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Martin St. Louis could feel his team inching toward a 2-0 series lead on the road.
The youthful Montreal Canadiens had erased a one-goal deficit to build a 2-1 advantage after two strong periods, controlling the run of play while handling a nasty, physical Tampa Bay Lightning game plan from the opening faceoff.
Then it came time to close — and the Canadiens cracked.
“We lacked calm,” Montreal’s head coach said. “We were giving the puck back to them all the time. We weren’t able to forecheck because they always had the puck.
“It takes calmness in these situations. You have to be able to want the puck, ask for the puck and be part of the solution to go gain momentum. We had a lot of momentum in the first two periods. We lost it in the third, and we weren’t able to get it back.”
J.J. Moser scored 12:48 into overtime to lift the Lightning past the Canadiens 3-2 on Tuesday night, tying the first-round NHL playoff series at one game apiece.
The winner capped a dominant extra period for the veteran-savvy Lightning, who held Montreal without a shot. It also followed a Nikita Kucherov equalizer with 7:27 left in the third that put the visitors on their heels.
On both goals, lapses in judgment proved costly.
Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobeš (75) looks on a players from the Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning scrap behind the goal during the first period in Game 2 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series, Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in Tampa, Fla. (Chris O’Meara/AP Photo)
Juraj Slafkovsky — the hat-trick hero in Montreal’s Game 1 overtime victory — swung a reckless own-zone giveaway onto Brandon Hagel’s tape, leading to Kucherov’s wraparound.
Then in overtime, after goalie Jakub Dobeš had bailed out the Canadiens often, Kirby Dach floated the puck down for an unnecessary icing before Moser skated around him at the blue line and buried a wrist shot, ending a nightmare sequence for the Canadiens forward.
“It’s a game of mistakes, stuff happens,” teammate Kaiden Guhle said. “Tried to do the right thing. He was out late on the shift, tried to get it to sit. Just part of the game.”
“You don’t want to have icings like that,” added St. Louis. “That’s for sure.”
Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki explained that fatigue played a major role in the Canadiens’ inability to manage the puck late.
“When guys are tired out there, and there’s a long change, sometimes it’s tough to possess,” he said. “When you’re tired your brain starts not working as well.”
Chaotic 1st period
The way the opening 40 minutes unfolded helps explain why his group felt worn down.
A chaotic first period alone featured fights, post-whistle scrums and a combined 30 hits and 30 penalty minutes.
Midway through the frame, Canadiens power forward Josh Anderson and Hagel mixed it up, pulling Jake Evans and Jake Guentzel, Mike Matheson and Darren Raddysh, and Corey Perry and Alexandre Carrier into a massive scrum.
Hagel left Anderson’s face bloodied before skating through centre ice and raising his arms, firing up the crowd as all eight players filled the penalty box. The words “standing room only, no vacancy” then appeared on the big screen at Benchmark International Arena.
In the second period, Hagel — the first Lightning player to post a Gordie Howe hat trick in a playoff game — baited Slafkovsky into a fight and dropped him with a right hook, punching 40 pounds above his weight.
“I’m sure they weren’t happy with how the last game went, I’m sure they didn’t want to go down 2-0 at home coming back to Montreal,” Guhle said. “So I expected that type of physicality.”
After undisciplined play sunk them in Game 1, the Lightning — who led the league in penalty minutes by a mile this season — spoke the previous two days about staying out of the box.
So much for that.
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Fans are cheering on the Montreal Canadiens from the pews of the Cathédrale Saint-Jean-l’Évangéliste, 40 minutes outside Montreal. The church in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., is a heritage site that hosts mass as well as cultural and artistic events.
“We go short [handed] five more times. It’s not the ideal recipe, but it’s one less penalty than we took the night before,” coach Jon Cooper said. “So if we can keep doing that, by the time we get to Game 6, we should be OK.
“I mean somebody’s got to be the villain, I guess, and we’re OK with it. The guys play hard and they’re a determined group and when there’s obstacles in their way they’ll try and get through it any way possible. And if it’s fighting their way through it, then so be it.”
The Canadiens failed to capitalize after Scott Sabourin’s ill-advised interference penalty on Anderson with 2:15 remaining, with Lane Hutson striking the post.
Then the Lightning put on “a clinic,” said Hagel, to end a streak of six straight overtime losses in the playoffs.
“Enough was enough and I think everyone kind of knew that in the dressing room and going into overtime,” he said. “That was probably the best hockey we’ve played in this series.”
The series moves to Montreal for Game 3 at the Bell Centre on Friday.
