Achi news desk-
The Tampa Bay Lightning remain white hot as they inch closer to a playoff spot.
Steven Stamkos and Nicholas Paul each had two goals to lift Tampa Bay to a 7-4 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
The Lightning are 10-1-1 in their last 12 games to lead the Eastern Conference wild card race.
“It was a solid effort in a back-to-back situation,” Stamkos said, referring to Tampa’s 4-1 win at Toronto the night before. “Except for a little disappointment in the third period, we were above them. They have some talented players, and it’s going to happen. We told ourselves 12, 15 games ago that we need a run like this and we have it to continue it.”
NHL points leader Nikita Kucherov scored his 43rd goal of the season and added two assists like Barak (43-26-7).
Michael Esimont and Brandon Hagel scored the other goals for Tampa Bay.
Joel Armia scored twice for the Canadians (29-34-12).
George Slepkowski and Cole Cofield scored the other goals in a third-period push that fell short.
There were frequent flashes and Salpkowski said it was the result of the Canadians trying to match the intensity of the lightning.
“They’re a playoff team and I’ve said a lot of times that we want to play playoff hockey, so we’re going to do all the scrums and stuff,” Slepkowski said. “That’s what we’re trying to improve on and I feel that as we get closer to the playoff spot or even now, just building, the games will be intense and we want to fight and win in the physical part of the game, and then it’s also clear to win on the board.”
Matt Tomkins, a 29-year-old making his fourth NHL start and first since Nov. 7, made 26 saves in the win.
He has a 2-2-0 record with both of his wins coming against the Canadiens in Montreal.
“Obviously he loves playing in this building,” Lightning coach John Cooper said. “When we lost (Andrei) Vasilevsky for 25 games at the beginning of the season, people expected us to go out and get a goalkeeper but we had faith in Tommy and (Jonas Johansson).
Kaiden Primeau made 28 saves in the loss.
The Canadians played most of the game with five defensemen.
Kaiden Gohl left with an upper body injury early in the first period after being pushed to the boards by a hard check from Kucherov.
There was no penalty for the play.
Hagel left the game with seven minutes remaining after an open-ice collision with teammate Stamkos and Anthony Cirelli left the game in the second period.
“This is the time of year when you don’t take risks and we kept them out as a precaution,” Cooper said.
Stamkos tied the score at 2-2 with his first goal of the night at 7:58 of the second period, and Paul scored his second of the game 74 seconds later.
— This Canadian Press report was first published on April 4, 2024.
