TAMPA, Fla. - Carey Price stopped 22 shots, Max Pacioretty had a short-handed goal and two assists, and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Tampa Bay Lighting 6-2 on Thursday night to stay alive in their second-round playoff series.
Pacioretty and Andrei Markov scored in the first as the Canadiens avoided a sweep with their first victory in nine games this season against the Lightning. Game 5 is Saturday night in Montreal, where Tampa Bay won the first two games of the series.
Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop allowed three goals on 14 shots before he was pulled a little over five minutes into the second period. Bishop had 30 saves in Tampa Bay's dramatic 2-1 victory on Wednesday night.
Price, a leading contender for NHL MVP, limited the high-scoring Lightning to power-play goals by Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat. By the time Kucherov scored at 12:26 of the second, the Canadiens had built a 5-0 lead.