Thunder, Struck: Canadiens Beat Lightning in Game 7 with Dobes Leading the Way

Morgan Tencza-Imagn Images The Montreal Canadiens did not have many scoring chances against Andrei Vasilevskiy and the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7 of their first-round playoff series on Sunday night. But boy, did they take advantage of them. The Canadiens scored on two of their first seven shots on goal — which were spread out through the first 51 minutes of the game — and pulled out a 2-1 win against the host Lightning thanks to some fantastic goaltending by rookie Jakub Dobes .

Montreal moves on to Round 2 where it will face the Atlantic Division champion Buffalo Sabres starting on Wednesday night in western New York. The Lightning, which won the Stanley Cup in 2020 and 2021 before losing to the Avalanche in the 2022 Final, has been knocked out of the first round the past four postseasons. Tampa Bay lost to Toronto in 2023, the Panthers from 2024-25, and now the Canadiens.

This will be the first Stanley Cup Final without either the Lightning or Panthers in it since 2019 when the St. Louis Blues upset the Boston Bruins. Nick Suzuki opened the scoring with 1:21 left in the first period when he deflected a shot from Kaiden Guhle — that then went off of Tampa Bay’s J.

J. Moser and past Vasilevskiy. The Canadiens scored on their fourth shot of the game — and did not get another one until Suzuki was stopped by Vasilevskiy 5:36 into the third period.