(Montreal) The sky fell on the head of the Canadian, Tuesday night at the Bell Center.
Corey Perry and Ondrej Palat scored late in the third period and the Tampa Bay Lightning toppled the Montreal team to win 3-2.
The Canadian seemed in control so far, having limited opportunities to score visitors despite a reduced squad.
Only five Canadian players in uniform on Tuesday were also in uniform on July 7, when the Lightning won Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final to defend their title.
In addition, the Habs had 10 players on the sidelines for various reasons on Tuesday, including forwards Joel Armia and Tyler Toffoli, who have joined the long list of injuries in recent days. The Lightning did not count on a perfectly healthy formation either, being deprived of star strikers Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov in particular.
Nick Suzuki scored a goal and an assist, while Mike Hoffman also hit the target for the Canadian (6-18-3), who suffered a fourth straight loss (0-3-1). Jake Allen stopped 24 shots.
Pat Maroon scored the other goal for the Lightning (16-5-4), who won a fourth straight game. Andrei Vasilevskiy repelled 21 shots.
Forward Laurent Dauphin and defender Kale Clague, obtained from the Los Angeles Kings through waivers on Saturday, played their first game in the Bleu-blanc-rouge uniform. Forward Cédric Paquette was also part of the Habs training.
The Canadian striker Christian Dvorak left the game in the second period and could therefore also take charge of the infirmary.
The Canadiens play their next game on Thursday, when they host the Chicago Blackhawks.
Perfect for 57 minutes
The Canadian got off to a good start, but the Lightning took advantage of a blunder from Clague to open the scoring after 10:31. Clague missed a pass from behind his net and Maroon easily scored. surprised Allen.
The Habs goalkeeper redeemed himself a little later, however playing a bit of luck. He made saves with the handle of his stick at the expense of Perry and Palat.
The Canadian controlled the game on the return from intermission and took the opportunity to take a 2-1 lead.
Suzuki first completed a nice climb with Jonathan Drouin and David Savard, at 4:20. Hoffman then hit the mark at 7:08, immediately after Suzuki won a face-off in the offensive zone.
The Lightning recovered late in the second period and Allen had to be vigilant.
Allen first saved the skin of Ben Chiarot, who had just had his pants down by Perry. The Habs goalkeeper then managed to save the left leg on a point blank reception from Pierre-Édouard Bellemare.
The third period was Allen’s business. The Canadiens goaltender was clever at frustrating Alex Killorn twice during a quick rally with Gabriel Fortier.
Allen was also alert at the end of a Lightning power play, standing in front of Victor Hedman, who was rushing to the net. Hedman had hit the post a few moments earlier.
Meanwhile, Artturi Lehkonen wasted an opportunity to offer a more comfortable cushion to the Habs, seeing his shot graze Vasilevskiy during a breakaway.
Jonathan Drouin was barely unable to receive a long pass that would have allowed him to slip into an empty net and the Lightning finally made the Canadian pay for his lack of opportunism.
Perry sent everyone back to square one with 2:09 hours to go. He only had to deflect a Steven Stamkos handover into the opening. Then Palat threw a cold shower on the spectators, in turn beating Allen with 38 seconds left on the dial.