Lightning pull out 1-0 overtime road win over Montreal to send series back to Florida

MONTREAL – A glance at the boxscore from Tampa Bay’s 1-0 win over Montreal in Game 6 of their first-round NHL playoff series wouldn’t come close to capturing what unfolded at Bell Centre on Friday. 

While Gage Goncalves’ goal just over nine minutes into overtime accounting for the only scoring on the night, the game had just about everything else. 

There were dangerous scoring chances at both ends, highlight-reel saves and punishing hits, all adding up to a riveting, razor-tight battle that Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis called one of the best 1-0 games he has ever seen. 

“I felt we were calm through the chaos,” St. Louis said. “We were good. There’s no panic. We had everybody going tonight. It’s unfortunate you don’t get the result, but what a hockey game.”

His counterpart behind the Lightning bench echoed his sentiments. 

“It was everything,” said Jon Cooper. “There wasn’t a goal scored, yet everybody in the building was on the edge of their seats. I guess that’s how epic games become epic.”

The Canadiens had 30 shots on goal Friday, none able to get past Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy. 

Montreal captain Nick Suzuki was still proud of his team’s effort. 

“I thought we played great,” said Suzuki. “I don’t know what else we could have done more other than put it in the net. 

We generated a ton of chances, two-on-ones, looks at the net, power play. I thought that honestly this was one of our better games of the whole series and we lost.”

Fellow Montreal centreman Jake Evans offered a similar assessment of why only a single goal was scored over nearly 70 minutes of hockey.

“Obviously, the goalies were perfect or near-perfect,” said Evans. “Tampa is playing for their lives. We’re playing to get to the next round. Everyone’s getting in shot lanes, everyone is making it hard and not giving up those second chances or those tips. We’ve just got to find a way to put a couple more in.”

Through six one-goal games this series, the teams have split three games, each scoring 14 goals along the way. 

“It’s been unreal, to be honest,” said Lightning forward Brandon Hagel, who leads both teams with six goals in the series. “Obviously, we both had 106 points coming into this series. 

They’re a really, really good hockey team over there. We’re a really, really, good hockey team here. I don’t think we expected anything else other than what’s been going on here.”

Canadiens defenceman Lane Hutson said both teams use a similar offensive style.

“It’s super tight-checking,” he said. “Everyone is defending so hard. Not much space out there, but it’s a fun series to be a part of.”

Given how thin the margins have been through the first six games of the series, St. Louis believes it is only fitting that the two teams will match up again in a pivotal Game 7 on Sunday night in Tampa, Fla.

“This is probably one of the best games I’ve seen this young group play,” he said. “They just got to embrace the situation. Things are meant to be for our growth to go play a Game 7. 

“It’s going to help us for what’s next.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 2, 2026.