Lightning Unable to Capitalize, Fall 3-2 in Game 5 vs Montreal

Coming off a statement win in Game 4 at the Bell Centre, the Tampa Bay Lightning had a chance to seize control of their first-round series. Instead, Game 5 served as a reminder of how thin the margin has been and how costly self-inflicted mistakes can become this time of year.

The Lightning fell 3-2 to the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night at Benchmark International Arena, putting them on the brink of elimination in a series where every game has been decided by a single goal.

“Did I think we had our best game? We clearly did not,” said Lightning coach Jon Cooper. “Is it really disappointing to come home and lose? It is. This is something we should take a ton of pride in and dig our heels in and not accept.”

Montreal set the tone early. Brendan Gallagher opened the scoring just three minutes into the first period, marking another game in which the Lightning found themselves trailing and forced to chase.

They briefly grabbed momentum early in the second period when rookie Dominic James scored his first career postseason goal. After Gage Goncalves got the puck out in the defensive zone, he fed James to create a 2-on-1. Just 11 seconds later, Kirby Dach answered to restore Montreal’s lead.

“You dream about (the first playoff goal), right?” James said. “It’s just so tough that they scored the shift after and we were out there. It kind of rains on the parade a little bit.”

Tampa Bay pushed back late in the second period. Jake Guentzel tied the game at 2-2 with another 2-on-1, faking a pass before snapping a shot past goaltender from the right circle.