Anderson’s OT goal keeps alive Canadiens’ Stanley Cup hopes

MONTREAL: Josh Anderson’s second goal at 4:21 of overtime lifted the Montreal Canadiens to a 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game Four of the 2021 Stanley Cup finals.

Anderson’s game winner came moments after Montreal had killed off a four-minute Tampa powerplay and it cut the Lightning’s series lead to 3-1 in the best-of-seven NHL championship series.

“We understood the hole that we were in, but we just kind of talked about it: Find a way to win one game here,” Montreal forward Brendan Gallagher said. “[Anderson] stepped up and scored a couple of big goals for us.”

Anderson, who opened the scoring in the first period, dove out front and chipped the puck over the right leg pad of Tampa goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, sparking a wild celebration in front of the pandemic-limited crowd of 3,500 at the Bell Centre arena.

The goal kept Montreal alive in the play-offs as they avoided being swept in four straight games in a finals series for the first time since 1952 when they lost to Detroit.

Montreal have struggled to keep pace with the Lightning’s explosive offence in the finals, but Canadiens fans are hoping that Anderson’s two goals and goaltender Carey Price’s improved play on Monday will give them a confidence boost moving forward.

The series now switches back to Florida tomorrow, Thai time.

“We didn’t want to end it tonight in front of our fans,” Anderson said. “We expected to go to Tampa. I think everybody in that locker room did.”

Montreal have won 24 Stanley Cups, more than any other team in history while the Lightning are trying to win their second in as many seasons and third overall. History though is not on Montreal’s side, as teams that have gone down 3-0 in the final’s first three games have lost 26 of the last 27 series.

RESULT (best-of-seven series) Montreal 3 Lightning 2 OT (Lightning lead series 3-1)