Canadiens: Depth Scoring Provides Big Win

After shocking the hockey world with a 4-0 win over the Florida Panthers, the Montreal Canadiens tried to slay another divisional rival by taking on the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight. Unfortunately for the Bolts, they were without Jake Guentzel.

Just like yesterday, the Habs second line formed of Patrik Laine, Kirby Dach and Alex Newhook was threatening. The three linemates found each other on the ice with ease and wasted no time producing a first goal when Newhook fired a picture perfect one-timer past Tampa's backup goaltender, Jonas Johansson.

The hosts were unable to find the back of the net in the first 20 minutes, Samuel Montembeault stopping the 11 pucks that found their way to his net. Nick Suzuki showed a physical side we're not use to seeing, checking Nikita Kucherov hard. After 20 minutes, Montreal led 1-0 and had managed eight shots on goal.

Related: Canadiens: Rookie Goaltender Blanks The Panthers

It took just 37 seconds for the Lightning to tie up the score in the second frame however, Brayden Point managed to hypnotize three players which led to Brandon Hagel getting acres of space and plenty of time to beat Montembeault.

The Canadiens navigated the rest of the storm, a dominating first half of the period from Tampa without taking anymore damage and Christian Dvorak gave the Habs the lead back when he cleverly deflected Kaiden Guhle's shot. Then, six minutes later, Jake Evans scored in a fifth consecutive game, his 10th goal of the season (his career high is 13 in 2021-22).

The two-goal lead didn't hold for very long, as Kucherov scored his 17th of the year less than 30 seconds later when Montembeault failed to freeze the puck which trickled behind him. It must have been one of the sniper's easiest goal.

Trailing by a goal to enter the third period is normally not a big deal for the Lightning, as it's their best period but the story was different tonight. Up to the point Newhook was assessed a two-minute minor for holding, Montreal had seven shots on net in the frame while Tampa had none.

The power play did manage to get the puck to Montembeault, but it didn't manage to get it past him and the kill seemed to provide momentum to the Canadiens. A few minutes after Newhook was released from the box, Emil Heineman and Joel Armia found themselves alone in front of the Bolts goaltender. The rookie dished out a perfect pass to the veteran who didn't miss his chance, 4-2 Montreal.

Tampa pulled it's goalie with a few minutes left and came close to scoring, but Montembeault made his best save of the night to protect the two-goal lead. Brendan Gallagher then sealed the deal with an empty-netter, his 10th of the season and the 228th of his career. He now trails the 17th best goal scorer in franchise history, Tomas Plekanec, by only five goals.

Related: Canadiens Looking For Winning Streak

This 5-2 win completes the extremely rare end of year Florida state sweep for the Canadiens. The last time Montreal pulled it off was back in 2009 with Jaroslav Halak in net.

It was once again an impressive team performance, the bottom six provided some inspired play. Josh Anderson, who had the worst season of his career last year, is really embracing his role and using his speed to apply pressure on the forecheck without worrying about his offensive production and it shows. He beat an icing call tonight which allowed Montreal to keep the pressure on the hosts and it was the same speed and determination that lead to Gallagher's goal.

As for the Heineman, Evans and Armia line, one has to wonder if it can still be called a fourth line. Evans has 10 goals, Heineman has eight (the third highest total amongst rookies) and Armia has seven. That's 25 goals from your bottom line, a breath of fresh air for a team that has long been dubbed a "one-line" team. Tonight, every line but the top one found the back of the net.

At the back, since Alexandre Carrier's arrival, the defense corps seems much more stable and confident. It's not great news for Jayden Struble, but if things stay this way, he'll struggle to get a turn.

It may just be two games, but those were two wins against talented teams, we're not talking about dominating the Buffalo Sabres or the Nashville Predators as we were earlier this month, these wins are much more meaningful. Can the Canadiens keep it up? They'll look for a third win in a row on Tuesday afternoon when they take on the Pacific Division leading Vegas Golden Knights to close out the year.

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