Playoff scoring leader Nikita Kucherov had two goals and an assist and Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 18 saves to outplay Carey Price and lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 5-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.
Kucherov put the defending champs up 3-1 two minutes into the third period. He scored again at 11:25 of the third, then assisted on Steven Stamkos’ power-play goal that made it 5-1 with just over a minute to go.
Playoff scoring leader Nikita Kucherov had two goals, and Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 18 saves.
Kucherov also assisted on a power-play goal by Steven Stamkos with a minute left in the game.
Stamkos, the Lightning's captain, said a strong finish helped the Lightning pull away.
"We had a one-goal lead going into the third, just like we did in Game Seven the other night," Stamkos said. "Let's attack, let's go, let's keep the pressure on, and I thought we did a really good job with that. We got rewarded with some goals and that helps, but just a great third period to finish out a game.
The Canadiens had not given up a power-play goal in an NHL playoff-record 13 consecutive games.
The teams will play Game 2 in Tampa on Wednesday night before traveling to Montreal for Games 3 and 4.
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