Slafkovsky’s playoff feat

Juraj Slafkovsky put Montreal ahead in its first-round series by scoring all three Canadiens goals on the power play, including the overtime winner in a 4-3 Game 1 win at Tampa Bay on April 19. (cbc.ca) The third goal came 1:22 into overtime, when Slafkovsky beat Andrei Vasilevskiy from the left circle for his first career postseason hat trick. Slafkovsky is 22 and was the No. 1 pick in the 2022 National Hockey League draft. (espn.com) NHL records credited him with the first power-play hat trick in Stanley Cup playoff history. NHL.com also said no Montreal player had ever scored three power-play goals in one postseason game since the league began tracking the stat in 1933-34. (nhl.com) A power-play goal comes when one team has more skaters because the other team is serving a penalty. Montreal went 3-for-5 with the extra man in Game 1 after finishing the regular season 21st on the power play at 21.1%. (montrealgazette.com) That special-teams swing shaped the opener against a Tampa Bay club that had tied the game three times before overtime. The Canadiens also got 33 saves from Sam Montembeault as they stole home-ice advantage from the Lightning. (nbcsports.com) The result also changed the math of the series. ESPN’s playoff tracker says the winner of Game 1 in a best-of-seven Stanley Cup series has gone on to win the series 68% of the time. (espn.com) For Montreal, the night fit the timeline of a young core that has arrived faster than expected. Slafkovsky’s regular-season production had already climbed from 10 goals in 2022-23 to 20 in 2023-24 and 33 in 2025-26. (nhl.com) The series resumes with Montreal carrying a 1-0 lead and Tampa Bay trying to answer the one area that decided Game 1: penalties. Slafkovsky turned every Lightning mistake with a man in the box into a goal. (sportsnet.ca)