Johnson retrieved a loose puck in the neutral zone and went in
alone before flipping a backhand past Montreal goalie Carey Price
for a 2-1 lead. Ryan Callahan also scored and Alex Killorn added an
empty-netter while Ben Bishop turned aside 25 shots as the Lightning
improved to 8-1-4 in their last 13 games.
Brendan Gallagher scored his 19th goal for Montreal, which also
clinched a postseason berth despite having its five-game winning
streak snapped. Price made 30 saves for the Canadiens, who fell into
a tie with Tampa Bay for second place in the Atlantic Division and
have played one more game than the Lightning.
Gallagher opened the scoring 10:18 into the game, battling his way
to the net to knock in a rebound of defenseman’s Mike Weaver’s
deflected shot. Callahan tied the game on the power play 9:19 into
the second session, roofing a backhand on Price from below the left
circle after breaking free.
Teddy Purcell appeared to have given the Lightning the lead with
11.7 seconds left in the second, but the goal was disallowed for
incidental contact with Price. Johnson tied Boston’s Brad Marchand
for the league lead in short-handed tallies and matched Steven
Stamkos for the rookie franchise record with his 23rd goal.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Montreal D Douglas Murray received a match penalty
for an elbow to the head of Tampa Bay D Mike Kostka with 2:13 left
in the game. Kostka laid on the ice for several minutes, but skated
off under his own power. … Montreal, which dropped three of four to
the Lightning this season, fell to 22-3-2 when leading after the
first period. … Tampa Bay C Valtteri Filppula saw his career-best
12-game point streak come to an end.
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