Slafkovsky scored his 30th at 18:56 of the third period and Nick Suzuki had two assists to raise his season total to 70 for Montreal (47-22-10). Jakub Dobes made 17 saves for his seventh consecutive victory.
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Darren Raddysh scored for Tampa Bay (48-25-6), which lost its third straight game. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 19 shots.
Caufield beat Vasilevskiy with a wrist shot at 6:29 of the second period for the historic goal in front of a frenzied Bell Center crowd that included Premier Mark Carney.
Caufield became the seventh Canadiens player to reach the 50-goal mark, and the first since Stéphane Richer in 1989-90.
Raddysh tied the game with 1:51 left in the third period with the goalie pulled before Slafkovsky scored with 64 seconds left off a pass from Suzuki.
The Canadiens, Lightning and Buffalo Sabers are locked in a three-way race for first place in the Atlantic Division with three regular season games remaining for Montreal and Tampa Bay, and two for Buffalo. Montreal moved two points ahead of Tampa Bay and two behind Buffalo for the division lead.
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The game featured several scrums after the whistle, a spirited fight between Montreal’s Josh Anderson and Tampa Bay’s Declan Carlile, and seven 10-minute misconducts, culminating in 126 penalty minutes. In the second period alone there were more than 100, with players crowded in both penalty areas.
Next
Lightning: At the Boston Bruins on Saturday afternoon.
Canadiens: Host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl