The margin for error was thin, but the Lightning were confident in their ability to get a win in Game 7 on Sunday night. With the series tied 3-3 and their season on the line, the stakes were high at Benchmark International Arena.
“You hope that everything before this was a dress rehearsal for this moment, and that’s from this moment until the final buzzer, whenever that is,” head coach Jon Cooper said before the game. “Because it’s not a magic act that you just pull and say, ‘Okay, we’re in game 7. This is how you act.’ That’s why you coach this team for just under 100 games, to make sure you get to this point and know what to do.”
Montreal struck first late in the first period. Nick Suzuki gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead at 18:39 when his redirection of Kaiden Guhle’s shot deflected in off J.J. Moser’s skate.
Dominic James tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 13:27 of the second period, redirecting a slap shot from the slot off the stick of Charle-Edouard D’Astous.
“From start to finish we stuck with our process and our plan,” said Ryan McDonagh. “In the end it doesn’t matter because they had two and we had one, so it’s a loss. Credit to them. They grinded and found a way.”
© Morgan Tencza-Imagn ImagesThe game-winning goal came when Lane Hutson took a shot that Andrei Vasilevskiy initially turned away, but the rebound came off the end boards, where Alex Newhook batted it in off Vasilevskiy’s back.
“I thought we got better as we went and I thought tonight we played our best game of the series,” said Cooper: “Sometimes you win the game and not the score and it’s Game 7. There’s no moral victory in that.”
Despite being held to just nine shots on goal, including none in the second period, Montreal found a way, going 26:55 without recording a shot during that stretch before ultimately advancing to the second round.
The series was defined by razor-thin margins. All seven games were decided by one goal, with four requiring overtime. The road team won five of the seven contests, including three of four by the Canadiens in Tampa.
“Can’t say much about the game tonight. You’re going to win 99 percent of those games,” said Brandon Hagel. “But at the end of the day, if you lose three games at home, you’re probably not going to win the series.”
With the loss, the Lightning were eliminated in the first round for the fourth consecutive season.