Heartbreaking loss for the Canadiens against the Lightning

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Heartbreaking loss for the Canadiens against the Lightning

In their first game back from the Christmas break, the Canadiens faced the Tampa Bay Lightning at Benchmark International Arena in warm Florida weather.

There were no roster changes for the Habs. Alexandre Texier remained in the lineup after leaving the previous game with a head injury.

Here is the Montreal lineup with Jacob Fowler in goal:

For the Lightning, defenseman Maxim Groshev played his first NHL game due to an injury to veteran Ryan McDonagh. Brendan Hagel returned to the lineup after injury.

Here's the Lightning lineup with goalie Jonas Johansson in front of the net:

In the first period, the Canadiens were clearly the more dangerous team. The Habs had several chances to score but were unable to capitalize on them.

Arber Czekay and Scott Sabourin dropped the gloves late in the period and put up a fierce fight.

Unfortunately for Sabourin, he received a knockout blow and immediately returned to the locker room with the help of his teammates.

Although the Canadiens had three power plays, the score remained tied after twenty minutes.

In the opening minutes of the second period, Nikita Kucherov broke free after Ivan Demidov broke his stick again and scored with a pinpoint shot across Fowler's pad.

This gave the Lightning a 1–0 lead.

Nearly ten minutes later, Nikita Kucherov took advantage of Fowler's complete miss to double his team's lead.

All this in front of Juraj Slafkovsky, who, after a mistake, allowed his skates to drag.

As if things weren't already bad enough for the Habs, Nick Paul scored on a two-on-one just as Kucherov completed his penalty.

Paul caught Oliver Bjorkstrand's return shot to triple the home team's lead.

After the second period the score became 3:0.

Early in the third period, Ivan Demidov sent the puck behind the Lightning goalie, who was already looking better.

Demidov took a beautiful pass from Juraj Slafkovski and scored a goal.

Seconds later, Bjorkstrand's layup was deflected by Pontus Holmberg and the Lightning regained their three-goal lead as Martin St. Louis sighed.

Juraj Slafkovski once again showed off his offensive skills by scoring a clear goal after asking Oliver Kapanen for the puck. The Canadiens showed signs of life and stayed in the game.

The gap was reduced to two goals.

Moments later, Noah Dobson fired a shot that hit the opposing goalkeeper in the back.

The Canadiens continued to apply pressure, forcing the Lightning to play on their heels.

The two teams were separated by one goal.

Jacob Fowler returned to the bench to add a player.

Believe it or not, Juraj Slafkovski scored a goal with an on-ice shot off a deft pass from Ivan Demidov. There were less than four seconds left in the game.

So, the outcome of the game was decided in overtime.

The game went to a penalty shootout and Brayden Point gave his team the victory.

Final score: 5-4 in favor of Lightning on penalties.

The Canadiens continue on the road against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday, December 30th.

after a while

– Although he made a few mistakes, what a game by Juraj Slafkovski, who showed all his attacking talent in this game, scoring two goals and making an assist.

– Noah Dobson had a goal and an assist. He was Martin St. Louis' most used defenseman before overtime, with 26:31 of playing time before overtime.

– Jacob Fowler got off to a poor start, scoring four goals on just 22 shots.

The Habs' power play was disastrous, with no goals scored on four chances. Several broken sticks and a lack of opportunism prevented the Canadiens from filling the net.

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