Cole Caufield became the first Canadien to score 50 goals in 36 years and Juraj Slafkovsky buried a late winning goal as Montreal defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 in a heated, fight-filled affair Thursday night.
Slafkovsky scored his 30th goal while Nick Suzuki, with two helpers, reached 70 assists on the season for Montreal (47-22-10).
Jakub Dobes made 17 saves for his seventh consecutive win.
Darren Raddysh replied for Tampa Bay (48-25-6), which lost its third straight game. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 19 shots.
Caufield beat Vasilevskiy with a wrist shot at 6:29 of the second period to reach the half-century milestone Thursday, sending a frenzied Bell Centre crowd — including Prime Minister Mark Carney — to its feet.
That held as the only goal until Raddysh hammered home an equalizer with 1:51 remaining in the third period with the goalie pulled.
But Slafkovsky quickly replied with 64 seconds remaining, finishing off a pass from Suzuki to cap a thrilling night.
Carney was in attendance with Liberal party members gathering for a convention Thursday through Saturday in Montreal.
The Canadiens, Lightning and Sabres are locked in a three-way race for first place in the Atlantic Division with three regular-season games remaining for Montreal and Tampa Bay, and two left for Buffalo. Two of the three will likely face off in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Montreal moved two points ahead of Tampa Bay and two behind Buffalo for the division lead.
The game featured several scrums after the whistle, a spirited fight between Montreal’s Josh Anderson and Tampa Bay’s Declan Carlile, and seven 10-minute misconducts — culminating in 126 penalty minutes. The second period alone had more than 100, with players packing in to both penalty boxes.
Takeaways
Canadiens: Caufield became the seventh Canadiens to hit the 50 mark, and the first since Stéphane Richer in 1989-90. He also scored his 29th go-ahead goal, passing Pavel Bure for the second highest single-season total in NHL history behind Brett Hull.
Lightning: Went without a shot on goal until 8:35 left in the first period as the Canadiens held them to the perimeter all night. Neither team scored in 11 combined power-play opportunities.
Key moment
Caufield finally broke through with his 50th when he received a pass from Suzuki off the rush and fired a shot past a sliding Vasilevskiy blocker side as the building erupted. Caufield’s father, Paul Caufield, watched on in attendance and wiped tears from his eyes.
Key stat
Caufield is the NHL’s third player listed as five-foot-eight or shorter to score 50 goals in a season, following Dennis Maruk and Theo Fleury.
Up next
Canadiens: Host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday.
Lightning: Visit the Boston Bruins on Saturday.
