- Juraj Slafkovsky scored three power-play goals, capping it at 1:22 of overtime.
- Canadiens went 3-for-5 with the man advantage and stole home ice 4-3.
- Read below for full recap and video highlights from Game 1 in Tampa.
Juraj Slafkovsky completed his hat trick 1:22 into overtime to push the Montreal Canadiens past the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 in Game 1 on Sunday night. All three of his goals came on the power play.
The winner opened up after Jake Guentzel drew a high-sticking call with 21 seconds left in regulation. Slafkovsky collected a pass inside the left circle and snapped the puck past Andrei Vasilevskiy’s glove side to steal home ice for the No. 3 seed in the Atlantic.
Josh Anderson got Montreal on the board at 13:24 of the first. Tampa answered twice in the middle frame. Darren Raddysh opened the scoring for the Bolts off a Nikita Kucherov feed at 12:15, and Brandon Hagel pounced on a loose puck 29 seconds later to flip the lead. Slafkovsky responded at 19:36 of the second with a one-timer from the right circle after Ivan Demidov threaded a seam pass through traffic.
The third stayed tight. Slafkovsky buried his second power-play goal from the slot on a Cole Caufield feed at 5:56 to put the Habs up 3-2. Hagel knocked in a backdoor pass from Guentzel at 8:58 to tie it again and push the game to overtime.
The video below captures Slafkovsky’s sharp-angle finish past Vasilevskiy, one of several highlight-reel snipes on his three-goal night.
Rookie Jakub Dobes stopped 20 shots for his first career playoff win. Vasilevskiy made 15 saves at the other end. Nick Suzuki and Caufield each picked up two assists. Kucherov added two helpers for Tampa, and Guentzel finished the night with three.
Slafkovsky became the 13th player in NHL history to score three power-play goals in a playoff game, and the first to do it since Jonathan Toews pulled the feat for Chicago in 2010. Tampa Bay, meanwhile, has now dropped seven straight playoff overtime contests.
The Lightning opened the series without Victor Hedman, per head coach Jon Cooper. Montreal’s power play went 3-for-5 on the night. Game 2 goes Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET from Benchmark International Arena.
