Tampa Bay Lightning vs Montreal Canadiens Prediction, Preview and Odds - 04/24/2026

Game Time: 7:00 pm ET, Friday, April 24, 2026

Venue:  Bell Centre, Montréal, QC

Where to Watch:  TNT, HBO Max, truTV

DraftKings:  Moneyline:  Lightning -122, Canadiens +102; Over/Under:  5.5 goals

Bet365:  Moneyline:  Lightning -120, Canadiens +100; Over/Under:  6 goals

BetMGM:  Moneyline:  Lightning -120, Canadiens +100; Over/Under:  6 goals

Tampa Bay Lightning:  50-26-6 (2nd place, Atlantic Division)

Montreal Canadiens:  48-24-10 (3rd place, Atlantic Division)

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Tampa Bay Lightning:  5-4-1 last 10

Montreal Canadiens:  6-3-1 last 10

The Lightning are entering the playoffs with 106 points, a 50-26-6 record overall, and they were 24-12-5 in their road games this season where they will be in this game. They are entering this game off a win against the Montreal Canadiens in their last game, winning that one at home 3-2 in overtime. Brandon Hagel, Janis Moser, and Nikita Kucherov each scored 1 goal for them in that one. Anthony Cirelli led the team in assists with 2 while Nikita Kucherov led the team in shots on net in that game with 5. Andrei Vasilevskiy was the starting goalie in that game and he allowed 2 goals on 27 shots with 25 saves and a .926 sv percentage. Their offense has scored 290 goals this season averaging 3.5 goals per game and their defense has allowed their opponents to score 231 goals against them allowing 2.8 goals per game.

The Canadiens are entering the playoffs with 106 points, a 48-24-10 record overall, and they were 24-15-2 in their home games this season where they will be in this game. They are entering this game off a loss against the Tampa Bay Lightning in their last game, losing that one on the road 3-2 in OT. Josh Anderson and Lane Hutson each scored 1 goal for them in that one. Cole Caufield, Jake Evans, Nick Suzuki, and Phillip Danault each led the team in assists with 1 while Lane Hutson led the team in shots on net in that game with 6. Jakub Dobeš was the starting goalie in that game and he allowed 3 goals on 34 shots with 31 saves and a .912 save percentage. Their offense has scored 283 goals this season averaging 3.5 goals per game and their defense has allowed their opponents to score 256 goals against them allowing 3.1 goals per game.

The current betting odds have the Canadiens listed as a slight underdog in this game according to Draftkings Sportsbook. The Canadiens have looked good in their games this season with their 48-24-10 record overall which had them in the top half of their division in the East. They have looked good on home ice too with their 24-15-2 home record this season. Meanwhile, the Lightning have looked good in their games this season with their 50-26-6 record overall which had them right near the top of their division in the East. They have been a good road team too with their 24-12-5 road record this year. This is game 3 of a 7-game series between the 2nd seeded Lightning and the 3rd seeded Canadiens in the Atlantic for the 1st round of the NHL playoffs. This series is all evened up 1-1 after the Lightning won game 2 by a score of 3-2. The Canadiens had a lead in that game before letting it go late and losing in OT in the end, but they have shown in both games that they can go toe-to-toe with the Lightning in this series. Both games in this series went to OT and both have been really sound defensively with neither team wanting to make the first mistake. The Canadiens had their chances in game 2 to take a 2-0 series lead and couldn't do it, but they did complete their mission of stealing a road game and flipping the home advantage in the series. Now the Canadiens are coming back home where they have looked really good this season and they are going to bring their best effort to keep the home advantage on their side. The Canadiens have also had a lot of success against the Lightning over the last month of the season, so look for them to show up on their home ice and take a series lead again. The best way to place a bet here is on the Canadiens to win this game. 

Lightning Canadiens Prediction:  Our NHL Pick for Friday, April 24, 2026 (7:00 pm ET start time) is Canadiens 2 Lightning 1.

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Tampa Bay Lightning: 145-113 (-10.5 units) on the moneyline in all games. 3-9 (-6.9 units) on the moneyline in the first round of the playoffs. 138-107 (-8.3 units) on the moneyline against mistake free teams - opponents average 4 power plays/game or less. 8-4 OVER in the first round of the playoffs.

Montreal Canadiens: 71-76 (+20 units) on the moneyline as an underdog of +100 to +200. 60-65 (+7.7 units) on the moneyline after playing a road game. 26-31 (+13.3 units) on the moneyline when playing against a good team (Win Pct. 60% to 75%). 32-19 OVER as a home underdog of +100 to +150.

Tampa Bay Lightning:  C. D'Astous (D) Day To Day - Undisclosed. P. Holmberg (RW) Out - Upper-Body. V. Hedman (D) Out - Personal. 

Montreal Canadiens:  N. Dobson (D) Out - Thumb. P. Laine (RW) Out - Abdomen.

“Whatever it takes to win. Sometimes it’s going to take fighting, and sometimes it’s going to take scoring goals. I was lucky enough to squeak one by and then (Kucherov) made a good play. Obviously a good feeling just that we won tonight.’’ - Brandon Hagel after their win against the Canadiens in the 2nd game of this series on Tuesday. 

“It would have been nice to get two (wins). I felt like, after two periods, I felt we were so close of getting two (wins), especially the way we were playing. It just kind of got away from us a little bit. We didn’t play with the puck a lot. And I feel we carried that into overtime, too. When you keep giving them the puck, you’re just rolling the dice a little bit.’’ - Martin St Louis after his team’s loss against the Lightning in game 2 of this series on Tuesday.

LW Gage Goncalves

C Brayden Point

RW Nikita Kucherov

LD Janis Jérôme Moser

RD Darren Raddysh

G Andrei Vasilevskiy

LW Cole Caufield

C Nick Suzuki

RW Juraj Slafkovský

LD Mike Matheson

RD Alexandre Carrier

G Jakub Dobes

Points: Nikita Kucherov (130)

Goals: Nikita Kucherov (44)

Assists: Nikita Kucherov (86)

GAA: Andrei Vasilevskiy (2.31)

Points: Nick Suzuki (101)

Goals: Cole Caufield (51)

Assists: Nick Suzuki (72)

GAA: Jacob Fowler (2.43)

Coaches:

Tampa Bay Lightning: Jon Cooper (14th season)

Montreal Canadiens: Martin St. Louis (5th season)