After a quick bolt of Lightning, the Montreal Canadiens find themselves one loss away from being eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs.
With Game 3 in Tampa tied at one late in the third period, Tyler Johnson came up big - as he's been wont to do as of late - with a last-second goal past Carey Price to give his club a 2-1 win and a 3-0 series lead.
And by last second, we mean last second.
Tyler Johnson gives the Tampa Bay Lightning the 3-0 series lead with a goal in the last 1.1 of the 3rd pic.twitter.com/bT5I9tiPUi
— Marina Molnar (@mkmolnar) May 7, 2015
The Canadiens out shot the Lightning by a margin of 31-19, but on the strength of Johnson's winner, an earlier goal by Alex Killorn, plus another solid performance by Ben Bishop, Tampa Bay is now that much closer to the Eastern Conference finals.
Star Performer: While Bishop deserves honorable mention for his performance, it was Johnson who literally stole the show with his heroics.
The undrafted and undersized forward scored his eighth goal in 10 playoff games, building off a breakout season and distancing himself from Corey Perry and Patrick Kane for the playoff lead.
Turning Point: Birthday boy Brendan Gallagher put himself in line to challenge for this distinction with the game-tying goal at the 10:03 mark of the third period, but it's hard to argue with an unanswerable goal as the definitive turning point in Game 3.
Victor Hedman and Ondrej Palat were credited with the assists, with the big defenseman out waiting a sprawled-out Andrei Markov to make the nifty set-up pass.
Goalie Comparison: The Lightning seem to have Price's number, despite his best efforts.
The likely Vezina Trophy winner and league MVP went 0-4-1 against Tampa Bay during the regular season, and fell to 0-3 in the playoffs.
He allowed two goals or less for the sixth time in nine games this postseason, but was outplayed by Bishop, who saw far more action on the night.
| GOALIE | SHOTS | GA | SAVES | SV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carey Price | 19 | 2 | 17 | .895 |
| Ben Bishop | 31 | 1 | 30 | .968 |
Top Highlight: Johnson's goal was nice, but it certainly didn't have the same flare as Killorn's, who played a little give-and-go with Steven Stamkos and completely flummoxed the opposition.
(Courtesy: NHL.com)
Stat of the Night: With the win, Bishop put himself in line to make history with another in Game 4 on Thursday.
Ben Bishop joins Tim Thomas as the only goalies to beat the #habs eight straight times in one season, per @SNstats. Goes for No. 9 tomorrow.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) May 7, 2015
Series at a Glance:
Game 1: Lightning 2, Canadiens 1
Game 2: Lightning 6, Canadiens 2
Game 3: Lightning 2, Canadiens 1
Game 4: Thursday, May 7 7:00 p.m. ET
Game 5*: Saturday, May 9 (TBD)
Game 6*: Tuesday, May 12 (TBD)
Game 7*: Thursday, May 14 (TBD)
