Lightning's point streak ends at 8 games with home loss to Canadiens

Eduardo A. Encina, Tampa Bay Times on Mar 31, 2026

Published in Hockey

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TAMPA, Fla. — The Lightning could see the Montreal Canadiens down the line with much more at stake, but for now both teams are jockeying for playoff positioning in a tight Atlantic Division.

Tampa Bay knows that the Canadiens can strike quickly if you can’t stop their speed, as they did in Montreal’s last trip to Benchmark International Arena on Dec. 28. That’s when the Canadiens erased a three-goal deficit in the final 9:16 of regulation to force overtime before the Lightning got a shootout goal by Gage Goncalves to claim two points.

On Tuesday night, the Lightning did a good job of taking away the Canadiens’ time and space for the most part, but Tampa Bay fell, 4-1, the team’s first regulation loss in nine games.

Montreal goaltender Jakub Dobes, who was just named the NHL first star of the week, won his fourth straight game with 35 saves. Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky scored a goal and set up Cole Caufield’s go-ahead goal in the second period as Montreal extended its win streak to six games.

The Lightning entered the night holding the top playoff position in the East, then dropped into second place in the Atlantic after Buffalo beat the Islanders at home. If the season ended today, the Lightning would have home ice against the Canadiens in the first round.

Tuesday’s game marked the beginning of a nine-game stretch to end the regular season entirely against Eastern Conference opponents, and the first eight against teams in the playoff race.

The Lightning found themselves in penalty trouble early but nearly killed off a first-period 5-on-3 before Slafkovsky scored on the two-man advantage with 7:35 left in the first.

Jake Guentzel extended his goal streak to five games, evening the game at 1 with 6:19 to play in the first. Guentzel took a puck that hit off the end boards behind the Montreal net and fought off backchecker Noah Dobson wrapping around and beating Dobes for his 36th goal of the season.

In the second period, Montreal defenseman Mike Matheson picked off Anthony Cirelli’s pass at the Canadiens’ blue line, then sprung Slafkovsky on the rush the other way along the left wing, catching the Lightning flatfooted.

Slafkovsky threaded a pass across the crease and through Lightning defenseman J.J. Moser to Caufield, who had an open net along the near post.

The Canadiens scored a pair of empty-net goals in the final 2:05, including one in the waning seconds of a 6-on-4 power play.

The teams will face each other one more time in the regular season next Thursday in Montreal.