TAMPA, Fla. — Alex Newhook and Nick Suzuki scored goals, and the Montreal Canadiens, despite posting just nine shots on net, defeated the favored Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals on Sunday night.
Newhook scored the winner on a ricochet shot off of Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy at the 11:07 mark of the third period, stunning the hometown crowd.
“It’s been a hard series,” Suzuki said in the postgame show on TNT. “You have to give them a lot of credit. They made it super difficult on us. To get one in the first period, kind of made the group settle down a bit. But, it was just a great battle, the whole series.”
On the other end, the shots came fast and furious, but Montreal goaltender Jakub Dobes was up to the task. He finished with 29 saves, allowing only a power-play goal to Dominic James in the second period.
“The guys really dug in there at the end,” Suzuki said.
The Canadiens will take on the Buffalo Sabres in Round 2. The Lightning, meanwhile, will head home after a first-round exit for the fourth consecutive season.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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