Brendan Gallagher sparks Canadiens past Lightning in Game 5 — Nhl News
Brendan Gallagher gave Montreal the opening goal and the Canadiens held on for a 3-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 5 on April 30, 2026, moving one win away from advancing in the first-round series. nhl news: Montreal now returns home with a chance to finish the job on Friday.
Gallagher returns to score
Gallagher was back in the lineup after sitting as a healthy scratch in each of the first four games, and he made the start count by opening the scoring in the first period. Josh Anderson said, "Just his presence, his energy, you know what he’s going to bring on the ice every time he puts on that sweater" and added, "It was exciting to see him get a goal on the first shift and give our team a boost."
He is one of six Canadiens players who were part of the 2021 Stanley Cup Final, the same series Montreal lost to Tampa Bay in five games. That memory sat in the background of a game Montreal needed after blowing a 2-0 lead and dropping Game 4 by a 3-2 score to even the series.
Dobes steadies Montreal
Jakub Dobes made 38 saves to protect the lead, and the rookie goaltender said, "I feel like the last game, we maybe panicked a little bit, and we were kind of surprised with what was happening." This time, he said, "Today, we were just a better team," and added, "I feel like every playoff game, as a team, we get better."
Dobes also pointed to the group around him, saying, "I feel like today everyone did a good job so it doesn’t happen, what happened last game." Kirby Dach called the performance "That’s Brendan Gallagher Hockey 101 right there" and said, "He played a heck of a game for us."
Lightning face elimination
Tampa Bay entered the series with 1,437 combined games of playoff experience on its roster, while Montreal brought 435 combined games, a gap that had made the matchup look tilted on paper. The Lightning are in their ninth consecutive Stanley Cup Playoffs and had won the Stanley Cup in 2020 and 2021, but the Canadiens have now pushed them to the edge of elimination anyway.
Martin St. Louis is coaching in his 10th career playoff game, and Montreal’s path now runs through Game 6 on home ice Friday. The Canadiens do not need another comeback to move forward; one more win ends the series, while Tampa Bay has to find a response after dropping Game 5 by one goal.
