MONTREAL (AP) 鈥� Matt Tomkins waited a long time to earn his first NHL win. But he might not change a thing about the way it happened.
The 29-year-old Tomkins was drafted in the seventh round in 2012 but only made his first start last month in Ottawa, making stops in the ECHL, American Hockey League and the Swedish Hockey League along the way.
On Tuesday night, he made 22 saves to backstop the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 5-3 win over the Montreal Canadiens for his first victory in an NHL net.
鈥淓verything鈥檚 been worth it to get to this point, a lot of questions along the way of 鈥榓m I doing the right thing?鈥� and 鈥榠s this for me?鈥� and there鈥檚 been a lot of stops in getting here,鈥� said Tomkins. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really special.鈥�
After losing in Tomkins鈥� first two starts, the Lightning did their best to secure a win in his third.
A red-hot Nikita Kucherov had a goal and an assist, Nicholas Paul scored twice, and Alex Barre-Boulet and Michael Eyssimont also had goals for Tampa Bay, which jumped out to a 4-0 lead a night after in a 6-5 overtime loss in Toronto on Monday.
Captain Nick Suzuki, Christian Dvorak and Michael Pezzetta scored for Montreal. Jake Allen allowed four goals on nine shots before getting the hook 13 minutes, 50 seconds into the game.
Samuel Montembeault had 22 saves for Montreal, but it was Tomkins鈥� night.
鈥淲hat a thrill,鈥� said Lightning coach Jon Cooper. 鈥淚f you were going to draw it up, I鈥檓 not sure you can draw it up any better than getting to play in the Bell Centre against the Montreal Canadiens.鈥�
The Canadiens lost their fourth game in a row, and the third in regulation.
Before some fans could take their seats, Kucherov opened the scoring with an effortless wrist shot over Allen鈥檚 right shoulder 22 seconds into the game for his 10th goal of the season.
鈥淵ou get scored on in the first shift, we鈥檙e a bit of a fragile team right now,鈥� said Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis. 鈥淲e鈥檝e lost a bit of confidence, so that鈥檚 kind of what happened in the first period.鈥�
Kucherov, a Hart Trophy winner as league MVP in 2019, entered the game one point back of the league lead and is up to 11 points in his past three games.
Paul snuck in behind Canadiens defenseman Mike Matheson and tapped home a juicy rebound off a Steven Stamkos shot to make it 2-0 at 7:15 of the first.
Barre-Boulet scored 1:54 later after Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky took a holding penalty, finishing off a tic-tac-toe sequence on the power play in front of family and friends in the Bell Centre crowd.
Eyssimont added to Tampa鈥檚 advantage with a short-side shot that trickled through to make it 4-0 with 6:10 left in the first 鈥� and that was it for Allen.
The Canadiens settled things down in the second with Montembeault manning the crease.
鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 an easy first period for anyone and it wasn鈥檛 necessarily Jake鈥檚 fault,鈥� said St. Louis. 鈥淏ut Sam stepped in the net, and look, he did the job.鈥�
UP NEXT
Lightning: Host Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night.
Canadiens: Visit Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night.
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