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Lightning beat Canadiens in double overtime on Nikita Kucherov's controversial winner

MONTREAL — Only in the NHL. Nikita Kucherov put the puck in the net twice in overtime Friday night. One goal counted, giving the Tampa Bay Lightning a 2-1 victory and 1-0 lead over the Montreal Canadiens in their second-round playoff series. But maybe the wrong goal counted, and maybe neither should have counted.

The one that counted came 2:06 into the second overtime, when Tampa Bay entered the Montreal zone offside – barely, but clearly – and the linesmen missed it. The play continued, and Valtteri Filppula ended up flipping a backhand pass into the slot for Kucherov, who wired a shot past the outstretched stick of a defender, past the goaltender and into the net.

Kucherov had a goal waved off in the first OT before his controversial winner in double overtime. (Reuters)
Kucherov had a goal waved off in the first OT before his controversial winner in double overtime. (Reuters)

“We were joking he might be the first guy to score two OT goals in one game,” said Tyler Johnson.

The one that didn’t count came 2:56 into the first OT. Kucherov crashed the net and tried to jam the puck past Carey Price’s right pad. As he stopped, his momentum carried him into Price. His stick pushed Price’s right pad into the net, and Price’s blocker and stick shaft came backward and swept the puck into the net. Referee Eric Furlatt waved off the goal.

Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said he was frustrated, because the goal that counted came after a missed call. Lightning coach Jon Cooper didn’t say much about the goal that didn’t count, even though he had an argument Price swept the puck into the net and wasn’t pushed into the net along with the puck. It didn’t matter. He won.

Just another night in a league where the game is so fast and the shades of gray are so fine, the best officials in the world have a difficult time seeing everything and controversy is constant – from hits to goals to offsides to everything in between.

It took away from several storylines – the Lightning beating the Canadiens in Game 1 after getting swept by them in the first round last year, Kucherov playing the hero after being scratched for two games in last year’s series, Johnson scoring his seventh goal of the playoffs, Ben Bishop rebounding after giving up an awful goal.

This is not the same team that faced Montreal a year ago. The younger players have grown up a bit. Management added veterans who have been in these situations before, like Brian Boyle and Anton Stralman, who played for the New York Rangers last season and beat the Habs in the Eastern Conference final.

Kucherov is one of the younger players who has grown up. A 20-year-old rookie at the time, he scored in Game 1 last year, too. But he was scratched in Games 3 and 4. He was concerned only with scoring, not with playing a complete game.

“It’s like a parent,” said Cooper earlier this season. “Sometimes you’ve got to discipline your kids. That’s what had to happen.”

Kucherov made a conscious choice in the offseason to learn to play without the puck, and he ended up on a line with Johnson and Ondrej Palat this season. ‘The Triplets’ became one of the best lines in the NHL, and he put up 29 goals and 65 points in his first full season.

Now this.

Kucherov didn’t score in the first round against the Detroit Red Wings. Neither did superstar Steven Stamkos, who had 43 goals in the regular season, second-most in the league. But Johnson scored six times, and he added his seventh 2:34 into the third period Friday night to give the Bolts a 1-0 lead.

They gave up the tying goal with 5:13 left in regulation when Bishop failed to glove a shot by Max Pacioretty, the puck popping into the air, falling over his back, bouncing into the net.

“I didn’t follow it with my eyes,” Bishop said. “I kind of took my eyes off it at the last second.”

The Bell Centre jeered.

“BIIII-SHOP! BIIII-SHOP!”

But Bishop didn’t buckle, making two impressive stops in the first overtime.

“I’m sure he wanted that back,” Stralman said. “But he made so many great saves.”

The longer OT went, the more the Bolts were at a disadvantage. The Habs wrapped up a six-game series with the Ottawa Senators on Sunday night. The Bolts didn’t wrap up their seven-gamer with the Detroit Red Wings until Wednesday night. The Habs were fresh; the Bolts weren’t. But they kept grinding, kept slogging and got a break to go their way.

“We don’t give up,” Stralman said. “We play hard. We try to play the right way. We’ve got a good feeling in here right now.”

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