Tampa Bay Lightning centre Gage Goncalves of Mission, British Columbia scored his first career National Hockey League Stanley Cup Playoff overtime winner on Friday. He accomplished the feat in a 1-0 Lightning win over the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec. With the win, the Lightning and Canadiens are tied at three games apiece in the best out of seven series.
At 9:03 of the extra period, Goncalves found himself wide open at the side of the net. Brandon Hagel of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and rookie Dominic James had the assists. For James, it was his first career Stanley Cup Playoff assist.
Game seven will now take place on Sunday from the Benchmark International Arena in Tampa Bay, Florida. This will be the only seventh game in the first round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
In the 2025-26 regular season, Goncalves had 11 goals and 22 assists for 33 points in 74 games. He was a +26 with 41 penalty minutes, two-game winning goals, two power-play points, 77 shots on goal, seven faceoff wins, 29 blocked shots, 85 hits, 18 takeaways, and 58 giveaways.
The two power-play points came in Lightning wins. The first was a player-play assist on an all-Canadian goal at 15:02 of the first period to open the scoring in a 2-1 Lightning win over the Dallas Stars on October 30. Hagel scored and defenseman Charle-Edouard D’Astous picked up the other assist. The second power-play point was a power-play assist in a 6-2 Lightning won over the Seattle Kraken on March 17. Goncalves once again set up Hagel with three minutes and six seconds left in the game to put the Lightning up 5-2 at the time.
Goncalves’s first game-winning goal came on New Year’s Day in a 5-3 Lightning win over the Los Angeles Kings. Goncalves scored from Anthony Cirelli of Etobicoke, Ontario and Jake Guentzel with one minute and 49 seconds left in the third period to put the Lightning up 4-3. Goncalves’s second game-winning goal came on March 12 in a 4-1 Lightning win over the Detroit Red Wings. Goncalves put the Lightning up 2-0 at 1:35 of the third period from Brayden Point of Calgary, Alberta.
In the 2026 playoffs, Goncalves has one goal and one assist for two points in six games. He is a -4 with one game-winning goal, seven shots on goal, one blocked shot, nine hits, one takeaway, and four giveaways. The blocked shot came in game two of the series, a 3-2 Lightning win. The takeaway came in game four of the series, a 3-2 Lightning win.
