LIGHTNING AT CANADIENS

Five things you should know about the Canadiens-Lightning game Saturday night at the Bell Centre (7 p.m. SN360, CITY, TVA Sports, TSN 690 Radio), by Pat Hickey.

1

The matchup

The Canadiens continue to be the biggest surprise of the young NHL season. They are coming off a lastminute, come-from-behind, 6-4 win over the Stanley Cup-champion Washington Capitals Thursday night. Max Domi’s winning goal with 21.1 seconds left boosted the Canadiens’ record to 7-3-2. The Canadiens, who have managed to avoid losing two consecutive games this season, are tied for second in the Atlantic Division with 16 points. It’s no surprise that the Lightning tops the division with 17 points on an 8-3-1 record, but Tampa Bay stumbled at home against the Nashville Predators Thursday night, losing 4-1.

2

Kotkaniemi’s star is shining Rookie centre Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored his first NHL goal Thursday night and put some icing on the cake when he scored his second goal with 3:04 to play to tie the game at 4-4. Kotkaniemi became the secondyoungest Canadien to score a goal — Mario Tremblay was 43 days younger when he scored his first goal in 1974. Kotkaniemi, 18, was on the ice for a season-high 15 minutes, 42 seconds and it’s obvious head coach Claude Julien has more confidence in him.

3

Gallagher an elite sniper Brendan Gallagher had an offensive breakthrough last season when he scored 31 goals and the early returns this season indicate that his performance wasn’t a fluke. Gallagher scored two goals Thursday night to give him nine for the season. He’s only two off the league lead shared by Patrick Kane, Gabriel Landeskog and David Pastrnak. Next in line for the Canadiens is Domi, whose winning goal Thursday was his sixth of the season.

4

Injury updates

Both teams will be missing their top defenceman. The Canadiens’ Shea Weber is skating, but he’s still at least a month away from returning to the lineup as he recovers from foot and knee surgeries. The Lightning will be without Victor Hedman, the 2018 Norris Trophy winner. He suffered what was described as a minor upper-body injury in an Oct. 26 game against Vegas, but he has missed three games and has been ruled out for this game and Sunday’s in Ottawa. Paul Byron, who missed the Washington game, will be a game-time decision.

5

The other guys

Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy is off to a strong start with a 6-2-1 record, a 2.09 goals-against average and a .930 save percentage. The offence ranks seventh in the NHL with 3.42 goals per game and Brayden Point leads the team in goals (seven) and points (14). Kucherov (five goals, seven assists) and Quebecer Yanni Gourde (four goals and eights assists) are averaging a point per game. Steven Stamkos is off to a relatively slow start with two goals and six assists. Former Canadiens defenceman Mikhail Sergachev has four assists.