Trailing by a goal late in the game is apparently right where the Tampa Bay Lightning want to be when they play the Montreal Canadiens this season.

For the second time in two meetings against the Habs, the Lightning rallied in the closing moments to win. In the first matchup December 7 at Montreal, the Lightning scored the tying and go-ahead goals 1:31 apart over the final 2:09 of the contest in a come-from-behind 3-2 victory.

Tuesday, the Bolts' made it a little more nerve-racking but still found a way to prevail. Trailing 4-3, Corey Perry leveled the score against his former team with 20 seconds to go to force overtime. And 36 seconds into the extra session, Victor Hedman slid a cross-slot pass for Ondrej Palat to bury in a 5-4 victory for the Lightning that keeps them atop the NHL standings on points.

Tampa Bay improved to 21-6-4 (46 pts) on the season. The Lightning have won seven in a row at home - the second-longest active home win streak in the NHL behind Colorado's eight-consecutive home wins - and four straight overall.

The Bolts close out 2021 with a back-to-back set starting Thursday, December 30 at the cross-state rival Florida Panthers.

The Lightning enter that highly-anticipated matchup with plenty of momentum following Tuesday's dramatic finish.

Here's how they were able to get it done.

Video: MTL@TBL: Palat nets winner in the 1st minute of OT

1. THE FIND-A-WAYS FOUND A WAY It's almost become the game within a game at this point for the Tampa Bay Lightning: How will they find a way this time to pull out another victory?

In the second meeting of the season against Montreal, they needed some late magic to get the W after being outplayed for much of the third period, the Bolts surrendering a 3-2 lead entering the final frame by allowing back-to-back goals, David Savard putting the Canadiens back in the lead with 6:51 to go after scoring against the team he won a Stanley Cup with last season.

Running short on time, the Lightning pulled goalie Maxime Lagace with 2:27 left for the extra attacker. The Bolts were able to keep the puck in the offensive zone but either hit a post or missed the target on a good chance, just not able to connect on that final play as the clock inched closer toward zero.

The Lightning had one final push in them, however, and weren't going to be denied.

Nick Suzuki broke his stick and went to the bench to get a new one, giving the Bolts more of a numbers advantage than they already had at 6-on-5. Brayden Point got the puck in the slot from Steven Stamkos and had a clear look at a backhander to tie. The shot went wide, but Point followed his miss and went behind the net to retrieve the rebound.

With bodies scrambling, Point sent a puck to the front of the net that went off the skate of Alex Killorn right to Corey Perry on the edge of the crease, and Perry jammed the puck past a sprawling Sam Montembeault to tie with 20 seconds remaining in regulation.

"It's a bit of luck," Point admitted. "It hits Killer's feet and goes right to him. That's lucky. I think at that point of the game, I made a move to my backhand and I know the goalie's down and I just try to throw it out front into some traffic. It was lucky it hit our skate, went right to our guy and Pairs made a good play to put it in. But, yeah, it was lucky for sure."

Lucky or not, the Lightning were determined to find a way to overcome an inexperienced but plucky group of Canadiens that gave the Bolts all they could handle.

In overtime, the Bolts struck quickly to improve to 9-1-0 in December. Jake Evans fell down as he brought the puck out from behind his own net and feeling pressure from Steven Stamkos. The puck squirted to Victor Hedman , who skated into the left circle on a 2-on-1 with Ondrej Palat . Hedman waited until Palat could get into a good position, threaded a pass into the right circle for him and watched as Palat buried the one-timer for the game-winner, his team-leading fifth game-winning goal of the season.

"I think a lot of times just systems and guys sacrificing has won us a lot of games," Point said. "No different tonight."

Video: MTL@TBL: Point makes slick move on rush and scores

2. WELCOME BACK BRAYDEN POINT After Tampa Bay's 5-4 overtime win, Lightning assistant coach Derek Lalonde, who served as the Bolts' head coach again with Jon Cooper on the NHL's COVID protocol list, said video coaches Nigel Kirwan and Brian Garlock were tagging the game in a back area of the locker room like they do every game and noted Brayden Point could have scored potentially six goals in the win over Montreal, his ability to create prime scoring chances for himself that good Tuesday night.

Point finished the game with two goals and an assist for a three-point game in his return after missing the previous 14 games due to an upper-body injury suffered November 20 against New Jersey.

"Pointer's a world-class, special player, but there's just certain games and times where he has such pop in his game where he's just explosive and the puck's always on his stick and that was one of those nights," Lalonde said. "We certainly needed it."

Point scored a pair of goals 2:32 apart in the first period to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 Lightning lead.

The first goal was a beauty. Leading a 2-on-1 break, Point surveyed his options until Kale Clague went down to the ice to try to break up a potential pass. Point stopped instantly, let Clague slide by and then sniped a shot over Montembeault's glove to get the game back on level terms.

"Stops on a dime and roofs it," Corey Perry marveled. "You can't teach that. We're lucky to have him."

"I was kind of looking to pass and then I'm not sure who it was did a really good job backchecking our guy," Point added. "The D-man squeezed on me, and I just stopped. He misses the puck and take a shot and it goes in. That's just hockey. You try to make plays as the play comes to you."

Minutes later, the Lightning forced a turnover in the offensive zone, the puck ricocheting out to Alex Killorn. He took the puck into the slot and fed Point down low to tap into the net for his second goal of the game.

Point recorded his first multi-goal game of the season and 19th of his career.

He's scored five goals in the last five games he's played.

"We were put on our heels, got outworked in the first half of the first period and he carried us," Lalonde said of Point. "Obviously a skilled goal but just throughout, he would push back momentum with a Grade-A or the chances he had. I love the kid. He was just so excited to play today. Someone like that, the guy's been around enough, he still has that young kid in him where he's just excited about playing and hockey was taken away from him for a little bit. He was excited to play, and he had some pop tonight."

The Lightning needed Point's pop to defeat Montreal on Tuesday. And, luckily, they'll have it going forward too after missing it for over a month of the season.

Video: Palat buried OT winner in a 5-4 win over Canadiens

3. A LASTING LAGACE Maxime Lagace had barely skated over the past two weeks as the Syracuse Crunch dealt with their own COVID issues before the holiday break.

Lagace started Syracuse's last game against the Toronto Marlies on December 15 and made 26-of-28 stops to earn the victory. But after that, the Crunch had multiple games and practices postponed as COVID swept through. 

Lagace learned he would be heading to Tampa this Sunday when both Lightning goaltenders Andrei Vasilevskiy and Brian Elliott were placed on the NHL's COVID list. He drove from his home in Quebec City to Syracuse that night, got in a practice for the first time in a long time on Monday and then flew to Tampa later that day to get there in time to attend morning skate on Tuesday.

Lightning goaltender coach Frantz Jean admitted to Lalonde Lagace was a bit rusty in the morning practice session from the long layoff. But Lagace exuded a quite calmness in the locker room that gave everybody a feeling he would be ready to perform once the fans filled the stands and the saves counted.

"I know I talked about it a little bit this morning, but the moment he walked in our room, it was just, I don't really know Max," Lalonde said. "I spent a little time with him at camp, but not enough to really know him or establish a relationship, and he just walked in with a confidence like he's been in the room for three years. I think that gave us a little confidence. I think that speaks volumes on his demeanor. He was confident."

Lagace made a strong denial on Montreal's Jonathan Drouin early in the game, sticking his right leg out to keep Drouin from tapping in a shot on the back post, to give belief to himself and the rest of his teammates. He would go on to make 27-of-31 saves on the night to earn his first-ever win with the Lightning and first in the NHL since shutting out Buffalo May 8, 2021 while a member of the Penguins last season.

"He did fantastic," Point said. "I think we gave up a lot more chances than we wanted to, especially in the third period there, and he came up with some huge, key saves for us. He did a great job pitching in there and gave us a chance to win and we find a way in overtime."

With the Lightning holding a lead early in the third period, Lagace made three-consecutive saves on great scoring chances by the Canadiens to keep the Bolts in the lead. Montreal eventually broke through after putting continuous pressure on his net in the third, but Lagace made enough timely saves to keep the Lightning within striking distance, including a denial on Evans in tight with about four minutes remaining that allowed the Bolts to rally.

"I wish we were a little better in front of him throughout," Lalonde said. "We gave up too many looks, too many chances against, but he hung in there with some great saves and, ultimately, I was really happy for him he was rewarded with a win and a pretty good moment in the room there giving him the puck for his first win as a Bolt."

It's unknown when Vasilevskiy and Elliott will be available for the Lightning. With three games in the next four days, it's very likely Lagace will continue to see action.

His inspired play Tuesday should give the Lightning confidence they won't miss a beat with him in net.

"There was enough volume in that game, some different looks and different situations where I think he'll build off that game," Lalonde said. "We're confident he'll give us another good performance next time."

tampabaylightning.com is the official Web site of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Tampa Bay Lightning and tampabaylightning.com are trademarks of Lightning Hockey L.P. NHL, the NHL Shield, the word mark and image of the Stanley Cup and NHL Conference logos are registered trademarks of the National Hockey League. All NHL logos and marks and NHL team logos and marks as well as all other proprietary materials depicted herein are the property of the NHL and the respective NHL teams and may not be reproduced without the prior written consent of NHL Enterprises, L.P. Copyright © 1999-2020 Lightning Hockey, L.P. and the National Hockey League. Lightning Hockey, L.P. is a division of Vinik Sports Group. All Rights Reserved.