@jayRecher
They just keep on rolling.
Tyler Johnson scored a pair of goals and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 32 saves as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Montreal Canadiens 6-3 on Friday night in Montreal to take a 3-0 series lead and put them one victory away from winning their second consecutive Stanley Cup.
Jan Rutta, Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov and Blake Coleman also scored for Tampa Bay.
The Lightning were very active to start the game and jumped out to an early lead.
Rutta threw a wrist shot on net -- that looked very similar to the goal he scored against the Islanders in Game 2 -- that beat Montreal netminder Carey Price over the blocker just 1:52 into the game.
Tampa Bay kept the pressure on and received a power play opportunity just over a minute later when Eric Staal flipped a puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty.
And the Bolts didn't take long to cash in.
Just 33 seconds into the man-advantage, Hedman fired a blast from the point that beat Price to put the Lightning up 2-0.
The Canadiens cut the lead in half with a goal from Phillip Danault at 11:16, but that was as close as the Habs would get because Tampa Bay came out firing again in the 2nd period.
Erik Cernak caught Montreal in a line change and fired a stretch pass down the ice to Ondrej Palat & he slid one over to Kucherov, who backhanded one past Price to make it 3-1 Lightning at 1:40 of the middle stanza.
But wait, there's more.
Following a 2-on-1 with Mathieu Joseph, Johnson found the rebound and fired it past the Montreal goalie to give Tampa Bay a 4-1 lead at 3:33.
Nick Suzuki came down the right wing and snapped one past Vasilevskiy at 18:04 to make it 4-2.
The Lightning kept their foot on the gas for the majority of the 3rd period and extended the lead to three when Johnson scored his 2nd at 3:33.
Corey Perry added a goal at 15:58 but Tampa Bay sealed the deal with an empty-netter from Coleman at 16:48.
Price stopped 24 of the 29 shots he saw on the evening.
*****
SCORING SUMMARY
1st Period
- Tampa Bay - Rutta - (Palat, Hedman) - 1:52
- Tampa Bay - PPG - Hedman - (Kucherov, Cirelli) - 3:27
- Montreal - Danault - (Weber) - 11:16
2nd Period
- Tampa Bay - Kucherov - (Palat, Cernak) - 1:40
- Tampa Bay - Johnson - (Joseph, Savard) - 3:33
- Montreal - Suzuki - (Petry, Caufield) - 18:04
3rd Period
- Tampa Bay - Johnson - (Unassisted) - 15:19
- Montreal - Perry - (Gallagher, Chiarot) - 15:58
- Tampa Bay - ENG - Coleman - (Goodrow) - 16:48
*****
PENALTY SUMMARY
1st Period
- Montreal - Staal - (Delay of Game) - 2:54
- Tampa Bay - Sergachev - (Interference) - 17:29
2nd Period
NONE
3rd Period
NONE
*****
What's Next For The Bolts : The Lightning & Canadiens are back in action for Game 4 of this Stanley Cup Final matchup on Monday night in Montreal. Puck drop is slated for 8:00pm with the pregame show starting at 7:00pm on NewsRadio WFLA.
Photo: Getty Images North America
PHOTO : Getty Images