TAMPA, Florida (AP) ― Steven Stamkos scored his NHL-leading 44th goal of the season and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the slumping Montreal Canadiens 2-1 on Tuesday night.

Adam Hall also scored for the Lightning, who are 11th in the Eastern Conference and trail eighth-place Washington by five points. Mathieu Garon finished with 23 saves.

Stamkos took a pass from Teddy Purcell, deked around goalie Carey Price and put the Lightning up 1-0 at 8:42 of the first period. Purcell, a game-time decision due to the flu, has 10 assists and 14 points during a career-high seven-game point streak.

Montreal got a goal from David Desharnais. The Canadiens have lost five in a row, getting outscored 16-5.

Tampa Bay went ahead 2-1 when Hall ended his 45-game goal drought, dating to the season opener Oct. 7 against Carolina, from the low slot off a pass from Ryan Malone 28 seconds into the second.

Desharnais had tied it at 1-all with 3:58 left in the first.

Malone was given an instigator penalty, 5-minute fighting major and a game misconduct at 8:16 of the second after a scuffle near the Canadiens bench. Montreal’s Brad Staubitz got 2 minutes for interference from the bench and a 10-minute misconduct on the play.

The penalties came 20 seconds after Montreal’s Alexei Emelin finished serving an interference penalty for making contact with Malone.

The Canadiens, who entered with the NHL’s second-worst power play, failed to score on the ensuing 5-minute man advantage. Garon made an in-close save on Erik Cole, who had three strong scoring chances in the game.

Lehner makes 32 saves in Ottawa’s 1-0 win

BOSTON (AP) ― The Ottawa Senators overcame one hurdle by finally beating the Boston Bruins behind young goaltender Robin Lehner.

And now the confident goalie thinks they can pass the defending Stanley Cup champions in the standings, too.

Lehner stopped 32 shots for his first career shutout and Erik Karlsson scored the lone goal, lifting surging Ottawa to a 1-0 win over Boston on Tuesday night. It was the Senators’ first victory in five games against the Bruins this season.

With the win, the Senators moved one point behind the Northeast Division-leading Bruins, who have played four fewer games than Ottawa. Ottawa won for the sixth time in seven games and sent the Bruins to their fourth loss in six.

“We’re trying our best. I think we can,” the 20-year old Lehner said after blanking the Bruins in just his 11th career game.

Sharks 1, Flyers 0

Coyotes 2, Canucks 1

Senators 1, Bruins 0

Panthers 5, Maple Leafs 3

Capitals 3, Islanders 2

Hurricanes 4, Predators 3

Red Wings 5, Blue Jackets 2

Lightning 2, Canadiens 1

Kings 4, Wild 0

















Lehner, playing because regular goaltender Craig Anderson is sidelined indefinitely after cutting his hand last week in a kitchen accident, benefited from some strong defensive play in front of him. His teammates blocked 18 shots and limited most of Boston’s shots to beyond the faceoff circles.

After losing to the Bruins at home on Saturday night, the Senators came out with a different attitude and weren’t thinking as much about the divisional chase.