Opening night in Montreal is not an easy assignment for any team, but for the Tampa Bay Lightning, it was only a slight hurdle on their way to their second win of the season; they beat the Canadiens 4-3 in overtime, picking up their second consecutive win of the season.

In a game played at an incredible pace, the Canadiens jumped out to a 1-0 lead when defenseman Mike Vernace put a perfect pass right on the stick of Maxim Lapierre, who had no problem beating Lightning goalie Mike Smith stick side at 5:22 of the first period. The Canadiens didn't stop there, extending their lead to 2-0 after a nice save by Smith on Mike Cammalleri; Cammalleri picked up his own rebound, and as Smith came out to cut down the angle, Cammalleri slid the puck over to Tomas Plekanec, who scored into an empty net.

The Lightning got off to a much better start in the second period, with Brett Clark opening up the scoring for the Bolts on the powerplay. Clark threw the puck at the net from the point, and it deflected off a Montreal defenseman and got by Montreal goalie Carey Price, who was screened on the play. The Lightning had a great chance to tie the game late in the second when Lapierre took a 5-minute major for boarding on a dangerous hit that sent Steve Downie head first into the boards. The Lightning ended up with a minor penalty of their own, given to Nate Thompson, as a result of the dust up that took place after the hit, leaving them with 3 minutes of uninterrupted powerplay time that the Canadiens were able to kill off.

In the third, with the Lightning controlling the play, Marty St. Louis went to the corner to keep the play alive; the puck went around the boards to Steven Stamkos, who fired off a shot that was blocked. The rebound went right to St. Louis, who made no mistake, putting it in the net to tie the game at 2 at the 10:54 mark. However, the Canadiens answered back 31 seconds later when Andrei Kostitsyn beat Smith on the backhand to give Montreal back the lead, 3-2.

In past years, the game would have been over at that point, but not tonight. P.K. Subban was sent off at 17:48 for slashing Victor Hedman. With Smith on the bench for the extra attacker, a scrum ensued at the front of the Montreal net and Vincent Lecavalier slipped a pass to Stamkos, who was able to beat a down-and-out Price to tie the game. Once the Montreal faithful were done voicing their displeasure, and the cleanup crew was done clearing the ice of said displeasure, the game headed to overtime.

The overtime period was a back and forth affair that saw both teams get good opportunities to end the game. Once again, a scrum broke out in front of Price's net. Ryan Malone who was able to put the puck in over the sprawled-out Montreal goalie to send the Lightning to victory and keep them undefeated with a 2-0 record.

For the Lightning, this was a huge game and a huge win, with so many things for this team to build on. There was no quit tonight, in an environment that is considered one of the hardest for any visiting team. Head coach Guy Boucher is earning the confidence of his players, and it is showing in their play. There is still plenty of work to be done, but the progress can be seen, and the early results are back-to-back wins.

Tonight, score one for heart and hustle.

3 stars of the game

(Plenty of worthy candidates tonight.)

3.Brett Clark: Turning into a pleasant surprise for the Lightning. Fitting into the Lightning defense nicely. 21 minutes of ice time, first goal of the game.

2.Steven Stamkos: Another two-point game, late game-tying goal. Even when teams try to shut him down he has a multi-point game.

1.Ryan Malone: Two-point night for Malone, including the game-winner in overtime.

This article appears in Oct 14-20, 2010.