Flash Points: Lightning power play overwhelms Canadiens in Game 2 victory

Published May. 3, 2015 8:50 p.m. ET

foxsports

A split in Montreal would have been deemed a success.

But taking two games there?

Call it twice as nice.

The Tampa Bay Lightning routed the Montreal Canadiens 6-2 on Sunday night at the Bell Centre in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. With the victory, the Lightning take a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series as it prepares to shift to Tampa later in the week.

The Lightning rode the wave of a strong second period, when Tampa Bay received goals from Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov and Victor Hedman to continue their mastery of goaltender Carey Price and race to a 4-1 lead. Kucherov and J.T. Brown added third-period goals to close the Lightning's scoring.

Goaltender Ben Bishop continued to play well. He made 27 saves, following his standout 43-save performance during a double overtime victory in Game 1 on Friday.

“The guys have played with a quiet calm in their game,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said on the Sun Sports postgame show. “Bish has stood tall for us. He was the best player on the ice in that first period. … We like what we’ve done here. But now we’ve got to get back and really absorb the energy of our crowd but be sure we’ve got a quiet calm to our game.”

The result should be considered a large momentum boost for Tampa Bay, which improved to an impressive 7-0 against Montreal this season. The Lightning overcame a slow start Sunday, when Jeff Petry opened scoring with a goal 7:20 into the first period to charge an energetic crowd.

But an impressive showing on the power play -- the Lightning scored four times on eight chances -- was enough to quiet the building in a hurry. Now Tampa Bay should enter Game 3 with ample confidence.

“The power play has struggled as of late,” Stamkos said on the Sun Sports postgame show. “For it to get going the way it did tonight, that was the difference in the game. … Special teams was big, and we won that battle tonight.”

THE TURNING POINT

Stamkos' goal 8:06 into the second period broke a one-all tie and began a string of four consecutive Tampa Bay goals. It marked his first score of the playoffs.

THE DIFFERENCE MAKER

Kucherov's two goals helped spark Tampa Bay's charge. By far, this was the Lightning's best offensive effort of the playoffs.

STAT OF THE GAME

The Lightning went 4 for 8 on the power play. Just like we all predicted, right?

WHAT'S NEXT

The Lightning face the Canadiens in Game 3 at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Amalie Arena.

You can follow Andrew Astleford on Twitter @aastleford or email him at aastleford@gmail.com.