Brendan Gallagher Strikes First in Game 5 for Canadien De Montreal

Brendan Gallagher put canadien de montreal on the board first in Game 5, scoring at 3:00 of the first period against Tampa Bay. The series began tied 2-2, and the team that wins two of the next three games will move on while the loser is out.

Gallagher Opens the Scoring

Alex Newhook drove toward Andrei Vasilevskiy before Gallagher finished the play for a 1-0 Montreal lead. It was the kind of early strike that put the Canadiens in front before the first period had even settled.

Montreal kept pressing after that opening goal. At 4:16, the Canadiens were still moving well, with Jake Evans remaining alongside Juraj Slafkovsky and Ivan Demidov, and Josh Anderson later appearing with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield.

Dobes and Vasilevskiy Trade Pressure

Jakub Dobes had work to do at the other end. He turned aside an Erik Cernak chance at 6:01, while Philippe Danault was later seen with Slafkovsky and Demidov at 6:35 as Montreal kept rotating its looks.

Ryan McDonagh then put Tampa Bay in trouble at 7:30, drawing a four-minute penalty for double-checking Suzuki in the face. Montreal’s power play did not cash in cleanly; by 11:30, it had been described as very poor.

Penalty Trouble for Montreal

The period stayed messy after that. Oliver Bjorkstrand hit the crossbar at 13:06, and Jake Evans sent the puck into the stands on the same sequence, leaving Montreal shorthanded.

Suzuki tried to beat Vasilevskiy at 14:00 but could not finish, and Corey Perry fired a shot toward Dobes at 16:07 before exchanging words with opponents. The first period had already delivered a 1-0 Montreal lead, a four-minute minor against Tampa Bay, and another round of pressure for both goaltenders in a game with the season line so sharply drawn.