Canadiens edge Lightning 3-2 in Game 5, need one win to clinch NHL playoff series
By Associated Press
April 29, 2026 at 10:21 PM EDT
Tampa Bay is down 3-2 in the best-of-seven and on the brink of first-round elimination for the fourth straight postseason. The teams head back to Montreal for Game 6 on Friday night.
Another home loss in the playoffs has the Tampa Bay Lightning on the brink of an early vacation once again.
Andrei Vasilevskiy allowed a fluke goal on the day he was nominated for the Vezina Trophy, the Lightning struggled to win faceoffs, lucky bounces went the other way and they lost to the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 on Wednesday night to fall behind 3-2 in the series.
“We got no choice now. We got to show up or we're out,” Lightning forward Brayden Point said.
Game 6 is Friday night in Montreal, where the teams split Games 3 and 4. The Lightning are trying to avoid a fourth straight first-round elimination since falling two wins short of a Stanley Cup three-peat in 2022.
“We got to drag them back here,” forward Corey Perry said. “You know it’s going to be a hostile environment. It’s loud but block it out and just go play. We found a way last game there. We got to do it again.”
ALSO READ: Hagel scores twice to rally Lightning by Canadiens, tying NHL playoff series
Tampa Bay has lost 10 of its last 12 home games in the postseason despite 460 consecutive sellouts at Benchmark International Arena, which would host Game 7 – if there is one. (Attendance was 19,092 on Wednesday.)
The Lightning have lost their last two elimination games.
“I understand the next game is a potential elimination game but the last game we played there, we lose that one and we’re down 3-1 (and) you’re really chasing the series,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “They’ve been in that building twice now and have a pretty good feeling of what to expect. How it’s going to go? I can’t say for sure but I’ll bet we play better than we did tonight.”
Alexandre Texier scored the winning goal 1:06 into the third period on a slap shot from the left circle that bounced off Vasilevskiy’s glove and trickled behind one of the NHL’s best goaltenders.
“I'm not a 50-goal scorer,” Texier said. “When I have a chance, I just try to put it on net and sometimes you're lucky it's in and sometimes not.”
https://twitter.com/CanadiensMTL/status/2049658487207067737
Cooper blamed the goal on the Bolts’ defense, not Vasilevsky, who finished with 21 saves.
“It stems way before that. It doesn’t stem from when Texier gets down the ice. It stems from the change and how we went about it and the mistakes we made on the way there,” Cooper said.
“Forever, all Vasy does is bail us out of those. The rare time sometimes he doesn’t. He should’ve never got that deep into our zone and he got a lot on it. It wasn’t like Vasy got beat. He had it and it took a Montreal bounce, unfortunately for us.”
The Canadiens dominated the faceoff circle, winning 66% – Jake Evans won 85%.
In another tight game – all five have been decided by one goal and the first three went to overtime – every puck possession matters.
“Possession is huge,” Point said. “There’s not a lot of room out there. Starting with the puck is massive.”
The Lightning had 40 shots on rookie goaltender Jakub Dobes but only Dominic James and Jake Guentzel could get the puck past him – both on 2-on-1 breakaways.
Tampa Bay had shots hit the post and crossbar, and scoring leader Nikita Kucherov had the puck bounce over his stick with an open net.
“We need other guys to score and haven’t been able to do it,” Point said. “It is frustrating. Just got to keep doing the right things and keep working hard.”
Dobes stopped 38 shots – 10 over the final 2:33 after Tampa Bay pulled Vasilevskiy for an extra attacker – to help Montreal move within a victory of advancing for the first time since losing to the Lightning in the Stanley Cup Finals in 2021.
Dominic James scored his first career playoff goal and Jake Guentzel also connected for the Lightning - both on two-on-one breakaways.
https://twitter.com/NHLGoalVideos/status/2049660943269872084
The Canadiens jumped ahead three minutes into the game when Brenden Gallagher wristed in a rebound after Vasilevskiy kicked away Alex Newhook’s backhander.
“It's obviously exciting,” said Gallagher, who was a healthy scratch the first four games. “It's been a fun series to watch. I tried to follow their lead and find a way to contribute and I did that.”
Newhook began the play by taking the puck from Tampa Bay's Corey Perry in the neutral zone, skating into the Lightning zone and sending a wrist shot that ricocheted back to him off the boards behind the net. Gallagher popped in the rebound over Vasilevsky’s outstretched left leg.
"You know, it's just ... it's a tough way to start, but by no means was that the game," Cooper said. "Especially in these tight-checking, low-scoring games, you can't be given freebies. I thought we gave up a freebie there."
Eleven seconds after James blasted a slap shot past Dobes, the Canadiens regained the lead. Kirby Dach skated down the left side, went around Tampa Bay's Gage Goncalves, lost the puck, kicked it from his skate to his stick in front of the net and put it past Vasilevskiy.
Dach deactivated his Instagram account after receiving online criticism because his defensive lapse led to the winning goal in overtime in Game 2. He had a goal and an assist in Montreal’s 3-2 overtime win the next game.
Guentzel fired a slap shot between Dobes’ legs on another breakaway to tie it at 2 late in the second. Guentzel has the best playoff goal-scoring ratio among American-born players in NHL history with 43 goals in 79 games.
The Lightning killed off a four-minute disadvantage after Ryan McDonagh’s double minor for high-sticking in the first period. The Canadiens managed just one shot on net during the power play.
Montreal had better scoring chances on two of Tampa Bay’s power plays in the second period. Vasilevskiy stopped Evans on a short-handed breakaway on one of them.
“Did I think we had our best game? We clearly did not. Is it really disappointing to come home and lose? It is," Cooper said. "This is something we should take a ton of pride in and dig our heels in and not accept. Now, listen, we had some chances to tie it, and we hit some posts, but I thought we gave ourself chances to score. We just didn't.”
https://twitter.com/jayRecher/status/2049636208796397995
Watch party: The Lightning will host a Game 6 watch party beginning at 6 p.m. Friday at Water Works Park, 1701 N. Highland Ave., Tampa. The game will be shown on a big screen, and there will be appearances by ThunderBug and Lightning personalities, giveaways and concession specials.
Anthem milestone: Sonya Bryson-Kirksey sang the "Star-Spangled Banner" before her 500th Lightning game. The retired Air Force technical sargeant has been the team's anthem singing since 2013.
SERIES SCHEDULE (best of seven)
Game 1 – Canadiens 4, Lightning 3 (overtime)
Game 2 – Lightning 3, Canadiens 2 (overtime)
Game 3 – Canadiens 3, Lightning 2 (overtime)
Game 4 – Lightning 3, Canadiens 2
Game 5 – Canadiens 3, Lightning 2; Montreal leads series, 3-2
Game 6 – at Montreal on Friday, 7 p.m. (ESPN2, WXPX-The Spot)
Game 7 (if necessary) – at Tampa on Sunday, Time TBD
Click here to purchase Lightning tickets and find the latest playoff information.
Andrei Vasilevskiy allowed a fluke goal on the day he was nominated for the Vezina Trophy, the Lightning struggled to win faceoffs, lucky bounces went the other way and they lost to the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 on Wednesday night to fall behind 3-2 in the series.
“We got no choice now. We got to show up or we're out,” Lightning forward Brayden Point said.
Game 6 is Friday night in Montreal, where the teams split Games 3 and 4. The Lightning are trying to avoid a fourth straight first-round elimination since falling two wins short of a Stanley Cup three-peat in 2022.
“We got to drag them back here,” forward Corey Perry said. “You know it’s going to be a hostile environment. It’s loud but block it out and just go play. We found a way last game there. We got to do it again.”
ALSO READ: Hagel scores twice to rally Lightning by Canadiens, tying NHL playoff series
Tampa Bay has lost 10 of its last 12 home games in the postseason despite 460 consecutive sellouts at Benchmark International Arena, which would host Game 7 – if there is one. (Attendance was 19,092 on Wednesday.)
The Lightning have lost their last two elimination games.
“I understand the next game is a potential elimination game but the last game we played there, we lose that one and we’re down 3-1 (and) you’re really chasing the series,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “They’ve been in that building twice now and have a pretty good feeling of what to expect. How it’s going to go? I can’t say for sure but I’ll bet we play better than we did tonight.”
Alexandre Texier scored the winning goal 1:06 into the third period on a slap shot from the left circle that bounced off Vasilevskiy’s glove and trickled behind one of the NHL’s best goaltenders.
“I'm not a 50-goal scorer,” Texier said. “When I have a chance, I just try to put it on net and sometimes you're lucky it's in and sometimes not.”
https://twitter.com/CanadiensMTL/status/2049658487207067737
Cooper blamed the goal on the Bolts’ defense, not Vasilevsky, who finished with 21 saves.
“It stems way before that. It doesn’t stem from when Texier gets down the ice. It stems from the change and how we went about it and the mistakes we made on the way there,” Cooper said.
“Forever, all Vasy does is bail us out of those. The rare time sometimes he doesn’t. He should’ve never got that deep into our zone and he got a lot on it. It wasn’t like Vasy got beat. He had it and it took a Montreal bounce, unfortunately for us.”
The Canadiens dominated the faceoff circle, winning 66% – Jake Evans won 85%.
In another tight game – all five have been decided by one goal and the first three went to overtime – every puck possession matters.
“Possession is huge,” Point said. “There’s not a lot of room out there. Starting with the puck is massive.”
The Lightning had 40 shots on rookie goaltender Jakub Dobes but only Dominic James and Jake Guentzel could get the puck past him – both on 2-on-1 breakaways.
Tampa Bay had shots hit the post and crossbar, and scoring leader Nikita Kucherov had the puck bounce over his stick with an open net.
“We need other guys to score and haven’t been able to do it,” Point said. “It is frustrating. Just got to keep doing the right things and keep working hard.”
Dobes stopped 38 shots – 10 over the final 2:33 after Tampa Bay pulled Vasilevskiy for an extra attacker – to help Montreal move within a victory of advancing for the first time since losing to the Lightning in the Stanley Cup Finals in 2021.
Dominic James scored his first career playoff goal and Jake Guentzel also connected for the Lightning - both on two-on-one breakaways.
https://twitter.com/NHLGoalVideos/status/2049660943269872084
The Canadiens jumped ahead three minutes into the game when Brenden Gallagher wristed in a rebound after Vasilevskiy kicked away Alex Newhook’s backhander.
“It's obviously exciting,” said Gallagher, who was a healthy scratch the first four games. “It's been a fun series to watch. I tried to follow their lead and find a way to contribute and I did that.”
Newhook began the play by taking the puck from Tampa Bay's Corey Perry in the neutral zone, skating into the Lightning zone and sending a wrist shot that ricocheted back to him off the boards behind the net. Gallagher popped in the rebound over Vasilevsky’s outstretched left leg.
"You know, it's just ... it's a tough way to start, but by no means was that the game," Cooper said. "Especially in these tight-checking, low-scoring games, you can't be given freebies. I thought we gave up a freebie there."
Eleven seconds after James blasted a slap shot past Dobes, the Canadiens regained the lead. Kirby Dach skated down the left side, went around Tampa Bay's Gage Goncalves, lost the puck, kicked it from his skate to his stick in front of the net and put it past Vasilevskiy.
Dach deactivated his Instagram account after receiving online criticism because his defensive lapse led to the winning goal in overtime in Game 2. He had a goal and an assist in Montreal’s 3-2 overtime win the next game.
Guentzel fired a slap shot between Dobes’ legs on another breakaway to tie it at 2 late in the second. Guentzel has the best playoff goal-scoring ratio among American-born players in NHL history with 43 goals in 79 games.
The Lightning killed off a four-minute disadvantage after Ryan McDonagh’s double minor for high-sticking in the first period. The Canadiens managed just one shot on net during the power play.
Montreal had better scoring chances on two of Tampa Bay’s power plays in the second period. Vasilevskiy stopped Evans on a short-handed breakaway on one of them.
“Did I think we had our best game? We clearly did not. Is it really disappointing to come home and lose? It is," Cooper said. "This is something we should take a ton of pride in and dig our heels in and not accept. Now, listen, we had some chances to tie it, and we hit some posts, but I thought we gave ourself chances to score. We just didn't.”
https://twitter.com/jayRecher/status/2049636208796397995
Watch party: The Lightning will host a Game 6 watch party beginning at 6 p.m. Friday at Water Works Park, 1701 N. Highland Ave., Tampa. The game will be shown on a big screen, and there will be appearances by ThunderBug and Lightning personalities, giveaways and concession specials.
Anthem milestone: Sonya Bryson-Kirksey sang the "Star-Spangled Banner" before her 500th Lightning game. The retired Air Force technical sargeant has been the team's anthem singing since 2013.
SERIES SCHEDULE (best of seven)
Game 1 – Canadiens 4, Lightning 3 (overtime)
Game 2 – Lightning 3, Canadiens 2 (overtime)
Game 3 – Canadiens 3, Lightning 2 (overtime)
Game 4 – Lightning 3, Canadiens 2
Game 5 – Canadiens 3, Lightning 2; Montreal leads series, 3-2
Game 6 – at Montreal on Friday, 7 p.m. (ESPN2, WXPX-The Spot)
Game 7 (if necessary) – at Tampa on Sunday, Time TBD
Click here to purchase Lightning tickets and find the latest playoff information.