Game 1 is here, and the Tampa Bay Lightning begin their First Round series against the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday evening at Benchmark International Arena. Puck drop is set for Sunday, April 19, at 5:45 p.m. ET in Tampa.
The matchup returns two Atlantic Division teams with a recent regular-season split and a long playoff history. Tampa Bay went 2-2-0 against Montreal this season, beating the Canadiens 6-1 on Dec. 9 and 5-4 in a shootout on Dec. 28 before losing 4-1 in March and 2-1 in April. The Lightning have also controlled this series in the postseason, holding a 12-7 all-time playoff edge over Montreal and a 7-3 record on home ice against the Canadiens.
Nikita Kucherov led Tampa Bay offensively against Montreal in the 2025-26 regular season with 3-2—5 in four games, and he remains the franchise’s career playoff scoring leader against the Canadiens with 10-3—13 in 13 games. Victor Hedman is next among active Lightning players with 3-5—8 in 15 games against Montreal. In goal, Andrei Vasilevskiy brings a 4-1-0 record and a.934 save percentage across five career playoff starts against the Canadiens, all of them coming in the 2021 Stanley Cup Final.
The build-up also points to Tampa Bay’s expected look for the opener. Friday’s practice listed projected forward lines of Gage Goncalves, Brayden Point and Kucherov; Brandon Hagel, Anthony Cirelli and Jake Guentzel; Zemgus Girgensons, Yanni Gourde and Nick Paul; and Corey Perry, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Scott Sabourin. The projected defense pairs were JJ Moser with Darren Raddysh, Ryan McDonagh with Erik Cernak, and Charle-Edouard D'Astous with Emil Lilleberg, while Vasilevskiy and Jonas Johansson were the goaltenders listed.
Coverage for the opener will be on The Spot - Tampa Bay 66, subject to local listings, with streaming on TampaBayLightning.com/StreamNow and radio coverage on 102.5 MHz-FM and Lightning Radio 24/7. Tampa Bay has gone 24-7-3 in regular-season games against Montreal over the past 10 seasons, and with the playoffs beginning at home, the Lightning now get the kind of setting that has usually favored them against the Canadiens.
