TAMPA, Fla. — The Montreal Canadiens made the most of their limited opportunities.Alex Newhook broke a tie with 8:53 left and Montreal — with only nine shots on goal — outlasted the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 in Game 7 on Sunday night to end the thrilling first-round series.The Canadiens will face the Buffalo Sabres in the second round after finishing off their first series victory since losing the Stanley Cup Final to Tampa Bay in 2021. Game 1 is Wednesday night in Buffalo.Rookie goaltender Jakub Dobes made 28 saves and Nick Suzuki got his first goal of the series for Montreal. The Canadiens are the first team to win a playoff game with fewer than 10 shots on goal since shots were first tracked in the 1959-60 season.“Sometimes you win the game and not the score,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “When it’s Game 7, there’s no moral victory.”Each game of the series was decided by one goal and four went to overtime. The score was tied or within one goal for all but six minutes in the seven games. “It’s a tough building to play in, it’s a chaotic environment out there,” Suzuki said. “We’ve been a good road team all season. We knew we had to come in here and anything can happen in a Game 7.”The Lightning were eliminated in the first round for the fourth straight season after falling two wins short of a Stanley Cup three-peat in 2022.Tampa Bay’s tough defense held the Canadiens without a shot for nearly 27 minutes from the first period into the third and just four through two periods. Bran …
