Canadiens vs. Lightning score, result: Blake Coleman airborne goal gives Tampa Bay 2-0 lead in Stanley Cup Final

Jackie Spiegel

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Canadiens vs. Lightning score, result: Blake Coleman airborne goal gives Tampa Bay 2-0 lead in Stanley Cup Final image

Was Wednesday night's game a must-win for the Canadiens?

Some would say no, but considering how dominant the Lightning were in Game 1 (a lopsided 5-1 win on the scoresheet and the ice), the Canadiens couldn’t afford to head back to Montreal down 2-0 in the Stanley Cup Final. But while they played their game and dictated the style, as Brendan Gallagher stressed they needed to do before puck drop, they still could not skate away with the win. Tampa Bay stole Game 2 with a 3-1 victory.

The game-winner by Blake Coleman, after goals by Anthony Cirelli and Nick Suzuki made it 1-1, was an absolute jaw-dropper. Coleman dove for a Barclay Goodrow pass and swatted it past Carey Price with under a second left in the second period.

"It’s just kind of a reflex, really," said Coleman rather humbly despite the fact he has a penchant for scoring these kinds of stunning markers. He scored an eerily similar goal (passed by then-teammate Zach Bogosian) in last year’s bubble, too. "I knew they had a backchecker there and I just tried to beat him to the puck. I don’t think anybody is planning to dive on the ice, but that was all I had and (Barclay Goodrow) put it in a good spot.

"I don’t know why these goals happen, but it was a big win for our team. I don’t think anybody was really happy with our second period up to that point, so it gave us a little bit of a boost going into the third period."

Maybe the reaction by his coach, Jon Cooper, was a bit more fitting:

"It's one of those where the announcer says: 'You'll see that on "SportsCenter" tonight.' That's what that was."

Certainly.

It was a huge momentum-shifter as Tampa Bay was thoroughly outplayed for most of the game; Montreal poured on 43 shots and 67 shot attempts (53 at 5v5 alone) and controlled play with a 59.29 Corsi For percentage (per Natural Stat Trick). Suzuki was by far the best Canadiens player Wednesday night with his goal, nine shots and winning 60 percent of faceoffs.

Postgame, both sides of the aisle credited the play of Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy.

"Just the absolute competitive gamer that we know he is, night in, night out, backbone of this team," said Ryan McDonagh. "I can’t say enough good things about him and, you know, we certainly want to make it a little bit easier of a night than we had to for him. But, man, he’s an absolute warrior and competitor and, obviously, was the biggest piece of our win here tonight."

"Their goaltender played extremely well," noted Canadiens assistant coach Luke Richardson. "We didn't get some bounces that way ... but I thought the guys had a lot of character. They came out and played hard in the third. And unfortunately, it didn't go our way. But I was confident our guys would bounce back and play our style of game, and play it hard. And we did.

"So we're getting better. And we just plan on getting better the next game and winning that Game 3."

Richardson continued to assume head coaching duties with Dominque Ducharme out. The Canadiens' bench boss is expected back for Game 3 in Montreal on Friday. Whether the Lightning will get back second-line winger and key special teams player Alex Killorn is to be determined. He missed Game 2 and Cooper said earlier in the day he was "day to day."

Sporting News had all the action as the Lightning took a commanding 2-0 series lead over the Canadiens (all times Eastern).

Canadiens vs. Lightning score, highlights from Game 2

Third period: Lightning 3, Canadiens 1

10:55 p.m. — Some pleasantries as the horn sounds. Lightning take a 2-0 series lead.

10:54 p.m. — Cole Caufield with the Canadiens 42nd of the night.

10:51 p.m. — Shot misses and comes in front to Corey Perry who is stopped by Vasilevskiy.

10:50 p.m. — Under two minutes to go and Carey Price is pulled.

10:46 p.m. — GOAL. Joel Edmundson with a reverse that went a little to close to the net and Ondrej Palat banks it in for the insurance goal. Tampa Bay leads 3-1.

10:34 p.m. — Canadiens have 34 shots, 47 shot attempts, 58.02 Corsi For percentage ( per Natural Stat Trick ) and one goal. 

10:24 p.m. — A big stop by Price on Coleman who was looking for his second.

10:18 p.m. — Third period begins.

Second period: Lightning 2, Canadiens 1

10:02 p.m. — Coleman pulled off an eerily  similar goal in last year's postseason against the Bruins. 

9:59 p.m. — GOAL. My goodness. WHAT. A. GOAL. With under a second left, a diving Blake Coleman knocks the puck past Carey Price. Unreal. Tampa Bay leads 2-1.

9:55 p.m. — Johnson is back, by the way, and almost scored on a loose puck after the power play had ended.

9:54 p.m. — Good chance by Point from the slot.

9:53 p.m. — Joel Armia cross-checks Blake Coleman to the face and gets two. Lightning are 0-for-2 on the power play so far.

9:51 p.m. — With under four minutes to go:

  • Nick Suzuki has eight shots on goal and a goal. 
  • The Lightning have eight shots on goal and a goal.

9:50 p.m. — John Travolta is at the game.

9:40 p.m. — PP GOAL. Well, that was quick. Possibly a few deflections on Nick Suzuki's throw-on-net shot. Game tied 1-1.

9:39 pm. — Lehkonen goes to the locker room after that hard hit. Tyler Johnson — who got the primary on Cirelli's goal — heads to the locker room after blocking that shot.

9:37 p.m. — Sergachev takes down Lehkonen hard, nowhere near the puck and Canadiens head to the power play.

9:33 p.m. — Tyler Johnson with a big block on Jesperi Kotkaniemi and he comes up limping. Reminder: he took Killorn's spot on the second line. Johnson is shown on the bench a little uncomfortable.

9:27 p.m. — GOAL. Anthony Cirelli covers the point, throws the puck on net and it gets past Carey Price. It's the Lightning's eighth shot on goal in the game.  Tampa Bay leads 1-0.

9:24 p.m. — Lightning get their first shot on net in the last 13 minutes.

9:16 p.m. — Second period starts with Montreal on the power play and the team going with four forwards.

First period: Canadiens 0, Lightning 0

9:01 p.m. — Some fun stats:

  • Canadiens outshot the Lightning 13-6.
  • Per Natural Stat Trick, Lightning led in shot attempts (20-15) and Corsi For percentage (57.14 to 42.86).

8:59 p.m. — Period ends. Canadiens will start the second with 92 seconds remaining on the 5-on-4.

8:58 p.m. — Not a whole lot doing with the man advantage for the Canadiens. 

8:54 p.m. — On the follow-through, Ryan McDonagh clips Phillip Danault in the nose (adamantly shows to the referees he's bleeding) and the Canadiens get a four-minute power play. A chunk of it will be 4-on-3.

8:52 p.m. — A little 4-on-4 action as Paul Byron and Erik Cernak exchange pleasantries behind the play.

8:46 p.m. — Tyler Toffoli with a good shot of the rush down the right wing that Vasilevskiy takes high off the shoulder.

8:36 p.m. — Stamkos steals the puck but can't get shot off as Paul Byron slashes him. Byron to the box.

8:31 p.m. — After they killed off the power play, Tyler Toffoli and Cole Caufield get some looks.

8:2.8 pm. — Brayden Point tripped up by Jeff Petry and the potent Lightning power play goes to work.

8:27 p.m. — Canadiens laying the body on the line in this one as both Brendan Gallagher and Jesperi Kotkaniemi make some big-time blocks.

8:24 p.m. — Nick Suzuki flying in, tries to make a move but Vasilevskiy sticks with him for the stop. 

8:21 p.m. — Game on.

Pregame

8:03 p.m. — Mathieu Joseph takes Alex Killorn's roster spot and is skating on the fourth line with Pat Maroon and Ross Colton. Joel Armia is back in the lineup for Montreal.

8 p.m. —  Lightning have some fans in the building.

7:51 p.m. —  Tennis star Félix Auger-Aliassime, a native of Montreal, spoke about his hometown team.

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Jackie Spiegel