MONTREAL, CANADA- MAY 1: Gage Goncalves #93 of the Tampa Bay Lightning celebrates the game winning goal in the first overtime period of Game Six of the First Round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre on May 1, 2026 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Lightning take OT thriller over Canadiens to force Game 7

12 days ago
Matt Garies / National Hockey League / Getty

The Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Montreal Canadiens 1-0 on Friday to force a winner-take-all Game 7 in their tightly contested first-round series.

Gage Goncalves scored the winning goal in overtime.

The goal was Goncalves' first of the series.

"It's awesome to get the win there, and we're excited to force it to (Game) 7," Goncalves said after the win, per Sportsnet.

He added, "(Jakub Dobes) made a great save on the first one, but I just cleaned up the rebound."

Game 7 is scheduled for Sunday at 6 p.m. ET in Tampa Bay. The winner will take on the Buffalo Sabres in Round 2.

Friday's contest was the sixth consecutive one-goal contest between Montreal and Tampa Bay and the fourth to require overtime.

"Everybody wants goal scoring," Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said, per team reporter Benjamin Pierce. "That's what everybody talks about and more goal scoring in the league. But if you watch tonight's game, that didn't need a goal. All it needed was one goal to end it. It was thrilling. It was epic."

The two clubs have been neck and neck all series, scoring nine goals apiece at five-on-five, with the Lightning owning a slight expected goals advantage at 50.59%, according to Natural Stat Trick.

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