Tampa Bay Lightning Drop Game 3-2 to the Canadiens

The Tampa Bay Lightning lost on the road to the Canadiens Tuesday night, 3-2.  Kirby Dach saw playing time for Montreal after being out for two months and scored the first goal of the game. Jonathan Drouin and Mike Matheson also scored for the Canadiens. Brayden Point and Pat Maroon had the two goals of the night for Tampa Bay.

Tampa has 90 points on the season as they sit in third place in the Atlantic division. Montreal has 62 points and sit last in the Atlantic division.

Canadiens Take a 2 Goal Lead

Dach was out for Montreal with a lower body injury before Tuesday’s game, missing 16 games. It was his first game back as he is a huge part of the skill set to the Canadiens team. He showed that as he scored the first goal of the night from a little tapper off his stick. 8:27 into the game Nick Suzuki fired from the high slot as the puck hit Andrei Vasilevskiy’s pads. Dach was camped in front of the net and tapped it in for his 13th goal of the season.

Drouin scored 14 minutes into the first as he received a pass from Denis Gurianov and wrist shot it in for the second goal. The Lightning got crossed up having too many guys overloading where the puck was, leaving Drouin with speed to snap it in.

The Lightning had a handful of great chances to make an impact. However, it was a game where Sam Montembault was seeing everything on net.

Lightning Cut the Deficit

Brayden Point was able to shoot one into the back of the net to get the Lightning going. At 8:58 of the second period, Point was stationed in the left circle as he passed it back and forth with Stamkos up high. He returned the pass and slap shot it in for his 44th goal of the season.

And that's *checks notes 📝* 18 power play goals for Pointer!! pic.twitter.com/ZQyUI5rEL7

— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) March 22, 2023

It wasn’t long again until the Canadiens would tag on another goal to their lead. Mike Matheson was able to wrist shot one in from the left point as it nicked off the post.

Pat Maroon went 33 games without a point, until the third period. Justin Barron was looking to pass it, but it deflected up and off the boards as Colton set it down with his glove. He nagged it towards the goal as it went in-between the legs of Corey Perry and found Maroon at the end of the net. He tapped it in from the right post to make it a one goal game.

PATTY GETS ONE BACK pic.twitter.com/CT6E5z4yOm

— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) March 22, 2023

Looking Forward for the Lightning

This loss sets Tampa third in the Atlantic Division behind the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Boston Bruins. They are sixth in the Eastern Conference and third in the Atlantic Wildcard.

They continue their road trip at the Senators Thursday, then have a huge game against the Boston Bruins Saturday and finish the road trip at the Hurricanes March 28.