Canadiens, Lightning set for tonight’s Game 7 showdown

TAMPA — They both finished the regular season with 106 points.

And after six exciting playoff games, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Montreal Canadiens are still tied — in wins and in goals scored.

Tonight it’s Game 7, a win or go home showdown for the Atlantic Division rivals in their first-round, best-of-seven playoff series.

All six games have been decided by one goal, four requiring overtime. Both teams have scored 14 goals and each has won twice in the other’s building. The games have featured highlight-reel saves from the Bolts’ Andrei Vasilevskiy and the Habs’ Jakub Dobes, dramatic goals, hard hits and plenty of rough stuff.

The Canadiens could have clinched the series Friday, but Gage Concalves scored 9:03 into overtime at the Bell Centre to give the Lightning a 1-0 victory that forced tonight’s Game 7 at Benchmark International Arena in the Sunshine State.

The winner will advance to Round 2 and face the Buffalo Sabres, who dispatched the Boston Bruins in six games, clinching the series with a 4-1 win Friday in Boston.

Tampa Bay bench boss Jon Cooper, one of three nominees for the Jack Adams Award — for NHL coach of the year — said his team was pumped to win Game 6 and regain home-ice advantage, but was quick to remind everyone that the only win that will matter in the series is Game 7.

Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said his crew is in it to win it, not to receive participation ribbons. The Canadiens, the last Canadian team standing in these playoffs, last won a series in 2021, the same year they advance to the Stanley Cup final and lost to the Lightning in five games.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 3, 2026.

The Canadian Press