Canadiens vs. Lightning Game 2: Live Stanley Cup Final score, updates, results, highlights

The Stanley Cup Finals began on Monday and the Tampa Bay Lightning made a statement right out of the gate. The defending champs came away with a convincing 5-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens in the opening contest and looked absolutely dominant.

One of the biggest reasons for Tampa Bay’s dominance was the play of star forward Nikita Kucherov. Kucherov came into the series somewhat banged up as he was dealing with an upper body injury. The winger ended up scoring a pair goals and adding an assist while wreaking havoc all over the ice. It’s pretty impressive considering that Kucherov missed the entire regular season due to hip surgery. A the Lightning also got goals from Steven Stamkos, Eric Cernak, and Yanni Gourde in the emphatic win.

On the other hand, the Canadiens were a team that had relied on their defense in their previous series against the Vegas Golden Knights. However, the defense left a lot to be desired as they struggled to slow down the Lightning offensive attack. It also didn’t help that Montreal struggled to solve Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, who stopped 18 of the 19 shots he faced in Game 1. In addition, the Canadiens came away empty-handed on both of their power-play opportunities.

CBS Sports will be with you every step of the way as the Canadiens and Lightning face off in Game 2 which is set for 8 p.m. ET on NBCSN.