TAMPA, Fla. — Six one-goal games. Four overtime games. Now, Game 7.It’s a fitting way to decide the Canadiens-Lightning series on Sunday night.Gage Goncalves extended Tampa Bay’s season with an overtime goal Friday night, forcing Montreal back on the road to try to close out a thrilling Eastern Conference opening-round series.“We haven’t won anything yet,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “All we did was win a game to send us back to Tampa and keep our season alive. You don’t want to rain on the parade. … but we haven’t accomplished anything yet.”Both teams have each won twice on the road in the series and home ice has not been an advantage for the Lightning in the postseason. They are just 2-10 in their last 12 playoff games in Tampa Bay, where a raucous crowd always shows up — 460 consecutive sellouts.How even are these teams?The score has been tied or within one goal for all but six minutes in the series. Each team has 14 goals, including nine in 5-on-5 play.“In 14 years in the league, I’ve been in a number of Game 7s, some where we weren’t as good as the other team and some where I thought we were as good as the other team,” Cooper said. “And this right here is so even from special teams to the goaltending to everything and that’s how you get Game 7s. To win this, you have to have a special game from your team. I’m assuming the team that wins is going to get one more break than the other one.”After falling two wins short of a Stanley Cup three-peat in 2022, the Lightning were eliminated in the first round each o …
