Juraj Slafkovsky scores historic hat-trick as Montreal shock Tampa Bay
Juraj Slafkovsky scored a historic overtime hat-trick as the Montreal Canadiens stunned the heavily favoured Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 in game one of their first-round play-off series.
The 22-year-old fired a slap shot past goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy 82 seconds into the extra period to secure the victory at Benchmark International Arena.
Remarkably, all three of his goals came on the power-play.
In doing so, the Slovakian forward became the youngest player in NHL history to record a hat-trick in a post-season opener, surpassing Wayne Gretzky’s 1983 benchmark.
He is also the first player to ever score three power-play goals in a play-off game where one served as the overtime winner.
Canadiens exploit Lightning’s home struggles
Tampa Bay entered the match as firm favourites to progress, having reached three consecutive Stanley Cup finals between 2020 and 2022.
However, the Florida franchise have now lost eight of their past nine home play-off fixtures.
Brandon Hagel scored twice for the hosts, while Darren Raddysh was also on target in a tightly contested affair.
At the other end of the ice, rookie goaltender Jakub Dobes made 20 saves to keep the Canadiens firmly in the contest.
Josh Anderson also found the net for the visitors, who are seeking their first play-off series victory since losing the 2021 final to the Lightning.
‘We still have to focus’
Montreal head coach Martin St. Louis, a Lightning icon during his playing days, crucially called a timeout just before the decisive overtime goal.
Captain Nick Suzuki explained the pause was merely to give the skaters a brief rest rather than to alter their tactical approach.
Despite his record-breaking performance, the 2022 number one overall draft pick remained grounded about his achievement.
“I kind of saw some open space there, I decided to shoot it, and thankfully, it went in,” Slafkovsky said.
“We’re all happy. But, yeah, we still have to focus.”
“We have a game in two days.”
The second game of the best-of-seven series takes place in Tampa on Tuesday.
