Canadiens rally with three goals in third to top Lightning
MONTREAL (AP) -- Carey Price's teammates are no longer amazed when he makes an impossible save look easy.
Price made a game-changing stop in the third period, one of his 30 saves on the night, to lead Montreal to a 3-1 victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night for the Canadiens' sixth straight win.
With Montreal trailing 1-0 to start the third, Price kept his side in the game by robbing Ondrej Palat from close range with a lightning-fast right-leg kick. The puck, headed for the back of the net, went off Price's toe and bounced into the boards. The goalie called it a "lucky" save.
"It's the norm now with him," Montreal forward Torrey Mitchell said. "You're almost not even surprised by it. Most goalies, it's in the back of the net. That just gives us that momentum, it gives us such a big boost. You see the confidence that we come out with on the next two or three shifts after those types of saves."
Price beat Tampa Bay for the first time in his last eight starts (1-5-2). His previous win against the Lightning was on Dec. 28, 2013.
Alex Killorn scored the lone goal for the Lightning, who lost against an Eastern-Conference opponent for the first time this season. Ben Bishop stopped 23 shots.
Max Pacioretty scored the tiebreaking goal in Montreal's three-goal third period to get the win, and the Canadiens' captain also praised his goalie.
"That's just him being himself, making the right save at the right time," Pacioretty said. "Normally when there's a big save or a big play, you generally see the team tend to give a little bit more effort and rally together to play in front of a play like that.
"Big turning point in the game."
Alex Galchenyuk tied the score with a power-play goal at 6:12 of the third, and Torrey Mitchell's empty-netter in the waning seconds sealed the win as Montreal improved to 7-0-1 as the only NHL team without a regulation loss.
On the tying goal, Andrei Markov fooled the Lightning with a cross-ice pass instead of taking a shot on net. Galchenyuk made no mistake with the one-timer just above Ben Bishop's glove.
Four minutes later, Pacioretty put the Canadiens ahead by beating Bishop glove-side. Blown coverage by the Lightning left the Pacioretty all alone on the edge of the face-off circle, and Bishop couldn't see the shot with Andrew Shaw posted firmly in front of goal.
"World-class goalies don't have chances on those," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "Look at the goals that went in. They weren't gifts. They got the extra bounce and we didn't.
"It was a pretty even game. It came down to two good teams, chances were probably even and shots were close. It came down to special teams."
Price beat Tampa Bay for the first time in his last eight starts (1-5-2). His previous win against the Lightning was on Dec. 28, 2013.
Price wasn't tested much in the early stages of the game as Tampa Bay didn't get its first shot until 12:14 had elapsed -- Killorn from an extremely difficult angle.
After just a four-shot first period, the Lightning were more threatening in the second.
Killorn beat Price for the game's first goal with 3:52 left in the middle period by deflecting home a slap pass from Victor Hedman. Killorn sneaked in behind defenseman Alexei Emelin, put himself in a good position just outside the crease and got enough of the puck for his team-leading sixth goal of the season.
The 27-year-old Killorn has scored in six of Tampa's seven games this season.
It was just the second time this season Montreal gave up the first goal of the game.
NOTES: Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov fell awkwardly into the boards in the first period, left the game and did not return. ... Canadiens D Mikhail Sergachev was a healthy scratch for the fourth consecutive game. ... Shea Weber saw his four-game point streak come to an end. ... Montreal leads the league with 25 points from its defensemen.
UP NEXT
Lightning: At New Jersey on Saturday night in the fourth game of a six-game trip.
Canadiens: Host Toronto on Saturday night.
