Canadiens Set Dubious Records in Series Win over Lightning – The Hockey Writers – Montreal Canadiens

The Montreal Canadiens got numerous “firsts” out of the way on Sunday, when they beat the rival Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 in Game 7 of their first-round series on Sunday. They’ll probably table the fact they recorded the first shotless playoff period in Habs franchise history, when they got outshot 12-0 in the second period, though.

Canadiens Register Record-Low Nine Shots in Win

The Canadiens will probably instead focus on how this was the first series win for this specific group, the youngest team in the league on opening night and in the current postseason, also getting their first Game 7 victory out of the way. However, what’s arguably more significant, at least from a historical perspective, is how, in registering just nine shots on goal, they became the first team to win a playoff game in league history with fewer than 10.

Canadiens set a Stanley Cup Playoffs record for the fewest shots on goal in a win with 9#GoHabsGo

— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) May 4, 2026

While Canadiens forward Alex Newhook stepped up to dramatically break a 1-1 third-period tie with the go-ahead and eventual game-winning goal, rookie goalie Jakub Dobes was the difference, handily outplaying Vezina Trophy-candidate Andrei Vasilevskiy in the game (and series). Dobes made 28 saves to become the fifth rookie goalie in team history to win a game 7 (Patrick Roy, Carey Price) and just the third to do so on the road (Jacques Plante, Ken Dryden).

Canadiens Overcome Hurdles to Pull Out Series Win

In the series, compared to Vasilevskiy’s .897 save percentage, Dobes earned an impressive one of .923, but, despite making it look easy, nothing seemed to come easy for the Canadiens. Between the Habs’ ugly-second-period tendencies from early in the regular season nearly coming back to haunt them, forward Juraj Slafkovsky’s inability to score an insurance empty-net goal from in close and defenseman Mike Matheson’s delay-of-game penalty with seconds left on the clock, the Habs cut this one closer than anyone would have liked, with all seven games in the series having been decided by one goal.

Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki opened the scoring in the first by tipping in a Kaiden Guhle point shot off Lightning defenseman J.J. Moser. In the aforementioned horrible second, Guhle added to his team’s troubles however, when he got called for holding Bolts star Jake Guentzel. Rookie Dominic James knotted things up at one goal apiece on the ensuing power play, setting things up for Newhook’s heroics in the third, with Dobes’ heroics throughout standing out above all else.

With the win, the Habs move on to face the Atlantic Division-champion Buffalo Sabres (in the regular season). That second-round series starts Wednesday in Buffalo.