Fresh off a hard-fought win over one of their fiercest rivals, the Montreal Canadiens return to the Bell Centre tonight for a matchup with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Montreal comes back home after besting fellow Northeast Division member Boston in a shootout on Thursday, with Mike Cammalleri scoring the only goal in the deciding phase to give the Habs a 2-1 victory.
The Canadiens nearly prevailed in regulation, but the Bruins sent the game into extra time when Patrice Bergeron knocked home a rebound of teammate Zdeno Chara's shot with just 52 seconds left in the third period.
That would be the only time Boston got the puck past Carey Price, as the young Montreal netminder turned aside 42-of-43 shots in regulation and overtime before stoning all three skaters he faced in the shootout.
Glen Metropolit had the lone regulation tally for the Canadiens, who had lost three times in a four-game span prior to the contest.
Tampa Bay will be concluding a stretch of four straight road tilts tonight and has gone 1-1-1 so far on the trip. The Lightning were also last in action on Thursday, when the club was edged by Ottawa in overtime by a 3-2 score.
After a scoreless third period, the Senators came out on top when Jason Spezza blasted a slapshot past Lightning goaltender Antero Niittymaki with Ottawa on the power play and only 43 seconds left in overtime.
"It's a tough loss, but we got a point on the road," said the Lightning's Steven Stamkos. "We've just got to prepare for the next game."
Stamkos tied the score at 2-2 with a second-period goal and has scored at least one point in nine of Tampa Bay's last 10 games. The top overall pick of the 2008 draft leads the Lightning with 12 goals and 17 points this season.
One of Tampa Bay's other bright young stars, rookie defenseman Victor Hedman, was forced to leave Thursday's loss in the second period with an upper-body injury, the result of a hard hit from Ottawa enforcer Chris Neil. The 18- year-old Swede, taken by the Lightning with the second overall pick of this past June's draft, is considered day-to-day.
These teams split four meetings in 2008-09, as well as a pair of matchups held in Montreal last season. In the Lightning's last visit to the Bell Centre, the Canadiens delivered a 3-2 overtime win on March 26.
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