Cole Caufield’s 47th goal broke a second-period tie, and the visiting Montreal Canadiens extended the NHL’s longest active win streak to six games with a 4-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday.
In a two-point night, Caufield registered a goal and an assist like teammates Juraj Slafkovsky and Mike Matheson, but his game-winner lifted the Canadiens (43-21-10, 96 points) to within two points of Tampa Bay (46-22-6, 98 points), who got a goal from Jake Guentzel.
Matheson, who posted his 300th career point, and Nick Suzuki recorded empty-net markers for the final margin as the Habs finished 10-4-1 in March.
Coupled with Buffalo’s 4-2 win over the New York Islanders, the Sabres (46-21-8, 100 points) moved back into first in the Atlantic Division, while the Lightning slid to second and 8-6-2 in March.
Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes made 36 saves to improve to 14-3-1 since Jan. 1. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 19 shots as his club’s eight-game point streak (6-0-2) came to an end.
Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov returned to the lineup after a two-game absence, and penalties quickly became the focal point as six players were cited in a span of 7:57 during the first period.
After Guentzel and Charle-Edouard D’Astous went off 38 seconds apart, top-line winger Slafkovsky made the home side pay on his club’s second power play with a one-timer from below the right dot at 12:25, his 15th on the man advantage, but Guentzel netted the equalizer just 1:16 later.
In a second period where the Lightning doubled up Montreal in shots 12-6, the Habs notched the only goal after Anthony Cirelli’s clearing pass was intercepted by Matheson and sent to Slafkovsky, who drove hard to the left side of the net. He then curled a pass to Caufield near an open net at 12:49.
Late in the third, Suzuki committed a cross-checking penalty on Yanni Gourde with 4:06 left, but Montreal held on in the penalty kill, including a massive hit by Jake Evans on Kucherov, and then scored twice into an open cage.
