Lightning vs. Montreal 2026 Playoff Game 1 Raw Reaction

Bolts kick off their playoff with a tough 4-3 OT loss in Game 1. Stevie Z provides a short reaction on what went wrong for Tampa, but why they can also build off some of the positives moving forward to Game 2. 

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What's going on, everyone? Stevie Z here for a raw reaction after the Bolts lose 4-3 in overtime in game one versus the Montreal Canadiens. I didn't think it was a bad game from the Lightning. I don't think they got dominated in really any aspect of the game, especially 5-1-5. I thought Vassie was good despite giving up four goals on 19 shots. Three of those goals were given up on the power play. Just what really did the lightning in was penalties, penalties, penalties. Their lack of discipline was not good. And if you recall back to the preview, I said that a glaring weakness for Tampa would be their discipline because they're the most penalized team in the league. And a glaring strength for Montreal would be their power play. Because they finished 10th in the league. And sure enough, a weakness and a strength collided, and Montreal won where they should have. Tampa is going to have to clean up their discipline for game two. Tampa took four offensive zone penalties tonight. Off of just stupidity. The biggest one being Gensel with 20 seconds left in the game, tries to tomahawk a puck that's above his head and Ghoulie's head for Montreal, and he ends up high-sticking Ghoulie. Just doesn't need to happen. It doesn't need to happen. Tampa was doing so well five on five in this game. And listen, I saw some advanced stats after the game. Montreal had eight high danger chances to Tampa's one. Fine. Four of those came in the third period. Montreal had one five-on-five shot in the second period. They had one shot on net period up until that power play that Hunter Geeky gave up because of a high sticking penalty with a minute and a half left. That led to Slavkowski's tying goal with 24 seconds left in the second period. At that point, in the second period, shots were 18-5. Tampa had taken the game over after Josh Anderson cleaned Destu. From that power play that Tampa got when Radish shot an absolute bomb into the net and then Hegel scored on the very next shift. Tampa had begun to take the game over. Montreal was generating nothing five-on-five. I was really disappointed to see that game be tied after the second period, all because of a stupid penalty. And then I mean, Valletney had six penalties tonight. None of them were legit good penalties to take. They were stupid penalties. John Cooper said it so as much as well. So I share the same sentiment as him. It was just stupidity. They weren't penalties to save a goal from happening. Like they were just penalties far away from the puck or being careless. Tampa can't afford those things. In the playoffs, the margin for error is thin. Stupidity increases the thinness of that margin. I thought Bassi was good. I thought Dobesh was good as well. I thought early on in this game, Dobesh was way too comfortable in the net. Way too comfortable in the net. Like the first shot that he faced, he was so far out of his own net, confident, willing to challenge. Montreal blocked 17 shots. As you know, they're the leading shot blocking team in the league. Early on in this game, Tampa was just a lot of one and done shots, not a lot of traffic. What changed in this game? They got two net front goals. Like getting in Dobesh's face, making him uncomfortable. I said that in the preview. Tampa was going to have to do that. These far and outside shots, they're not gonna cut it. Because Montreal is really good at either getting in the lane or Dobesh is doing really well right now at seeing those pucks. You have to make a young goaltender uncomfortable. And for a big part of this game, Tampa didn't do that. Look, I thought tonight that some of the players that were noticeable in my eye was Ryan McDonough defensively, for sure. Just a sense of calm and steadiness on the back end, especially in the D zone. Collecting the pucks, moving the puck out of the zone, blocking shots. He absolutely bench pressed Slavkowski in the corner. Brandon Hagel, that guy, came out here on fire, ready to go, hitting everything, battling for loose pucks. The shift that he had on the goal right after Radish's power play goal, all hustle. That's what you want to see. And he came out after the game and said that the penalty kill needs to do a better job. And it starts with himself. Loved the accountability, but it could also start with his teammates, including himself, not taking stupid penalties. A third player that I noticed for the Lightning was uh Yanni Gord all over the place tonight. Just, I mean, you wouldn't be able to tell that he was what, 35 years old or in his mid-30s? He was getting after tonight. All over the ice. I will say that where Tampa is also going to have to clean up his in the face-off department, won 39% of the face-off tonight. I believe it was what they were 23 for 59 on face-off tonight. Nick Suzuki had a knight in the face-off circle, 71%. Tampa, I believe, went 9 for 20 in the defensive zone. And look, especially in the third period, when Montreal generated a lot of their high danger chances, which was four out of their eight in that period, a lot of that had to do with Suzuki winning offensive zone face-offs. And just allowing Montreal to sustain pressure and forcing Tampa to be on their heels. So that's going to have to get cleaned up. And look, you can mitigate losing face-offs if you are on the puck carrier right away and the puck's getting out of the zone. But if you are not on the puck carrier right away when you lose a face-off, now they have time to just rim it around, cycle it around, skate around with it in the offensive zone, in Tampa's defensive zone, then you just really set yourself up for trouble. If you're asking if I'm concerned, I'm not. I thought Tampa played really well. I thought the game was pretty evenly matched. I think if Tampa can up their discipline and be more mindful of that and continue to play at five-on-five what I saw tonight, both offensively and defensively, I think they will have a very good chance in this series. However, conversely, if they want to continue to take silly penalties and continue with the lack of discipline that has really plagued them all year, in the sense of taking penalties, the penalty kill has been great all year, so it hasn't really hurt them, but things get magnified in the playoffs. Gave up three power play goals tonight. What which of those three penalties was like a good penalty to take? None of them. Slavkovsky had himself a night. When they called timeout in overtime, and I'm like, oh, they saw something because you just don't call a random timeout. Call the random timeout. Slawkovsky was sitting on the right circle. I mean, that's his spot. They for his two goals in this game, in this uh two of his three goals, his second one being from Vasi's right side in the slot, snapping it, and then in OT. Same thing. They called timeout, they moved him over. Tampa loses the face off. Slapkovski somehow gets the puck, he snaps it past Vasi. What we I guess consider the left circle. Right, Vasi's right. Snaps it past Vasilevsky. Game over. So look, back away from the cliff, some of you. I I seen it on the socials. I understand Tampa's record in the playoffs and in overtime. Overtime has nothing to do with why Tampa lost this game. I thought they played a very good game, very spirited game. They just didn't play a smart game, especially when it came to taking penalties. If Tampa can clean that up and continue to make adjustments on how they attack five on five and getting traffic in front of Dobesh, not passing up shots. I thought tonight they were pulling out of some shots because Dobesh is really confident. Mess with his confidence, test his resilience, test his resolve, test his comfort level. And I really do think that if Tampa can do that, especially heading into game two, they will like the result. Keep doing what they did in game one, and they won't like the result. Anyway, guys, that's it for this one. I'll catch you after game two. See ya.