Jan Rutta and Victor Hedman scored two early goals, but Phillip Danault responded midway through the period cutting the Tampa Bay Lightning lead to 2-1 over the Montreal Canadiens after the first period of Game 3.  

Rutta opened the scoring for the Lightning two minutes into the game, firing the puck past a screened Carey Price after Canadiens’ forward Josh Anderson gave the puck away in his own zone. 

Hedman gave the Lightning a 2-0 lead 1:35 later on a power play, rocketing a slap shot under the arm of Price for the two-goal lead.

Danault cut the lead in half with 8:44 remaining in the first, firing the puck past Andrei Vasilevskiy, off the post and into the net.

The Canadiens seemed to settle down after head coach Dominique Ducharme took a timeout immediately following the second goal and finished the period with 17 shots against 12 for the Lightning.

Cole Caufield nearly put the Canadiens on the board earlier in the period but his wrist shot ricocheted off the outside of the post. 

The Lightning lead the series 2-0.