Great goaltending comes at a premium in NHL. The Tampa Bay Lightning and Montreal Canadiens both proved that they have premier goaltenders on Saturday night. Andrei Vasilevskiy and Carey Price went head-to-head in a true goalie’s duel and we went to overtime tied at a goal a piece. Alexander Radulov would be the hero in overtime and ended the Bolts' win-streak at 4.
Andrei Vasilevskiy had to make a big save early, but was up to the task on a Dwight King breakaway. It was a struggle for both teams to muster much time in their offensive zone for the remainder of the period. The Lightning got a stellar chance in the closing moments of the frame, but Carey Price made the save to send us to the 2nd in a scoreless tie.
After no penalties in the 1st period, the Lightning committed 1 early in the 2nd. Alex Killorn was sent to the box for high sticking in the 3rd minute, but the Bolts PK did their job to keep it scoreless. The Lightning found themselves on a power play of their own minutes later when King was sent to the box for holding. Price and the rest of the Montreal defense did their job to keep Tampa Bay off the board. Goaltending would be the story for most of the remainder of the period until around the 15 minute mark. Phillip Danault gave Montreal the lead after a big scrum in front of the Tampa Bay net. The Lightning got a chance to tie it up when they had a power play to close out the period, but Montreal held to keep the lead heading to the 3rd.
Vasilevskiy had to be at the top of his game early in the 3rd to keep the Bolts in the game. The Lightning goaltender made 2 saves back to back just past the 5 minute mark to keep Montreal from being able to double their lead. The Bolts continued to put pressure on Montreal, but Price continued to prove why he is arguably the best goaltender in the NHL. That changed with around 8 minutes left in the game. Victor Hedman fired it towards the net and Yanni Gourde was able to deflect it in to tie the game. Montreal’s would be go-ahead goal with less than 4 minutes remaining was waved off by the referees. That would be a huge call as we headed to overtime still knotted at 1.
The Bolts will have little rest before they are back on the ice. Tomorrow night they close out this homestand against the Dallas Stars. The puck is scheduled to drop at 6 pm with pregame coverage beginning at 5:30 up the dial on News Radio 970 WFLA.
SCORING SUMMARY
1ST PERIOD
None
2ND PERIOD
1. Montreal - Danault - (Pacioretty) - 14:24
3RD PERIOD
1. Tampa Bay - Gourde - (Hedman, Drouin) - 11:38
OVERTIME
1. Montreal - Radulov - (Pacioretty, Danault) - 0:51
PENALTY SUMMARY
1ST PERIOD
None
2ND PERIOD
1. Tampa Bay - Killorn - (High Sticking) - 2:34
2. Montreal - King - (Holding) - 5:57
3. Tampa Bay - McKegg - (Checking to the Head) - 15:02
4. Montreal - Davidson - (Hooking) - 18:14
3RD PERIOD
None
SHOTS ON GOAL
Tampa Bay - 22
Montreal - 36