Kirby Dach silences the noise with a clutch goal in Game 3
Kirby Dach scored the tying goal Thursday night at the Bell Centre, and the roof nearly came off the building.
The chants started immediately. "Kirby. Kirby. Kirby." A Centre Bell crowd that knows its hockey gave a standing ovation to a player who, just days ago, was being buried under an avalanche of hate online.
After Game 2, Dach made an error that led to the overtime winner for the Tampa Bay Lightning. What followed was genuinely ugly. The abuse on social media was severe enough that he deactivated his accounts entirely.
Martin St-Louis never wavered. He kept Dach in the lineup for Game 3, and that decision just paid off in the most dramatic way possible.
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Think about what that takes. You've been a lightning rod for fan frustration all series, going into Game 3 having gone scoreless in both playoff outings with a -1 rating in the series. The crowd that once cheered for you is now the loudest voice in your anxiety. And you still find a way.
That's not resilience as a talking point. That's a 25-year-old kid grinding through something most people would fold under.
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St-Louis keeps the faith, and Dach delivers with the series tied 1-1
The context matters here. Dach had registered just 1 point in his last 10 regular season games and went minus-3 over that stretch. He was not playing his best hockey coming into this series.
St-Louis is 106 points into his bench career with the Canadiens this season, built on a philosophy of trusting his players through difficult moments. This was that philosophy made visible in real time.
The Canadiens head into the third period with the game knotted at 2-2. Alexandre Texier opened the scoring in the first. Tampa tied it on a Brayden Point power play goal. Brandon Hagel, who has 3 goals and 4 points in just 2 playoff games, put the Lightning ahead early in the second.
Then Dach answered. Assisted by Arber Xhekaj. Tied at two.
Nikita Kucherov has 3 points in this series and Hagel is playing like a man on a mission. Tampa is dangerous. The Lightning finished the regular season at 50-26-6 and their road record of 24-12-5 tells you they know how to win away from home.
Montreal has the crowd, the momentum of a tying goal, and now something even harder to quantify. A locker room that just watched one of their own get knocked down and get back up.
Whether that's enough to take Game 3 is still very much an open question.
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LIVE
APRIL 24, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Lawson Crouse | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Kirby Dach | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Alexandre Texier | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Mackenzie Weegar | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Zachary Bolduc | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Clayton Keller | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Jack Eichel | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Mikael Granlund | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Dylan Guenther | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Brandon Hagel | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Lane Hutson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Kasperi Kapanen | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Mason McTavish | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Ryan Nugent-Hopkins | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Vasily Podkolzin | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Brayden Point | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Ivan Barbashev | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Evan Bouchard | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Leo Carlsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Logan Cooley | - | 1 | 1 | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||
| 2025-2026 NHL STANDINGS | ||||||
| GP | W | L | OL | PTS | ||
| Sabres | 82 | 50 | 23 | 9 | 109 | |
| Lightning | 82 | 50 | 26 | 6 | 106 | |
| Canadiens | 82 | 48 | 24 | 10 | 106 | |
| Bruins | 82 | 45 | 27 | 10 | 100 | |
| Senators | 82 | 44 | 27 | 11 | 99 | |
| Red Wings | 82 | 41 | 31 | 10 | 92 | |
| Panthers | 82 | 40 | 38 | 4 | 84 | |
| Maple Leafs | 82 | 32 | 36 | 14 | 78 | |
| GP | W | L | OL | PTS | ||
| Hurricanes | 82 | 53 | 22 | 7 | 113 | |
| Penguins | 82 | 41 | 25 | 16 | 98 | |
| Flyers | 82 | 43 | 27 | 12 | 98 | |
| Capitals | 82 | 43 | 30 | 9 | 95 | |
| Blue Jackets | 82 | 40 | 30 | 12 | 92 | |
| Islanders | 82 | 43 | 34 | 5 | 91 | |
| Devils | 82 | 42 | 37 | 3 | 87 | |
| Rangers | 82 | 34 | 39 | 9 | 77 | |
| GP | W | L | OL | PTS | ||
| Avalanche | 82 | 55 | 16 | 11 | 121 | |
| Stars | 82 | 50 | 20 | 12 | 112 | |
| Wild | 82 | 46 | 24 | 12 | 104 | |
| Mammoth | 82 | 43 | 33 | 6 | 92 | |
| Blues | 82 | 37 | 33 | 12 | 86 | |
| Predators | 82 | 38 | 34 | 10 | 86 | |
| Jets | 82 | 35 | 35 | 12 | 82 | |
| Blackhawks | 82 | 29 | 39 | 14 | 72 | |
| GP | W | L | OL | PTS | ||
| Golden Knights | 82 | 39 | 26 | 17 | 95 | |
| Oilers | 82 | 41 | 30 | 11 | 93 | |
| Ducks | 82 | 43 | 33 | 6 | 92 | |
| Kings | 82 | 35 | 27 | 20 | 90 | |
| Sharks | 82 | 39 | 35 | 8 | 86 | |
| Kraken | 82 | 34 | 37 | 11 | 79 | |
| Flames | 82 | 34 | 39 | 9 | 77 | |
| Canucks | 82 | 25 | 49 | 8 | 58 | |
COMPLETE STANDINGS | ||||||