With an impressive win over the Lightning, Samuel Montembeault reaffirmed his position as the No. 1 goalie for the Canadiens.

Jake Evans scores with 2:15 remaining as the Canadiens close the gap between the teams in the Atlantic Division.

Montreal fights back from a 2-0 deficit Tuesday night at the Bell Centre and now occupies the second wild-card spot in the Eastern standings.

Jake Evans scored the winning goal with 2:15 remaining to rally the Montreal Canadiens past the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 on Tuesday night. Evans finished a feed from Joel Armia to break the tie with his 11th goal.

Juraj Slafkovsky walked into the Montreal Canadiens dressing room and quickly grabbed his phone. The Canadiens winger wasn't eager to answer a text message or check social media — he needed to know where Montreal ranked in a jam-packed Eastern Conference after beating the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 on Tuesday night.

The Quebec native was defeated by Utah 3-2 in overtime Nov. 26. Utah ranks 25th in the NHL with 2.79 goals per game.

There was a brief goaltending controversy this week in Montreal, but sanity has prevailed after Monty’s brilliant performance against the Bolts.

Jake Evans scored the go-ahead goal with 2:15 left in regulation, rookie Lane Hutson matched an NHL record and the Montreal Canadiens stayed hot with a 3-2 win over the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night.

The Canadiens’ Lane Hutson extended his assist and point streaks (13 points; one goal, 12 assists) to nine games, tying the NHL record for the longest assist streak by a rookie defenseman, set by Shayne Gostisbehere of the Philadelphia Flyers in 2015-16.

Patrik Laine has pair of assists as Montreal Canadiens win for 13th time in 17 games with 3-2 victory over Tampa Bay Lightning

And then there was the play of goalie Sam Montembeault. Montembeault denied numerous Grade-A scoring chances to keep the Lightning stuck at two goals. In the third period alone, he stopped 14 shots. His play neutralized the Lightning’s territorial edge.

Mitch Marner and Jake McCabe had two assists each ... Laval of the AHL following the NHL’s Christmas break to back up Sam Montembeault. Jason Robertson scored for the Stars, who have lost ...