Juraj Slafkovsky caps hat trick with OT winner for Canadiens - ESPN

TAMPA, Fla. — Juraj Slafkovsky scored his third power-play goal 1:22 into overtime and the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 in Game 1 of their first-round series on Sunday night.

Slafkovsky, 22, the No. 1 pick in 2022 who made his playoff debut last season, fired a slap shot from the left circle that raced past Andrei Vasilevskiy to the far side for the hat trick. According to ESPN Research, Slafkovsky is the youngest player in NHL history with a hat trick in a postseason opener, passing Wayne Gretzky, who was also 22 in 1983.

«I kind of saw some open space there,» Slafkovsky said of the winner. «I decided to shoot it, and thankfully, it went in. So, we're all happy. But, yeah, we still have to focus. We have a game in two days.»

Game 2 is Tuesday night at Benchmark International Arena, where Tampa Bay has lost eight of its last nine home games in the postseason.

Montreal coach Martin St. Louis, a Lightning icon and Hockey Hall of Fame forward, called a timeout during the overtime power play just before Slafkovsky's winner.

«I think he was just trying to give us a little break,» Montreal captain Nick Suzuki said. «Marty just wanted to talk it over, and see what we wanted to do. We didn't want to change anything, we had already been out there, but we just wanted to try to end the game.»

Josh Anderson also had a goal for Montreal, and rookie goalie Jakub Dobes made 20 saves in the NHL's first overtime game of this postseason.

Brandon Hagel scored two goals and Darren Raddysh also scored for Tampa Bay, which came into the round heavily favored to win the series. The Lightning have been knocked out of the playoffs in the first round three straight seasons after falling two wins shy of a Stanley Cup