Wednesday, 4 a.m.
For almost 58 minutes, the Lightning were beaten Tuesday night. They were outskated by the homestanding Montreal Canadiens, and they were behind.
And then pow.
And furthermore, pow again.
The Bolts scored two goals in the final 2:09, including a game-winner by Ondrej Palat with 37 seconds left to play, to pull out a 3-2 victory over Montreal. It was Palat's seventh goal, and his fourth game-winner of the season.
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Corey Perry had scored to tie the game at 2 with 2:09 to play, scoring his sixth goal in the last nine games after going without a goal for the season's first 17 games. His goal came on a nice pass from Steven Stamkos.
"I was just trying to beat my guy," Palat said. "I just tried to get the puck and shoot in on net. I’m glad it went in. I don't judge my play by whether I score a goal or not."
Pat Maroon also scored for Tampa Bay, but the Canadiens had scored two quick goals in the second period to take a 2-1 lead.
"They were determined," Bolts coach Jon Cooper said. "They played a determined game. it’s been a weird year. I don’t think I’ve had to pull the goalie as much as we have. We’ve scored a bunch of six on five goals."
The Canadians had a chance to put the game away with an empty netter when they were ahead 2-1 but couldn't get into the net. The Bolts came down and scored on Perry's latest goal. Perry, who played in Montreal a year ago, continued his hot streak.
"He had nothing but unbelievable things to say about his year in Montreal," Cooper said. "He loved it here. I know he's wearing a different jersey, but to meant a lot for him to play here and get that tying goal. He’s such a competitor. It’s not surprising the last two teams he’s played have been on were in the Stanley Cup finals (last year). I'm not saying that was the best we’ve executed this year, but Perry was on it for sure."
Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 21 of 23 shots for his 13th win of the season.
The Bolts travel next to Toronto to play a Thursday night game. The puck is scheduled to drop at 7 p.m.