Montreal Canadiens win Game 7 despite just 9 shots on goal - ESPN

TAMPA, Fla. — Alex Newhook and Nick Suzuki scored goals, and the Montreal Canadiens, despite posting just nine shots on net, defeated the favored Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals on Sunday night.

Newhook scored the winner on a ricochet shot off of Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy at the 11:07 mark of the third period, stunning the hometown crowd.

Each game of the series was decided by one goal and four went to overtime. The score was tied or within one goal for all but six minutes in the seven games.

«It's been a hard series,» Suzuki said in the postgame show on TNT. «You have to give them a lot of credit. They made it super difficult on us. To get one in the first period, kind of made the group settle down a bit. But, it was just a great battle, the whole series.»

According to ESPN Research, Montreal's shot total was the second lowest in a playoff game since shots on goal were first officially tracked, and the lowest, in that time span, for a winning team. The Toronto Maple Leafs posted just six in a 2000 series against the New Jersey Devils. Toronto, however, lost that game and series to New Jersey, which went on to win the Stanley Cup.

On the other end, the shots came fast and furious in Game 7, but Montreal goaltender Jakub Dobes was up to the task. He finished with 29 saves, allowing only a power-play goal to Tampa Bay's Dominic James in the second period.

«I feel like every game I've played this year is kind of like a Game 7 for me,» Dobes said on TNT, referring to the fact that he was not the No. 1 goaltender coming out of training camp. «To be honest, I was playing for my life the whole season, so this is not new to me. I just try to prove myself, and play with