Habs stave off Cup sweep in OT thriller

MONTREAL — Josh Anderson jumped back into the play, and the Canadiens killed Tampa Bay’s chance for a Stanley Cup sweep.

Anderson scored his second goal 3:57 into overtime, and the Canadiens avoided elimination by defeating the defending champion Lightning 3-2 in Game 4 on Monday night.

Carey Price stopped 32 shots for Montreal, and rookie defenseman Alexander Romanov also scored.

The series shifts to Tampa Bay for Game 5 on Wednesday night.

Interim coach Dominique Ducharme’s lineup changes paid off as Romanov stepped up in just his third career playoff game. Anderson was shifted to a new line, playing alongside Nick Suzuki and rookie Cole Caufield in Ducharme’s bid to add more speed.

It wasn’t lost on Canadiens assistant captain Brendan Gallagher how Anderson provided his teammates with a rallying cry a day earlier when he said: “We’re not finished yet.”

“We understood the hole that we were in, but we just kind of talked about it: Find a way to win one game here,” Gallagher said. “[Anderson] stepped up and scored a couple of big goals for us. It’s going to be the same thing next game.”

Montreal became the first team to score in OT to avoid a sweep in the Stanley Cup Final since the Bruins did it in 1946 against the Canadiens, according to STATS.

Pat Maroon and Barclay Goodrow scored for the Lightning, who are attempting to become the NHL’s second team to win consecutive championships in the salarycap era, which began in 2005. The Penguins accomplished the feat with titles in 2016 and 2017.

Anderson got his second career playoff overtime goal after he forced a turnover at the blue line and outraced Jan Rutta and Yanni Gourde to a loose puck along the left boards. He then directed the puck toward the net, where Caufield got a piece of it but pushed it wide.

Anderson jumped back in front and knocked the puck past Andrei Vasilevskiy inside the left post.

Montreal was outscored 14-5 in the first three games, including a sloppy 6-3 loss in Game 3 on Friday.

They got off to a better start Monday, thanks to Carey Price stopping 12 shots in the opening period and Anderson converting Suzuki’s centering pass at 15:39 for Montreal’s first lead of the series.

Though Tampa Bay rallied twice to tie, the Canadiens never relinquished the lead.

➤ The Canadiens paid tribute to Blue Jackets goalie Matiss Kivlenieks, who died in a tragic accident on the Fourth of July in Novi, Mich. —