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National Hockey League
Montreal 3, Tampa Bay 1
When: 7:30 PM ET, Thursday, October 27, 2016
Where: Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec
Referees: Ghislain Hebert, Chris Lee
Linesmen: Trent Knorr, Mark Shewchyk
Attendance: 21288

MONTREAL -- Facing one of their toughest opponents to date, the Montreal Canadiens, on the tail end of back-to-back games, easily could have succumbed to fatigue in the third period Thursday. Instead, they cranked it up a notch and continued to roll.

Max Pacioretty scored midway through the final frame to put Montreal ahead for the first time and lift the Canadiens to a 3-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Bell Centre.

"We've played a lot of hockey, but we haven't really relied on too many individuals to take over," Pacioretty said. "I think when we have everyone rolling like this and we have everyone in the game and making a difference, it makes it easier to play back to back and a lot of games at once. It's been great."

Alex Galchenyuk and Torrey Mitchell also scored for Montreal (7-0-1), which won its sixth straight. Canadiens goalie Carey Price made 30 saves.

Alex Killorn scored for the Lightning (5-2-0), who saw their two-game winning streak snapped. Goaltender Ben Bishop stopped 23 shots.

"You have two really good teams that can skate and check, and the two teams were checking each other," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "Look at the goals that went in, they weren't gifts. They got that extra bounce, and we didn't."

The Canadiens were in control through the first half of the opening frame, maintaining possession and holding the Lightning without a shot until midway through the period.

Killorn broke the scoreless tie at 16:08 of the second period. Victor Hedman fired a shot from the left point, and Killorn, battling with Montreal defenseman Alexei Emelin in the low slot, got his stick on it to redirect into the back of the net.

The goal extended the winger's scoring streak to three games, giving him tallies in six of the Lightning's seven games thus far.

"You knew it was going to be tight," Killorn said. "You've got to get more shots if you want to win against Carey Price. He's just too good of a goalie to not get clear shots in."

Price gave his team a chance to stay within reach early in the third period when he denied Ondrej Palat with a quick pad save.

Montreal's power play connected for the third straight game to get the crowd roaring at 6:12 of the third period. Andrei Markov sent a perfect feed from the blue line over to Galchenyuk in the right circle, and the Canadiens center fired the one-timer past Bishop.

"In my opinion, he's one of the top five defenseman in the league who can pass the puck," Galchenyuk said of Markov. "The way he passed it, he was looking at the net but I knew he was coming to me the second he touched the puck."

Pacioretty gave the Canadiens their first lead of the night at 10:23. A strong shift that started with a quality scoring chance from Andrew Shaw ended with the pesky winger serving as the screen on Pacioretty's snipe from the top of the right circle for his second of the season.

Mitchell capped off the scoring with a tally into an empty net with 44 seconds remaining.

Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov left the game in the first period and did not return after falling on the ice and into the boards.

NOTES: Lightning G Ben Bishop played in his 200th NHL game. ... Montreal dressed the same lineup as Wednesday in Brooklyn, scratching LW Daniel Carr and D Mikhail Sergachev for the sixth and fourth straight game, respectively. ... Tampa Bay scratched D Matt Taormina. ... Canadiens G Carey Price faced the Lightning for the first time since May 12, 2015, during the teams' second round series in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. ... The game was Tampa Bay's third of a season-high six-game road trip. ... The Canadiens played in front of a sellout crowd for 501st consecutive game (456 in the regular season and 45 in the playoffs); the last non-sellout crowd at the Bell Centre was on Jan. 8, 2004, against the Lightning.
Top Game Performances
 
Tampa Bay   Montreal
Alex Killorn 1 Points Alex Galchenyuk 1
Alex Killorn 1 Goals Alex Galchenyuk 1
Victor Hedman 1 Assists Andrei Markov 1
N/A Power Play Goals Alex Galchenyuk 1
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Ben Bishop .920 Save Percentage Carey Price .968
Ben Bishop 23 Saves Carey Price 30
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Tampa Bay 31 1 0-3 2-3 11 29
Montreal 26 3 1-3 3-3 11 29
Upcoming Games
  • Montreal will play their next game at home against Toronto. The Canadiens have a W/L % of .857 after a win and 1.000 after a loss.
  • Tampa Bay will play their next game on the road against New Jersey. The Lightning have a W/L % of .667 after a win and 1.000 after a loss.