Juraj Slafkovsky introduces himself to Tampa
The underdog Montreal Canadiens were in Florida on Sunday night to start their playoff series with the Tampa Bay Lightning. The game had all of the intensity that their final regular season meeting suggested the series would eventually have, culminating in an overtime thriller. The Habs’ mission in going to Tampa was clear; try to take at least one of the two games and get a split before going back to Montreal. Not only did they accomplish that mission in game one, they have a chance to make it two.
None of that would be possible without Juraj Slafkovsky, who introduced himself to the Lightning, and to these playoffs with a hat trick that included the game winner.
JURAJ SLAFKOVSKÝ IS YOUR @ENERGIZER OVERTIME HERO AND THE @CANADIENSMTL TAKE GAME 1! 🔵⚪️🔴 #STANLEYCUP pic.twitter.com/qKVfKoKFAd
— NHL (@NHL) April 20, 2026
The game-winning shot was a laser beam from the dot. He had another one from the other side of the ice to tie the game in the second period, and one from the slot, all three coming on a power play that had been struggling towards the end of the regular season. The Habs were the better team at five-on-five, but with the sheer amount of penalties, they didn’t quite get to showcase that as much as they’d have liked. They needed their power play to step up, and where you might expect it to be Cole Caufield, it was the young Slovak.
Slafkovsky is of course one of the young players on this roster who wasn’t around when the Habs fell to Tampa in the Stanley Cup Final back in 2021. We know the story all too well, after coming up short in what would be Carey Price and Shea Weber’s last dance, the team sank to the bottom of the standings quickly without them, and went slightly against the grain with their selection of Slafkovsky at first overall. As he promised at the draft, he has won over the fans in Montreal, and now, he’s shown Tampa that this iteration of the Canadiens has a little more to offer with him around.
He took a hard hit from Ryan McDonagh prior to any of his goals that seemed to fire him up. Slafkovsky immediately went after McDonagh and looked like he wanted to send a message to the Lightning. The best message he could have possibly sent was three absolutely clutch goals that ultimately won the game for the Habs. It was a tour de force. It was a message to Tampa that he is a problem they didn’t quite anticipate.
It was reminiscent of the individual brilliance that Slafkovsky has showed when competing for his country at the international level. His team needed someone to step up, and you would think that la Sainte Flanelle was replaced by a Slovakia jersey with the way he responded. I had opined on our roundtable episode before the series that he and Josh Anderson could be the two most important players for Montreal in this series. I hate to toot my own horn, but I feel quite vindicated in that opinion after what we just saw on Sunday night.
Of course, I didn’t predict Slafkovsky would go out there and win the game with a hat trick. If that kind of performance is what we can expect from him throughout the playoffs, look out.
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