Three moments that mattered in Lightning's Game 5 loss to Canadiens

TAMPA, Fla. - In a first-round series in which games have been decided by the narrowest of margins, Game 5 loomed large. With the series between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Montreal Canadiens tied at two games apiece and basically down to a best-of-three, the team that prevailed Wednesday night at Benchmark International Arena would be in position to take the series by the horns.

Now, following their 3-2 loss, the Lightning face elimination as the series heads to Montreal for Game 6 on Friday. They never led Wednesday and were chasing the game from the three-minute mark on, hardly the way to take advantage of the home-ice advantage they were regifted by winning Game 4 Sunday in Montreal.

Here are three moments that mattered in Game 5:

Spark off the bench

Brendan Gallagher, who has played the entirety of his 14-year NHL career with Montreal and has 77 playoff games on his resume, sat and watched the first four games of the series as a healthy scratch. But he drew into the Canadiens lineup for Game 5 and provided an immediate spark by scoring the first goal three minutes into the game. After a neutral-zone turnover by the Lightning, Alex Newhook drove toward the net and flung a shot wide of the left post, but the puck bounced back to him. Andrei Vasilevskiy threw out his left pad to stop Newhook's second attempt, but Gallagher scooped up the puck in front and lifted a shot past the Lightning goaltender.

Quick response

Dominic James tied the game off the rush with his first career postseason goal at 6:49 of the second period. But before his goal could be announced, Montreal regained the lead 11 seconds later on Kirby Dach's second goal of the series. Dach pulled the puck off the wall and turned the corner on Gage Goncalves. As Dach skated toward the front of the net, Vasilevskiy's poke-check jarred the puck away. But Dach was able to kick it back to his forehand and beat Vasilevskiy on his glove side.

A two-goal shift

Early in the third period, the Lightning saw a potential go-ahead goal ping harmlessly off the post, then allowed Montreal to take the lead just 38 seconds later. Twenty-six seconds into the period, Darren Raddysh weaved his way into the high slot and released a wrister that hit off the left post. Nikita Kucherov charged in and collected the rebound but fanned on the shot. Lane Hutson then sent a stretch pass that sprung Alexandre Texier, whose wrister from the left circle hit off the palm of Vasilevskiy's glove and went in. It was definitely a shot the goaltender would want to have back.

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This story was originally published April 29, 2026 at 7:49 PM.