Goncalves hero for Tampa Bay as Bolts beat Habs in 1-0 overtime thriller

Montreal Canadiens fans were left crushed after a 1-0 overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 6 of the first-round series.

After 69 minutes of an unlit red light, it was Gage Goncalves who lit the torch, scoring his first playoff goal for the Tampa Bay Lightning to win 1-0 against the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre on Friday night.

The series is now tied 3-3 with the deciding game seven on Sunday at the Benchmark International Arena.

For the sixth of six games, it was a one-goal win, and for the fourth time, that goal came in overtime.

“There were a few chances, but it just didn’t go in,” said captain Nick Suzuki after the game. “We just got to move on now.”

Who blinks first?

Game Six was a classic shot-stopping duel between the “Big Cat” Andrei Vasilevskiy and rookie kitty Jakub Dobes.

The 31-year-old Vezina Trophy nominee from Russia and 24-year-old Czech sensation were solid as an oak door for the entire game, with neither ready to show daylight to the other team’s snipers.

In the end, it was a fortuitous rebound that found Goncalves’ stick with an open cage that he made no mistake on.

“He was amazing,” said Suzuki of his netminder. “He made all the stops that he could see and the guys were doing a great job of blocking shots and boxing out. He’s played amazing hockey for a long time, and we’re very confident with him in net.”

60-minute Stalemate

Heading into the third period, there was a palpable lack of oxygen in the city due to the gasps and breath holding throughout two scoreless frames.

As in keeping with the series, the first and second periods were as even as justice is meant to be.

Goals: 0-0; shots: 16 (TBL) - 17 (MTL); Penalties: four minutes to two.

A Kaiden Guhle slashing penalty five minutes into the third upped the tension to “waiting for a verdict” levels, but the Habs penalty kill, anchored by the 6’4″ Czech wall, again, stood strong, and the goose eggs on the scoreboard remained.

With just over three minutes left, Ivan Demidov found himself in the box for barreling into Vasilevskiy, giving the Bolts another chance to break the deadlock.

A turkey shoot, rapid fire, Lightning power play could not solve the Habs netminder, who showed flashes of a certain former bleu-blanc-rouge shotstopper from Anahim Lake, BC.

Stats after three:

OH TEE

In the extra frame, it was the Habs’ turn with the man advantage when Nikita Kucherov got called for tripping five minutes in.

The Bolts killers, however, did the trick, and, ironically, it was Kucherov who had a silver chance coming out of the box and breaking in on Dobes. Dobes, however, was up to the task.

With just over nine minutes played, Goncalves ended the game.

The winner of Sunday’s game will play the Buffalo Sabres after they dispatched the Boston Bruins in six games on Friday.