The Montreal Canadiens have taken a 2-1 series lead thanks to a howitzer in overtime from Lane Hutson.
The Canadiens and Lightning were level through 60 minutes for the third consecutive time to start their series, marking the first time since the 1951 Stanley Cup Final that Montreal has started a best-of-seven series with each of the opening games going to overtime.
Canadiens are playing OT in each of the first 3 games of a best-of-7 series for the first time since the 1951 Stanley Cup Final#GoHabsGo
Game 3 didn’t take long to end, as the Habs applied early pressure on the Lightning. As the zone play developed, Alexandre Texier would send the puck back to the blueline, and Hutson would get his second goal of the series, blasting a slapshot past Andrei Vasilevskiy to win the game.
HUTSON IS THE GAME 3 HERO ‼️Lane Hutson fires home the Subway Canada OT winner for the Canadiens in Game 3! pic.twitter.com/RD5wyKxyQf
Texier would score a goal of his own, which opened the scoring just before the five-minute mark of the first period on a half-slapper past Vasilevskiy, following a beautiful backhand feed from Zachary Bolduc.
Brayden Point would level the score just under three minutes later on a Tampa Bay power play.
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In the second period, Bradon Hagel would fire a low wrist shot past Jakub Dobeš to give the Lightning the lead. Following the goal, Dobeš and Lightning’s Erik Cernak would get unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.
Tampa Bay would hold the lead for almost eight minutes before pressure from the Canadiens led to a goal from Kirby Dach, who wristed the puck through a pair of screens and past Vasilevskiy, making the game 2-2. No scoring in the third meant the game headed to overtime.
Both teams would combine for 30 penalty minutes during the game.
Dobeš would pick up his second win of the playoffs, saving 15 of the 17 shots, while also picking up two penalty minutes. Vasilevskiy would end up saving 26 of the 29 shots he faced in the overtime loss.
