The Montreal Canadiens could not hold a two-goal lead, with the Tampa Bay Lightning scoring four straight times.
GAME RECAP | Montreal Canadiens 3 vs Tampa Bay Lightning 4 | FINAL
Canadiens Lineup
Forwards
22 Cole Caufield - 14 Nick Suzuki - 20 Juraj Slafkovsky
17 Josh Anderson - 91 Sean Monahan - 56 Jesse Ylonen
71 Jake Evans - 11 Brendan Gallagher
55 Michael Pezzetta - 13 Mitchell Stephens - 40 Joel Armia
Defensemen
8 Mike Matheson - 58 David Savard
21 Kaiden Guhle - 52 Justin Barron
47 Jayden Struble - 54 Jordan Harris
26 Kovacevic
Goaltenders
Starter: 35 Sam Montembeault
Alternate: 30 Cayden Primeau
Out of the lineup
Scratches: Gustav Lindstrom, 34 Jake Allen
Injuries: Carey Price (knee), Chris Wideman (back), Kirby Dach (knee), Rafael Harvey-Pinard (lower body), Alex Newhook (lower body), Tanner Pearson (upper body), Christian Dvorak (upper body)
Game Report
The Montreal Canadiens suffered their third straight loss since the Christmas break. Sunday night's opponent did everything possible to gift a win to the Habs for the first 33 minutes of the game. But then Tampa woke up from their nap and scored four unanswered goals.
The alarm clock, of sorts, was one of the strangest goals one would ever witness.
With Montreal leading 1-0, Tampa defenseman Darren Raddysh fired an innocent shot which was easily smothered by Sam Montembeault. The Canadiens goaltender held the puck, the referee raised the whistle to his lips, the in-arena music and lights began.
The Tampa line went to the bench for a change, goaltender Jonas Johansson skated to the corner. And then Montembeault dropped the puck to Johnathan Kovacevic who fired the puck the length of the ice into the Lightning goal.
Tampa Bay fans were already upset with a questionable hit by Josh Anderson who put Erik Cernak out of the game with an injury. The arena boo'ed the officials steadily for the rest of the period.
That seemed to stir the Lightning players who responded with an angry goal from Braden Point. Austin Watson tied the game with one of the weakest goals allowed by a Canadiens netminders this season. It was the second consecutive shaky start for Montembeault who finished the game with an .800 save percentage.
The Lightning managed just 11 shots on goal and only two high-danger scoring chances in the first 40 minutes.
Tampa Bay added two more goals in the third period before Nick Suzuki made it close with 2:05 left in the game. But the Lightning were able to shut down the offensive zone for the final two minutes.
The Canadiens have not won on New Year's Eve since 2018.
Game Statistics
Canadiens (15-16-5)
Shots: 30
Face-off %: 67.3
Power play: 0/1
Penalty minutes: 13
Hits: 27
Blocks:17
Lightning (18-15-5)
Shots: 20
Face-off %: 32.7
Power play: 0/3
Penalty minutes: 19
Hits: 25
Blocks: 17
Scoring Summary
Canadiens Scorers
1st period: --
2nd period: Caufield (10), Kovacevic (5)
3rd period: Suzuki (11)
OT: --
SO: --
Lightning Scorers
1st period: --
2nd period: Point (17), Watson (2)
3rd period: de Haan (1), Kucherov (26)
OT: --
SO: --
Goaltenders
MTL: Montembeault (L) 7-5-3
TBL: Johansson (W) 9-6-5
Canadiens Players of the Game
Johnathan Kovacevic - As the seventh defenseman Kovacevic scored the Canadiens second goal while playing 11:23.
Video Highlights
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYwqqpJQK6g[/embed]
Post-game Quotes
David Savard
"We did a good job, but it hurts not to get two points, or at least one at the end."
Up Next
The Canadiens will have a day off on New Year's Day. They will complete their road trip on Tuesday night in Dallas when they will take on the Stars.
Be sure to bookmark THN.com/Montreal for year-round coverage of the Montreal Canadiens, Laval Rocket, and Habs prospects playing in leagues around the world.
