GARON MAKES 23 SAVES TO GIVE THE HABS THEIR 5TH STRAIGHT LOSS

GOAL SCORERS

MTL:   D. Desharnais (16:02 - 1st)

TBL:   S. Stamkos (08:42 - 1st) , A. Hall (00:28 - 2nd)

GOALIES

MTL: C. Price (L)

 TBL: M. Garon (W)

                           Earlier tonight in Tampa,  Blake Geoffrion  (Number 57 as shown in photo) and Brad Staubitz (Number 25)  made their Montreal Canadiens debuts. Before the game it was announced that Louis LeBlanc was reassigned to the Hamilton Bulldogs (AHL). 8 minutes into the game between the Canadiens and Lightning, Purcell centred the puck for Stamkos and he scored to make it 1-0 Lightning.  9 minutes later, Desharnais brought the puck into the Tampa zone and fired a shot from the slot past Garon to tie the game. 28 seconds into the second, Malone centred the puck for Hall and he scored to give the Lightning a 2-1 lead.

            Shortly after that, Emelin body checked Malone at the Habs blue line. Malone retaliates with offering Emelin to fight while going to the bench. Emelin rejects the offer but Malone decided to drop the gloves anyway. Malone received a 2 minute unsportsmanlike penalty and a game misconduct. Garon would end up leading the way for the Lightning as he stopped several 2 on 1 opportunities as he made a total of 23 saves to put the Lightning back into the Playoff hunt by sitting 5 points back of the Capitals for 8th. As for the Habs, this loss puts them even further out of a playoff spot as they sit in 15th in the Eastern Conference (28th in the NHL) with just 58 points and they are 12 points back of the Capitals. More bad news for the Habs, theres only 18 games to go in the season.  The main problem for the Habs is that they have no offense besides the Top line of Pacioretty, Desharnias and Cole.

So I will say that it looks to me like the Habs season will come to an end after the last 18 games.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo