The Bolts leave Montreal with a win after after an eventful 4 game roadtrip.
The Lightning head back to Tampa with 5 of the possible 8 points collected on their road trip, sealing it with a win over the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night.
The Bolts started out fast again with a lot of heavy pressure early on, similar to what we saw in their start against Toronto. Nikita Kucherov opened the scoring quickly in the first 26 seconds. He is currently leading the league with 22 points.
The story of the night was goaltender Matt Tomkins earning the first win of his NHL career at the age of 29. His path had many twists and turns before making it to the big stage, 11 years after being drafted in the seventh round of the 2012 NHL Draft.
After stopping 23 of 26 shots, Tomkins was given the game puck from head coach Jon Cooper in the locker room. You could hear the excitement in the room.
“That was really cool, obviously. They made the night really special right from the start and to do it here in Montreal is so cool,” Tomkins said of his teammates celebrating with him after the win.
“They've been amazing the whole way and really pulling for me, so it was really cool to celebrate that one with them. You feel genuine happiness from them and genuine congratulations. It's cool. It's a unique story, for sure. Obviously, all the guys know my path in getting here and I think it made them want it for me that much more, so really, really cool.”
Tomkins is the 32nd goaltender in NHL history to earn his first career win at age 29 or older.
The Lightning head back to Tampa to face Corey Perry, Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night.