It’s now been roughly three hours since the final horn of the 2025-26 Tampa Bay Lightning season sounded. To this very moment, we’re not exactly sure how the Lightning lost this game. Yes, we grasp the concept that they scored fewer goals than the Canadiens. Still, it was such a well-played game, especially defensively, that we’re still kind of waiting for them to somehow find the equalizer.
The Lightning limited the Montreal Canadiens to nine shots on goal. There was a stretch of roughly...
The final game of the opening round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs was concluded tonight as the Montreal Canadiens held on for a 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, eliminating the Lightning as the eighth and final team gone from the first round. Of course, that means we'll have exit interviews on The Hockey Show as five more people join Ethan (Ottawa), Harv (Los Angeles), and Billy (Pittsburgh) back on the mainland after spending two weeks or less on Survivor: NHL Playoffs island! The rem...
Montreal is 2-1 when this woman sings O, Canada, so I’m actually starting to like her a bit.
First period
Lane Hutson deals with an early shift from Nikita Kucherov’s line by stripping the puck and turning it the other way.
Montreal’s first chance comes from the Kirby Dach line after two Lightning defenders went after Josh Anderson in the end wall.
Darren Raddysh was standing in the crease trying to check Nick Suzuki at the side of the net, and a shot from Mike Matheson...
2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs – Eastern Conference QFs
Game 7: Montreal Canadiens (A3) @ Tampa Bay Lightning (A2)
Series tied 3-3
Start time: **6:00 PM EDT / 3:00 PM PDT** In Canada: CBC, Sportsnet (English), TVA Sports (French) In the United States: TNT, truTV In the Lightning region: The Spot Streaming: Sportsnet+
Noah Dobson will be a game-time decision for today’s Game 7, having ramped up his on-ice work in recent days to the point he’s been taking shots. He won’t be ...
The Buffalo Sabres continue to be the great Cinderella Story of the 2025-26 season. After making the playoffs for the first time in 15 years, their first-round triumph over the Boston Bruins in six games continued the good vibes. But we're getting troubling news on the injury front as the Sabres get set for their second-round series this coming week against the winner of the Montréal Canadiens-Tampa Bay Lightning Game 7 on Sunday night. Head coach Lindy Ruff told reporters that we ...
It's Game 7 for the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday night, and both teams are hoping to have all hands on deck, if at all possible. For the Habs, top-pairing defenseman Noah Dobson hasn't played in the entire first-round series, recovering from an injury to his thumb suffered while blocking a shot on April 11th. But a significant development on Sunday morning as Dobson took warmup with the team, and head coach Martin St. Louis says he is "confident" that the blueline...
Game Seven: Montreal Canadiens (3-3) at Tampa Bay Lightning (3-3)
Time: 6:00 PM EST
Location: Benchmark International Arena, Tampa, FL (Lightning are 4-1 in Game 7 Home Games)
TV/Stream/Radio: The Spot, TNT, truTV, HBOMax, ESPN+, 102.5 FM, Lightning App
Odds: Lightning
Know the Opponents: Habs Eye on the Prize
There is a story, perhaps anecdotal, that occasionally circulates around the internets about George Lucas’ directorial style while shooting the original Sta...
Logan Stankoven scored twice to extend his postseason goal streak to five games in the Carolina Hurricanes 3-0 victory over Philadelphia Flyers in Game 1 at Lenovo Center on Saturday. Frederik Andersen made 19 saves to post his second shutout of the playoffs, and Jackson Blake also tallied for the Hurricanes, who are unbeaten. Sean Couturier matched Stankoven with a game-high five shots, and Dan Vladar stopped 20 shots for the Flyers.
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING vs MONTREAL CANADIENS
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2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs – Eastern Conference QFs
Game 7: Montreal Canadiens (A3) @ Tampa Bay Lightning (A2)
Series tied 3-3
Start time: **6:00 PM EDT / 3:00 PM PDT** In Canada: CBC, Sportsnet (English), TVA Sports (French) In the United States: TNT, truTV In the Lightning region: The Spot Streaming: Sportsnet+
The official stats say that the Tampa Bay Lightning had a 38-26 advantage in scoring chances at five-on-five and a 22-7 edge in high-danger chances in Game 6, but ...
Are you ready?
We said, Arrrrrrrreeeeeee you reeeeeeaddddddddyyyyyy?
Game 7 is here! Well, almost here. We still have to wait 24 hours for the Lightning and Canadiens to engage in their winner-take-all battle. A few years ago, the Lightning engaged in a Game 7 against the New York Islanders in the Eastern Conference Finals. Prior to that game we ranked their previous Game 7s based on a completely arbitrary, poorly-thought-out system. Really, it is what we do best.
Since the publ...
Make absolutely no mistakes, Andrei Vasilevskiy was the first, second, third, fourth, and sixth star tonight. We’ll give Gage Goncalves the fifth star for his overtime, game-winning goal, but without the absolute stellar play of the Lightning netminder, this series is over. Vasilevskiy picked up his first shutout of the playoffs as he stopped 30 shots, including a brilliant two-save sequence on Ivan Demidov in the second period. He needed to make every last one of those stops as the Lightning ...
First period
Two early icings by the Lightning and they’re already diving trying to draw a call on the race to the puck. I expect that to be a theme of this game.
A very nice cycling shift for the usual top line of Juraj Slafkovskš, Nick Suzuki, and Cole Caufield to create a scoring chance.
Darren Raddysh wins up a slapshot that hits Jakub Dobeš in the mask, but it falls right into his pads where he can freeze it.
Dobeš gives the puck away behind the net, but Yanni Gourde...
2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs – Eastern Conference QFs
Game 6: Montreal Canadiens (A3) vs. Tampa Bay Lightning (A2)
MTL leads 3-2
Start time: 7:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM PDT In Canada: CBC, Sportsnet (English), TVA Sports (French) In the United States: ESPN2 In the Lightning region: The Spot Streaming: Sportsnet+
Five games have been played in this Eastern Conference Quarter-final, five games have been decided by one goal. Some of the most potent offensive stars on both sides h...
Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Dan Muse has been named a finalist for the Jack Adams Award. Muse was named one of the three finalists for the award, which is the NHL’s annual “Coach of the Year” award, alongside Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper and Buffalo Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff. The Penguins were […]
The Toronto Maple Leafs , by all accounts, seem to have settled on their new hockey operations team. However, according to insider Elliotte Friedman on the 32 Thoughts podcast, MLSE initially had its sights set much higher. James Mirtle in The Athletic had a line about Toronto being turned down to speak to a current general manager. I believe that was Julien BriseBois of the Tampa Bay Lightning. That's who I think they asked permission to speak to, and they were rejected. But of co...
Game Six: Tampa Bay Lightning (2-3) at Montreal Canadiens (3-2)
Time: 7:00 PM EST
Location: Centre Bell, Montreal (Saw an excellent Oasis concert there once)
TV/Stream/Radio: The Spot, ESPN2, ESPN+, 102.5 FM, Lightning App
Odds: Lightning -115
Know the Opponents: Habs Eye on the Prize
Win or go home. It’s that simple. Actually, if you think about it, it’s win and go home as well. It’s just a matter of the mood on the flight back to Tampa. A victory and the Lightni...
2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs – Eastern Conference QFs
Game 6: Montreal Canadiens (A3) vs. Tampa Bay Lightning (A2)
MTL leads 3-2
Start time: 7:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM PDT In Canada: CBC, Sportsnet (English), TVA Sports (French) In the United States: ESPN2 In the Lightning region: The Spot Streaming: Sportsnet+
When the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning met in the 2021 Stanley Cup Final, the series didn’t need a Game 6. The Canadiens managed just one win, and the series w...
The Montreal Canadiens pulled off another thrilling victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning Wednesday night, with a 3-2 victory. That is also the margin by which they now lead the tightly-fought first-round series. The set now heads back to the raucous Bell Centre in Montreal for Game 6 tomorrow night and a chance for the Habs to clinch and move on to Round 2. Former NHL head coach, currently TSN Hockey analyst, Bruce Boudreau , gives us his 3 Keys to Victory for the Canadiens to wrap...
Alexandre Texier scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and Jakub Dobes made 38 saves in the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning at Benchmark International Arena on Wednesday. Brendan Gallagher and Kirby Dach also scored for the Canadiens, who took a 3-2 lead in the series. Dominic James scored his first career playoff goal and Jake Guentzel also tallied for the Lightning.
Dan Vlader stopped 42 shots for his second shutout...
Montreal Canadiens news and notes
Juraj Slafkovský is too nice on the ice and the Tampa Bay Lightning are using that to their advantage. [ Journal de Montreal ]
Given what we’ve seen so far in the Stanley Cup playoffs, should the Canadiens have bought during the trade deadline? [ Journal de Montreal ]
The Canadiens are exploring options for a Game 6 outdoor watch party after safety concerns led to the removal of barricades. [ CBC ]
Veterans will have to help keep emotions...
The Tampa Bay Lightning battled back from one goal deficits twice against the Montreal Canadiens in Game Five of their first round series. Unfortunately, they couldn’t answer Alexandre Texier’s early third-period goal as Jakub Dobes made 17 of his 38 saves in the final frame to preserve a 3-2 Montreal win. The series heads back to Montreal with the Lightning facing elimination on Friday.
The too-long-didn’t-read version of the game is that Montreal scored all of the big momentum goals. Th...
First period
They wanted to have towels for the fans to make Benchmark International Arena like the Bell Centre. You can hear a pin drop moments after the opening puck drop.
Well, that’s exactly what Martin St-Louis was hoping for when he inserted Brendan Gallagher into the lineup: charge at the net and clean up a rebound. It’s Newhook’s rebound after he got onto his own wide shot, leaving an empty cage for the veteran to hit.
Montreal had as many high-danger chan...
2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs – Eastern Conference QFs
Game 5: Montreal Canadiens (A3) @ Tampa Bay Lightning (A2)
Series tied 2-2
Start time: 7:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM PDT In Canada: CBC, Sportsnet (English), TVA Sports (French) In the United States: ESPN2 In the Lightning region: The Spot Streaming: Sportsnet+
The first personnel change has been made by Martin St-Louis in the series. The move is to give Brendan Gallagher his first playoff game of the season at the expense of Oliv...
Game Five: Montreal Canadiens (2-2) at Tampa Bay Lightning (2-2)
Time: 7:00 PM EST
Location: Benchmark International Arena, Tampa, FL
TV/Stream/Radio: The Spot, ESPN2, ESPN+, 102.5 FM, Lightning App
Odds: Lightning -160
Know the Opponents: Habs Eye on the Prize
Prior to this series starting one of the things that perplexed us here at Raw Charge Worldwide Incorporated was the overwhelming notion by some, either national media or on social media, that the Lightning ...
2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs – Eastern Conference QFs
Game 5: Montreal Canadiens (A3) @ Tampa Bay Lightning (A2)
Series tied 2-2
Start time: 7:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM PDT In Canada: CBC, Sportsnet (English), TVA Sports (French) In the United States: ESPN2 In the Lightning region: The Spot Streaming: ESPN+, Sportsnet+
Through the first three games of the series between the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning, the Habs had held their opponent to eight high-danger chances at ...