MONTREAL 鈥� Juraj Slafkovsky walked into the Montreal Canadiens dressing room and quickly grabbed his phone.
The Canadiens winger wasn't eager to answer a text message or check social media 鈥� he needed to know where Montreal ranked in a jam-packed Eastern Conference after beating the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 on Tuesday night.
"Oh, I went to look right now, after the game,鈥� he said from an upbeat dressing room at Bell Centre. 鈥淚 was the first one on the phone looking at where we're at. We're there right now.鈥�
Jake Evans scored the game-winning goal with 2:15 remaining in regulation, finishing a feed from Joel Armia to complete Montreal鈥檚 comeback from a 2-0 deficit.
The red-hot Canadiens (24-19-4) climbed into a wild-card spot with their 13th win in 17 games. With 52 points, Montreal also moved within one point of the Lightning for third place in the Atlantic Division.
Slafkovsky is keeping a much closer eye on the standings compared to a year ago or earlier this season, when the Canadiens dwelled near the NHL鈥檚 basement.
鈥淲hen you lose, you're trying to not look at it,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut when you win, you are obviously trying to watch who is where, who has how many points, how the other teams played today.鈥�
Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis says the standings are much nicer to look at these days, but pointed out there鈥檚 still a lot of season left.
鈥淵ou have to be careful, the standings can look nice for a day, but you have to keep at it,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e see how tight it is, and I think it鈥檚 going to be like that until the end, so you can鈥檛 have too many bad weeks.
鈥淏ut I think we鈥檙e sticking with the process, and I think that helps keep us sane and you keep chasing points."
The Ottawa Senators, who hold the first wild-card spot, and the Boston Bruins also had 52 points after Tuesday night鈥檚 action.
Four to five more teams on the outside are also reasonably in the mix to challenge for a playoff spot during the second half of the season.
"It's bunched up,鈥� Lightning forward Jake Guentzel said. 鈥淓very game matters coming down the stretch here."
That made Tuesday鈥檚 loss 鈥� Tampa鈥檚 seventh road defeat in eight away games since the calendar flipped to 2025 鈥� even more painful.
"I thought we played a pretty good game,鈥� Guentzel said. 鈥淪tings not to get points 鈥� it's a tough way to lose.鈥�
A lot of credit goes to netminder Sam Montembeault.
The Lightning outshot the Canadiens 35-22 overall and 11-5 in the first period as Montreal came out flat-footed.
Tampa Bay built a 2-0 lead early in the second period before Montreal replied with two quick goals from Slafkovsky and Alex Newhook to equalize in an evenly-matched period.
The Lightning, however, poured it on with 15 shots in the third. Michael Eyssimont had two of those on the doorstep with three minutes left, but Montembeault shut the door to prevent Tampa from taking the lead.
鈥淗e kept us in the game, he gave us a chance,鈥� St. Louis said. 鈥淲hen you don鈥檛 have your A game, your goalie can help you a lot, and that鈥檚 what he did.鈥�
Montembeault was coming off allowing six goals on 33 shots in Saturday鈥檚 7-3 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs and entered the game with added pressure.
Lightning head coach Jon Cooper 鈥� also Canada鈥檚 coach for the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off 鈥� was in the building. And while Montembeault is on the roster, he鈥檚 not guaranteed to earn a start during the best-on-best tournament in February.
Meanwhile, Montreal backup Jakub Dobes is off to a hot start in his NHL career with a 5-0 record and a .941 save percentage since the Canadiens called him up from the American Hockey League after Christmas.
鈥淚 feel Sam is pretty easygoing that way. I think he鈥檚 worried about what he can do, he can鈥檛 worry about the competition next to him,鈥� St. Louis said. 鈥淚 think he鈥檚 happy that Dobes is doing well, but I think Sam always focuses on himself a lot.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a good problem to have, you always want that internal competition.鈥�
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 21, 2025.
Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press
