Tuesday night’s marked a decisive shift in tone in this opening-round series between the Montreal Canadiens and the Tampa Bay Lightning. Unfortunately for Montreal fans, it was not a shift in their favour.
The Habs had the lead in the third period on Tuesday night in Tampa Bay as they looked to double their series lead. However, some fundamental miscues proved costly as the Lightning tied it, then won in overtime on a J.J. Moser shot to give them the 3-2 victory and tie the series at one apiece.
It was a light week for the Habs, who only played twice. They didn’t muster up a great effort to end the regular season but they bounced back with an important victory in Tampa Bay to start their playoff series on a good note.
Sunday’s series opener in Tampa Bay turned into a battle of special teams with multiple power play goals for each side. Juraj Slafkovsky had three of those tallies, the first coming early in overtime to give Montreal the 4-3 victory.
The rest of the first round NHL postseason gets started Sunday and Monday. The HabsWorld writers provided their predictions on the rest of the playoff matches, including the Canadiens-Lightning series.
The Tampa Bay Lightning vs Montreal Canadiens series will probably be one of the most exciting series in the first round. Let’s take a closer look at some of the behind-the-scenes numbers of the series.
The 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs get underway today with three series playing their first games. Our writers offer up their predictions on how those matchups will play out.
While there was a bit of a dip at the end of the season, consistency was a strong point for the Habs in 2025-26. That allowed them to blow past their 2024-25 numbers while allowing several key players to hit significant milestones as well.
Topics in our latest podcast include a discussion of the upcoming series against Tampa Bay, several big individual milestones reached, David Reinbacher’s NHL debut, and more.
Come playoff time, teams need their top players to be their top players. But to get through a series, someone else will also need to step up to make some key contributions. Our writers make their predictions on who might fill that role for the Habs this spring.