230318_MTL@TBL_GameRecap_Loss

TAMPA - The Canadiens lost the third and final game of their road trip on Saturday, falling 5-3 to the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena.

The Lightning held a ceremonial faceoff prior to the game to honor the inaugural class of the team's Hall of Fame, which includes Martin St-Louis and Vincent Lecavalier.

Sam Montembeault once again got the start in goal. And with Kaiden Guhle sidelined with a lower-body injury, Chris Wideman returned to the lineup for the first time since Monday night versus Colorado.
The Canadiens opened the scoring just past the five-minute mark of the first, when Jesse Ylonen forced a turnover deep in the Tampa zone, allowing Nick Suzuki to feed the puck to a wide-open Mike Hoffman, who wristed it in from the hash marks for his 12th of the season.
Victor Hedman tied the game at 11:31 of the opening frame.
After 20 minutes, the teams were even at 1-1 with Tampa outshooting Montreal 13-6.
In the second, Brandon Hagel gave the Lightning their first lead of the night at 4:50 of the frame.
But Denis Gurianov squared things up a bit more than 90 seconds later when he one-timed Josh Anderson's pass from the corner in past Sergei Bobrovsky to make it a 2-2 game.
Anderson and Suzuki earned the assists.

MTL@TBL: Gurianov scores in 2nd period

Later in the period, Hoffman helped set up the Habs' next goal when he drove the puck into the net and sent it to Jesse Ylonen, who one-timed it in to give Montreal a 3-2 lead.
Justin Barron picked up the secondary helper on the play.

MTL@TBL: Ylonen scores a go-ahead PPG in the 2nd

The Habs headed to the room with a one-goal lead after 40 minutes, although the Bolts edged them 12-11 in shots in the second.
Early in the third, with Michael Pezzetta in the box for interference, Steven Stamkos capitalized and squared things up at 3-3 at the 3:14 mark.
Hagel gave Tampa the lead again around two and a half minutes after Stamkos' marker.
Hagel completed the hat trick with an empty-net goal with 43.6 seconds remaining in regulation.
Montembeault made 36 saves in the loss.
The Canadiens returned home following the game. They face the Lightning in a rematch at the Bell Centre on Tuesday night.