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Elimination games do not walk quietly into this city. Not inside Bell Centre. Not with all that history hanging from the rafters. Not with a young Montreal Canadiens team feeding off a building that knows exactly what playoff pressure sounds like when it starts shaking the walls.

The Tampa Bay Lightning find themselves in an all too familiar position headed into Game 6 at the Bell Centre on Friday night: facing early elimination and a trip to the offseason. After a disappointing Game 5 loss to the Montreal Canadiens at home on Wednesday night, the Lightning must find a way to put together 60 great minutes of hockey, or spend the next five months wondering 'what could have been.'

Alexandre Texier scored the game-winning goal early in the third period as the Montreal Canadiens upended the Tampa Bay Lightning Wednesday night, 3-2. Brendan Gallagher returned to the Habs lineup for the first time in the playoffs to score early in the game, and Kirby Dach added a goal in the second period. The win puts Montreal in control of the Eastern Conference First Round series with a 3-2 lead, and the teams head back north on Friday for Game 6.

If there is one great takeaway from Sunday night's 3-2 comeback win against the Montreal Canadiens, it's that the Tampa Bay Lightning aren't lacking in heart, determination, and resiliency. Facing a two-goal deficit in a hostile environment, the Bolts found a way to win Game 4 at the Bell Centre and regain the advantage in the Eastern Conference First Round.

Image Credit: Mike Smith | Thunderstruck Sports The word is out, and Montreal Canadiens' social media is abuzz with its astute revelation that the NHL referees "gifted" game four of this round one best-of-seven series to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Credit to the fan base for seeing it because, clearly, the referees did their best to hide it. The Referee Trickery Midway through the first period of a scoreless game, the referees issued back-to-back penalties against the Lightning,

A fired-up Brandon Hagel looks on in Game 2 of the Tampa Bay Lightning's series against the Montreal Canadiens. Photo Credit: Alyssa Shimko | Thunderstruck Sports A playoff series in the National Hockey League is more than just a best-of-seven decision. It's a battle of attrition. It's a fight to the bitter end. More than that, it's cinema. Like every good film, the Lightning vs. Canadiens first-round bout has been full of highs and lows. Heroes and villains. Playing the role

The Tampa Bay Lightning gave the Montreal Canadiens a taste of their own medicine in the fourth game of their playoff series. The Habs, the season's cardiac kids, were nursing a 2-0 lead through nearly 40 minutes of play at Bell Centre Sunday night. That's when Jake Guentzel happened, and Brandon Hagel took it from there, driving the bus to a 3-2 Bolts win that evened the series up at 2-2.

The Tampa Bay Lightning find themselves in a situation as they enter Sunday night's Game 4 against the Montreal Canadiens. Losing two of the three games, including one at home, has the team in a must-win situation tonight at the Bell Centre. With both teams evenly matched, Montreal has found a way to lead and control the series' tempo. But there is one thing that the Canadiens can't control that can help the Lightning claw back into the series: The Lightning must find that d

A handful of careless plays prevented the Lightning from taking charge in Game 3 and would ultimately fall short in overtime to let Montreal take the 2-1 series lead. Brayden Point would finally find the back of the net and Hagel continued to be a threat, but it was not enough to come away with the victory in Montreal. Andrei Vasilevskiy was the only reason why Tampa Bay had a chance, but their lack of awareness is what allowed the Canadiens to take over.

The Eastern Conference First Round matchup between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Montreal Canadiens heads north of the border this weekend, tied at one game each. Following two action-packed overtime results, the Lightning haven't played their best hockey, but haven't played their worst, either. However, there is one force out there keeping the Lightning grounded and headed in the right direction as we enter a pivotal point in the series: Brandon Hagel.

J.J. Moser scored at 12:48 of overtime to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a much-needed win in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference first round over the Montreal Canadiens Tuesday night, 3-2. The victory evens the series at 1-1 as the best-of-seven matchup moves to Montreal Friday night.

The Tampa Bay Lightning found themselves in an all-too-familiar situation after Sunday evening's loss to the Montreal Canadiens in overtime: in an early series deficit. But don't throw the baby out with the bathwater quite yet. It's only the first game, and there's still a great deal of hockey left to be played.

Round one, game one between the Montreal Canadiens and the Tampa Bay Lightning would take overtime to decide. The Lightning continued their struggles with playoff overtime, losing their 12th of their last 13 overtime contests. Game one goes to Montreal, and they lead this best-of-seven series one game to none.

On the eve of the Round One matchup between the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning, the Bolts are focused on entering this year's Stanley Cup Playoffs with one major thought in mind: Do not repeat the sins of the past three postseasons.

Tye Kartye had two goals and an assist as the New York Rangers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning in the regular season finale, 4-2. Mika Zibanejad added a goal and an assist. Oliver Bjorkstrand and Corey Perry both scored for the Lightning. The loss was their fourth in the last six games as the Lightning struggled to put together consistent play at the conclusion of the season.

Photo Credit: Alyssa Shimko | Thunderstruck Sports Tonight featured a battle between two teams with very little to play for. The Tampa Bay Lightning remain in a battle for home ice advantage in the 2026 playoffs . However, home ice has not been particularly kind to the Bolts over the last several playoff seasons. The Detroit Red Wings, meanwhile, saw their playoff dreams come to an end following their 5-3 loss on Saturday. Nonetheless, both teams took to the ice at Benchmark

Afternoon affair marks the end of the losing streak with a gutsy 2-1 victory in Boston spoiling a playoff berth for the Bruins in the process. Lightning would be without Darren Raddysh and Zemgus Girgensons this afternoon due to undisclosed injuries but are not major injuries. On the bright side, Brandon Hagel finally returned from injury giving the offense a boost. Regardless of the outcome of the final few games, what matters most is that the team has a healthy roster leadi

Riley Gillespie-Wilson | Thunderstruck Sports Graphic Credit: Mike Smith | Thunderstruck Sports Despite a goal to tie the game for Tampa Bay just moments from the buzzer, the Lightning couldn't manage a single point in Montreal. Darren Raddysh had the tying bid, Juraj Slafkovsky the dagger for the home Montreal Canadiens. His goal with just over a minute left sunk the Lightning 2-1 at Bell Centre Thursday night. It's a known fact around the NHL that playoff hockey has a diffe

Photo Credit: Alyssa Shimko | Thunderstruck Sports For a team that just went 8-1-2 over an 11-game stretch, the Tampa Bay Lightning have been declared "hot garbage" with remarkable speed. It's almost impressive! The Lightning came out of a four-game Western road trip with a sparkling 3-0-1 record. They returned home for a lengthy seven-game stretch in which they went 5-1-1, capped off with a victory over the Boston Bruins Saturday after having clinched a playoff berth earlie

As the Tampa Bay Lightning play their last five games of the regular season, having already clinched their playoff spot, Tuesday’s game in Ottawa has some significance. Mostly dealing with the health of their players. For the Ottawa Senators, the significance of this game is quite different. They are currently holding the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff spot. The second wild card. There are three teams within two points of Ottawa’s 90 points.