(Tampa) After 60 minutes, the Montreal Canadiens and the Tampa Bay Lightning are deadlocked 3-3 on Saturday.
Cole Caufield broke the deadlock at 6:23 in the third period but Tyler Motte tied the game at 10:18, during a penalty kill.
Motte scored his sixth goal on a breakaway, after intercepting a pass from Nick Suzuki, at the Lighting blue line.
Caufield provided his 20e goal of the season.
The 23-year-old American hit the target with a long wrist shot, while Josh Anderson blocked Andrei Vasilevskiy’s view.
Caufield scored for the first time in seven games, although he was complicit in two goals during the streak.
Jake Evans and Joel Armia were the other scorers for CH.
Andrei Vasilevskiy blocked 27 shots, while Cayden Primeau made 26 saves.
Thursday, CH began a four-game trip by losing 4-3 in a shootout to the Panthers in Sunrise.
There are still stops in Nashville and Carolina on Tuesday and Thursday.
Armia and Evans scored in the first period, at 1:27 and 14:34.
Brayden Point and Anthony Cirelli fought back in the middle period, at 7:44 and 12:59.
Armia got his 11e goal after Darren Raddysh saw his pass blocked in the CH zone.
Armia then led a three-on-one. He slipped the puck to Kaiden Guhle and sped towards the slot alone. When Guhle gave him the puck back, the Finn beat Andrei Vasilevskiy to his left with a sharp shot.
Two minutes later, bickering gave the Canadian a numerical advantage. Caufield threatened near the net and Brendan Gallagher was hard at work in the second wave, but the Lightning held on.
Late in the period, a robust Gallagher stole the puck from Raddysh in the corner of the ice. He put it back in front of goal and Evans scored his fifth goal of the campaign.
In the second period, Point narrowed the gap by scoring an 11e point in nine games.
Nikita Kucherov, the circuit’s top scorer, spotted Steven Stamkos in the slot. The captain then slipped the disc to the right mouth, where Point collected his 32e goal of the season.
Early in the second period, Brandon Hagel had a great opportunity in the slot, but his shot largely missed the target.
Hagel was very productive in February, totaling 16 points.
Two minutes later, Vasilevskiy made a very good save at the expense of Caufield, who had just caught a pass from Suzuki.
Captain of the Canadian, Suzuki is looking for a 100e goal in the National League.
Shortly after Caufield’s opportunity, a shot from Stamkos hit the post to Primeau’s right.
Three minutes after Point’s goal, Hagel was frustrated on a breakaway.
The only penalty in the second period was imposed on Gallagher for a double check on Nick Perbix, who had invaded Cayden Primeau’s space.
Late in the period, the score improved to 2-2 when Hagel passed at the bottom of the left circle to Cirelli, who scored a 13e aim.
Juraj Slafkovsky of the Habs, first pick in the 2022 draft, plays a 100 on Saturdaye match in the National League.
So far this season, the Lightning won 5-3 at the Bell Center in November in addition to defeating the Canadian 4-3 in Florida on New Year’s Eve.
The Lightning were beaten in their previous two games this week.