The game certainly turned when Alex Killorn got caught up with Carey Price, as Ryan Callahan had the go-ahead goal stripped on an incidental contact call. By the rulebook, it's Killorn's job to get out of the way--even if Price purposely slid into him--and in failing to do that, the referees had plenty of justification to make that call. You can't deny how tough of a pill it was to swallow for Jon Cooper, the Lightning and their fans. Had it happened to Montreal, Michel Therrien, the Canadiens and their fans would've been apoplectic. But you can't argue it was a series-changing event.

If you wrote up Tampa's gameplan for game three, the very first key would've been to stem the tide in the first ten minutes of the hockey game; perhaps score a goal to take the crowd out of it early. The building was going to be a madhouse whether the Canadiens came home up 2-0, down 2-0, or tied 1-1, and predictably, it was rocking at a deafening decibel level. To not come out of the first 10 minute segment tied or up a goal was one thing, to not make it out of the first 12 seconds without being scored on was another.

And you can blame Anders Lindback all you want for the shot that beat him, but the Lightning allowed a breakaway for Montreal's hottest player--Rene Bourque--less than 10 seconds into the game. If it wasn't for Lindback, it would've been 3 or 4-0 after one.

Cooper made one of his best calls of the series taking a timeout right after the disallowed goal. He took the opportunity to remind his team that Price looked vulnerable on the play; that the psychology of seeing the puck get by him was something to build on. But the Lightning's focus fell flat after seeing their captain, Steven Stamkos knocked woozy, as Alexei Emelin's knee caught him in the back of the head, in a freak collision. With 1:50 left in the second period, P.K. Subban made a divine play to find Brendan Gallagher unmarked in the slot, and that late goal was just another wrench in Tampa's gameplan.

The second period was the Lightning's best of the series, and they didn't even win it on the scoreboard.

Maybe that's why Montreal seemingly had all the momentum in the early part of the third. Another dominant shift for Gallagher, Brandon Prust and Tomas Plekanec put the nail in the coffin less than six minutes into the frame; a laser beam through two bodies and over Lindback's right shoulder.

Playing for a chance to avoid critical condition, the Lightning stormed back tenaciously. They got a key goal with a little less than 10 minutes to play, and they pressed to tie things up. But the Canadiens stemmed the tide with some desperation of their own, and when they were caught vulnerable, Price was there to shut the door, or to clear the puck on his own.

What most predicted was a pick 'em has become a completely one-sided series. Everything that could go wrong for Tampa has, starting with the unavailability of Ben Bishop. But I wouldn't suggest the Canadiens are getting all the right bounces either. They've outworked, outplayed, and they've flat out dominated the Lightning for most of these three games. The powerplay has produced one goal on 11 opportunities. Eight different players have scored for the Canadiens--none of them being 39-goal man Max Pacioretty. And Price was certainly beatable in game one.

But here they stand, up 3-0, with a chance to close things out in front of the league's most raucous crowd. You have to like Montreal's chances to end this series as early as Tuesday night. If they keep playing as they have, it's hard to imagine them not closing it out. If they get a goal from Max Pacioretty; if their powerplay has some success, it's almost impossible to imagine them not closing it out.

Will the Lightning find the reckless abandon a 3-0 deficit could allow for? If they do, will it be enough to push the series back to Tampa? The idea that there's no pressure on them can certainly be tossed out the window. All the pressure is on them; to show that all the adversity they overcame this season has prepared them for the greatest challenge they've faced; to avoid a very embarrassing outcome in a series everyone expected to be very close; to get a win in the most hostile environment they could possible be in.

Dramatic--indeed. Just not in the way we expected.

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