings, then ripped control of Game 4 away from Montreal with a bruising shift in momentum and a relentless third-period surge.

Inserted into the lineup Sunday morning after sitting the first three games, defenseman Max Crozier delivered the defining moment of the night late in the second period.

Crozier had appeared in only one game over the previous 12 weeks after recovering from lower-body surgery, leaving him with little recent game contact entering a hostile postseason environment. Wanting to be ready for the collision-heavy intensity of playoff hockey, he asked assistant coach Dan Hinote after Saturday’s practice for extra work. Hinote obliged, having forward Conor Geekie take repeated runs at him inside an empty Bell Centre.

The preparation paid off.

With Tampa Bay trailing 2-0 in the closing minutes of the second period, Crozier stepped into Canadiens winger Juraj Slafkovsky at center ice and detonated a clean, thunderous open-ice hit directly over the Bell Centre logo. Slafkovsky, who had tormented Tampa Bay with seven goals against them this season, was left shaken, and the Lightning bench instantly came alive.

What had been a tense, uphill night for Tampa Bay suddenly tilted.

Crozier’s edge has long been part of his profile, but opportunities had been scarce since the Stadium Series on Feb. 1. Aside from the regular-season finale against the Rangers — a game with no standings implications — he had barely played. Yet the Lightning trusted that his physical presence could matter, and Game 4 validated that belief.

The game unfolded with whistles dominating the rhythm, as the teams combined for 13 power plays and nearly 20 minutes of special-teams time.

After Brandon Hagel and Mike Matheson took offsetting slashing minors late in the second period, four-on-four space opened for Tampa Bay’s most dangerous players. Jake Guentzel capitalized with 54 seconds remaining in the period, finishing a sharp give-and-go with J.J. Moser to cut the deficit to 2-1.

That goal changed everything.

Instead of entering intermission chasing two goals in a hostile building, the Lightning walked into the dressing room with belief and momentum.

Only 51 seconds into the third period, Tampa Bay went back to work on the power play. The puck movement was surgical. Guentzel drew Montreal’s penalty killers high, fed Nikita Kucherov below the right circle, and Kucherov threaded a seam pass across the crease to Hagel at the far post. Hagel buried it 100 seconds into the period, tying the game 2-2.

The Bell Centre, deafening for much of the night, suddenly quieted.

Montreal fans had showered Kucherov with boos throughout the night, a lingering grudge from his infamous remarks after Tampa Bay defeated the Canadiens in the 2021 Stanley Cup Final.

The hostility intensified midway through the third when Jake Evans was penalized for cross-checking Kucherov into the boards. As Kucherov slowly rose and later returned to the ice during the power play, the jeers only grew louder.

Minutes later, he answered in the cruelest possible way.

From outside the right circle, Kucherov whipped a puck toward the net that struck Hagel, who had established body position in front of Matheson, and caromed past goaltender Jakub Dobes with 4:53 remaining. Hagel’s second goal of the night stood as the winner.

Tampa Bay completed the comeback with a 3-2 victory, evening the series at two games apiece and reclaiming home-ice advantage as the matchup shifts back to Florida.

What looked like a series slipping away became a best-of-three in a matter of one crushing hit, two clinical finishes, and a veteran team refusing to break.