Lightning Beat Canadiens To Grab 2-0 Lead In NHL Final

Miami, July 1 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Jul, 2021 ) :Blake Coleman scored the pivotal goal with two seconds remaining in the second period and defending champion Tampa Bay beat Montreal 3-1 on Wednesday in the NHL Stanley Cup Final.

The Lightning seized a commanding 2-0 lead over the Canadiens in the best-of-seven championship series, which shifts to Montreal for games three and four on Friday and Monday.

Of 51 teams to grab a 2-0 series edge in the final, 46 of them have gone on to win the Cup.

While Tampa Bay welcomed a sellout crowd of more than 19,000 spectators, only 3,500 will be allowed to attend in Montreal due to Covid-19 safety protocols.

Coleman's devastating goal swiped the momentum in a knife's edge contest and put the Lightning ahead 2-1 entering the third period.

Lightning right wing Barclay Goodrow chipped the puck past a defender and flicked it left to a diving Coleman, who deflected the puck with an outstretched stick while sliding on his stomach.

He watched it go under the right arm of Montreal goaltender Carey price just before the period ended.

It was Coleman's first goal in 19 games.

The Canadiens were 4-0 in the playoffs when level after two periods but fell to 0-6 when trailing after two.

Tampa Bay's Ondrej Palat netted the clincher with 4:18 remaining in the third period, intercepting a no-look pass from Montreal's Joel Edmundson at the side of the net and bouncing the puck into the goal off the right skate of Price.

Tampa Bay's Anthony Cirelli opened the scoring 6:40 into the second period, taking a pass from Tyler Johnson and flicking a wrist shot through traffic from just outside the right faceoff circle past Price.

But only 3:56 later, the Canadiens answered with a power play goal after Tampa Bay's Mikhail Sergachev was whistled for an interference penalty against Montreal's Artturi Lehkonen.

Nick Suzuki fired an unassisted backhand goal past Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy to pull the Canadiens level at 1-1.

Montreal took all seven shots after the Lightning goal before netting the equalizer.