Monday, 4 a.m.

It ended with their best weapon, Nikita Kucherov, taking their last shot.

He missed.

As much as anything else, you can blame the shortcomings of the Tampa Bay Lightning on that. In the end, there was just too little Kucherov for the Bolts, and too much Montreal.

The Canadiens slammed shut the door on the Lightning series with a 2-1 Game Seven victory. It was the fourth straight season that Tampa Bay has been ousted in the first round.

It was the third game the Canadiens have won in Tampa's Benchmark International Arena.

In the end, Montreal was one goal better than the Lightning. Or, you could suggest that the job the Canadiens did on Kucherov made them better.

Kucherov was one of the top scorers in the league this year. But in the playoffs, he went scoreless for the final three games. He didn't score a goal in the last four.

As much as Kucherov had led the Bolts, that hurt.

Montreal allowed one goal in their Game Seven win, that to Dominic James in the second period.

Montreal, meanwhile, had no shots at all in the second period, only four in the first two periods and nine for the full game.

Still, Nick Suzuki scored in the first period and Alex Newhook in the third to win.

Montreal advances to play Buffalo in the second round. Tampa Bay, of course, goes home.

Monday, 3 a.m.

He changes the scoreboard, that's all.

It should say that on Jonathan Aranda's business card. Some players hit more home runs. Some steal more bases.

Aranda? He drives in runs.

When you boil the game of Jonathan Aranda down to its essence, it is this: He clears the bases.

Aranda's fourth hit of the day drove in the winning run in a 2-1 victory in 10 innings over the San Francisco Giants. It completed a sweep for the Rays, who have now won nine of 10 games.

It also gives Aranda 28 RBI on the season, most in the American League.

The Rays fell behind 1-0 in the first inning, only the second run the Giants have scored in their three-games series. Still, the Giants held that lead until the seventh, when Ryan Vilade's bunt brought home Junior Caminero with the tying run.

Caminero was intentionally walked in the 10th, but Aranda singled off Caleb Kilian to drive in the winning run.

The Rays are now 7-1 in one-run games.

For the Rays, Steven Matz went six innings and gave up just one run and four hits. But the Giants managed just two hits in four innings off of three relief pitchers.

The Rays are home at Tropicana tonight to face Toronto. Nick Martinez will start for the Rays. The Jays have not announced their starter.

Sunday, 4 a.m.

Given as how they are visiting Florida, perhaps the San Francisco Giants can take in some sights.

You know, like home plate at Tropicana Field.

The scoring woes of the Giants, baseball's lowest scoring team, continued on Saturday night in a 5-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Rays have given up only one run in their two victories. In their last nine games (eight of them wins) they have allowed three runs or fewer.

The Rays are now 20-12 on the season. The New York Yankees are the only other major league team with 20 victories.

Considering the way the season started, who would have thought for that kind of domination. Especially when the Rays employed an Opener strategy (Griffin Jax) and coasted. The Giants managed just seven hits Saturday and five hits on Friday.

Jax went 2 2/3 innings of shutout, one-hit baseball. Jesse Scholtens threw the next three innings. Kevin Kelly, Garrett Cleavinger and Casey Legumina finished up.

Scholtens gave up the only run when Chandler Simpson was unable to bring in a fly ball by Rafael Devers in the sixth. The Giants were only one-for-six with runners in scoring position.

The Rays scored their first run in the fourth when Jake Fraley drove in Junior Caminero.

The Rays scored three more in the fifth. Cedric Mullins walked with the bases loaded to bring in another run. Jonathan Aranda’s single up the middle brought in two more runs.

Johnny DeLuca doubled in the eighth, stole second and came home when the throw got away.

The Rays are 15-5 in their last 20 games.

Landen Roupp of the Giants lost for the second time in eight decisions.

The Rays close out their series against the Giants today at 1:40 p.m. at Tropicana Field. Steven Matz will start for the Rays against Tyler Mahle.