MONTREAL (AP) — Kirby Dach and Jonathan Drouin scored in the first period and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 on Tuesday night.
Mike Matheson also scored for the Canadiens, who had lost six of their previous seven — including a 5-3 defeat at Tampa Bay on Saturday. Sam Montembault stopped 31 shots to improve to 14-14-3 on the season.
Brayden Point and Pat Maroon had goals for Tampa Bay. Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 17 saves. The Lightning have lost two straight since winning four of five.
Dach got the Canadiens on the scoreboard 8:27 into the game as his shot from the slot hit Vasilevskiy's pads and slowly trickled across the goal line. It was Dach's 13th of the season.
Drouin made it 2-0 as he skated through the left circle, got a pass from Denis Gurianov and quickly scored for his second.
Point scored on a one-timer from the left circle off a pass from Steven Stamkos at 8:58 of the second to get the Lightning on the scoreboard. It was Point's 44th.
Matheson restored Montreal's two-goal lead as his shot from the left point got through traffic in front and past Vasilevskiy with 3:02 remaining in the middle period.
The Lightning pulled to 3-2 with 5:06 left in the third when Ross Colton's centering pass for Corey Perry deflected off Canadiens defenseman Justin Barron's left skate to Maroon at the right doorstep and he tapped it in for his third.
UP NEXT
Lightning: At Ottawa on Thursday night in the second of a four-game trip.
Canadiens: At Boston on Thursday night.
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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL and https://www.yahoo.com/AP_Sports
The Associated Press
