- Brandon Hagel scored the game-tying and game-winning goals in the third period
- Tampa Bay rallied from down 2-0 to beat Montreal 3-2 at Bell Centre and even the series 2-2
- Read below for video, quotes, and how Hagel’s six goals are carrying the Lightning
Brandon Hagel turned the boos at Bell Centre into background noise.
The Tampa Bay Lightning forward scored both the game-tying and game-winning goals in the third period of a 3-2 comeback win over the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday night, dragging the Lightning back from a two-goal hole and evening their first-round series 2-2.
Cole Caufield, fresh off his 51-goal regular season, opened the scoring with his first of the postseason. Zachary Bolduc made it 2-0 not long after, and the building was rolling.
Then the third period showed up.
Jake Guentzel jammed one home with 54 seconds left in the second to cut it to 2-1. Hagel took it from there. He scored on the power play 1:40 into the third, sliding into the slot and tapping in a Nikita Kucherov backdoor feed.
About thirteen minutes later, Hagel got in front of Jakub Dobes again and redirected another Kucherov shot past the rookie netminder with 4:43 left for the eventual game-winner.
That gave him six goals in this series. He has more than half of Tampa’s 11 against Montreal so far, per NHL.com.
The league was already talking about him before puck drop:
Lightning coach Jon Cooper had a pretty clear take on what he’s been seeing from the 27-year-old.
“He’s definitely become the straw that stirs our drink,” Cooper said. “Even when we went down 2-0, his passion on the bench, when he stood up and looked both ways, I think he captivated the bench with the message he was saying.”
With captain Victor Hedman out for personal reasons, somebody had to grab the wheel. Hagel’s been doing the talking and the scoring.
The crowd in Montreal had a different relationship with him this time around. He was cheered in this same rink in February 2025 while playing for Team Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off. Sunday, the building was riding him every shift.
He said he embraced it.
“You live to play in moments like this,” Hagel said. “This is why you want to get into the playoffs. In a regular season game you’re happy when you’re in a building that’s loud and fun to play in. So when you get to the playoffs it’s always like that. They’ve got passionate fans here.”
Here is the video of both Hagel goals and the rest of the Game 4 highlights:
Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 16 of 18 to lock things down once the Lightning had the lead.
Game 5 goes Tuesday in Tampa, where things already got chippy between Hagel and Juraj Slafkovsky in Game 2. The Bolts have life again.
