About Last Night: Demidov and Caufield miss scoring chances as Habs-Bolts series goes to seven
There will be a Game 7.
It seemed only natural for the evenly matched Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning to go the distance, and that’s exactly what will happen after a 1-0 overtime win for the Bolts in Game 6 on Friday at the Bell Centre.
Lightning forward Gage Goncalves was in the right place to bang home the loose puck for the game’s only goal at 9:03 of the extra period.
Those critical of the inconsistent officiating in this series, including the Hockey Inside Out panel, got plenty of ammunition in the form of a late goalie interference penalty on Habs forward Ivan Demidov with 3:18 left in regulation.
That was followed by a tripping call on Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov in overtime, but as has been the case more often than not this series, both power plays drew blanks. The Canadiens have stumbled to 5-for-24 with the man-advantage, but the Bolts haven’t been any better at 4-for-26.
No other goals to show from last night, but there were plenty of fireworks, nonetheless, starting with Chris Nilan walking into the Bell Centre holding the torch, as Yvon Cournoyer and Serge Savard did in Games 3 and 4.
After a quiet Game 5, forward Josh Anderson made his presence felt from the opening shift with his first of nine hits on the night, this one on Bolts blueliner Erik Cernak. The Canadiens outhit the Lightning 50 to 37 overall.
Jakub Dobes followed up his 38-save performance in Game 5 with only one blemish in a 32-save outing, but his play outside of his crease continued to keep Habs fans on the edge of their seats. He nearly coughed up the game’s first goal to Yanni Gourde behind the net, but the Bolts forward wiped out on the ensuing wraparound attempt.
The biggest save by a Hab might’ve come from someone other than Dobes. In the second period, the puck skipped by the goaltender, but centre Phillip Danault — fresh off locking down Game 5 with a 3:34 final shift — was there to bat the loose puck out of harm’s way.
Ivan Demidov is still looking for his first goal of the postsesason, but after getting only nine shots total in the first five games, he looked hungrier on Friday with five shots, including two chances on a power play that Andrei Vasilevskiy turned aside in spectacular fashion.
In the third period, the Lightning got their own chance to make something happen on the power play. The Forum ghosts made a cameo appearance, with two nearly identical shots ringing off the right post.
As that power play came to a close, Mike Matheson high-sticked Brayden Point in what was deemed by the officials to be from his follow-through.
Lightning coach Jon Cooper plead his case for a double-minor with his player bleeding on the bench.
The Lightning would receive one more power play on the Demidov goalie interference call. The Canadiens buckled down and thanks to some heroics from Dobes, were able to keep Tampa Bay off the score sheet and send the game into overtime.
The Liveblog commenters on the Hockey Inside Out YouTube livestream felt a makeup call was coming, and the Habs got one at 5:30 in overtime. Once again, the Canadiens came up short at 5-on-4 and allowed Kucherov to get a scoring chance coming out of the box. Less than two minutes later, Goncalves scored the winner to send the series back to Tampa for Game 7.
Montreal’s top scorers continue to shoot blanks, but they were at least more noticeable in Game 6. Demidov had five shots, while Cole Caufield had four and hit a post in the first period. After scoring 51 during the regular season, the league’s second-best goal scorer in 2025-26 has yet to light the lamp at even-strength in these playoffs. The snakebit pair will have until Sunday to think about what might’ve been before getting another chance to redeem themselves.
The beleaguered top line still sits atop last night’s Game Score. Arber Xhekaj had seven hits and a rocket of a point shot in 11:46 of work, but he might be the odd man out if Noah Dobson is ready to return from his thumb injury for the Sunday clincher.
The Habs and Bolts are in a dead heat entering Game 7. They’ve both scored 14 goals this series, and besides a short window where Montreal had a two-goal lead in Game 4, every minute of this series has been tied or a one-goal game.
Even the game results have been a see-saw: Habs win, Bolts win, Habs win, Bolts win, Habs win, Bolts win. Can the Habs keep the trend going and win the series in enemy territory? So far the road team has won four of six.
Here’s what the Liveblog commenters had to say about the disappointing result. Are they a glass half-full bunch or half-empty? Hard to say in the moment.
3. Sloppy play in your own zone gets you every time. We gave them the game.
2. Habs certainly did not play with the sense of urgency I expected. Regroup and pick up the pace in Tampa.
1. This was a great playoff game. Outstanding goaltending and TB had more at the end.
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