J.J. Moser Ends Lightning's Brutal Home Playoff Curse With OT Winner Against Montreal

The Tampa Bay Lightning finally stopped the bleeding at home. After losing four straight playoff games in Tampa and dropping 10 of their last 11 at Amalie Arena dating back to 2022, the Lightning got the monkey off their back on Tuesday night with a 3-2 overtime victory over the Montreal Canadiens. J.J. Moser scored 12:48 into OT to tie the Eastern Conference first-round series at 1-1, and now this thing gets interesting as the action shifts north to Montreal.

Moser Breaks Through When It Mattered Most

Moser's goal came right after an icing call, and it was textbook playoff overtime execution. He won the puck off a faceoff win by Anthony Cirelli, skated around a stick check attempt, and ripped a wrist shot from inside the left faceoff circle past Jakub Dobes. It was his first career playoff goal, and the timing couldn't have been better.

"We worked on faceoff plays and the puck kind of squirts out," Moser said. "I tried to keep it in, skate with it and all of a sudden it opens up. I took it down and take a shot."

Kucherov Drags Tampa Back From the Brink

The Lightning were staring down a Game 2 loss when Nikita Kucherov forced overtime with a wraparound goal at 12:33 of the third period. He picked up a deflected puck off Brandon Hagel's stick and stuffed it home. For Kucherov, it was his first playoff goal since April 19, 2023, ending a brutal 17-game drought.

Hagel was the spark plug all night, opening the scoring 8:40 into the first period and adding an assist on Kucherov's tying goal. He even dropped the gloves with Montreal's Juraj Slafkovsky in the second period for a complete effort. "Whatever it takes to win," Hagel said. "Sometimes it's going to take fighting, and sometimes it's going to."

Andrei Vasilevskiy was solid in net, stopping 25 shots, while Dobes made 31 saves for Montreal but couldn't keep the Lightning out when it mattered.

Game 3 is Friday night in Montreal. Game 4 follows on Sunday. The series is tied. The Lightning got their home win. Now let's see if they can get out of Canada with something.

This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.