Burlington’s Anderson pots OT winner to help Canadiens avoid Stanley Cup sweep

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Published July 6, 2021 at 3:31 pm

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Burlington’s Josh Anderson played the overtime hero to help the Montreal Canadiens stay alive in the Stanley Cup Final.

Anderson scored his second goal of the game at 3:57 of overtime to help the Canadiens stave off elimination with a 3-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, Monday night, at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

Montreal now trails the best-of-seven final, 3-1, and will look to continue their climb back into the series in Game 5 back in Tampa Bay on Wednesday night.

Shortly after the Canadiens killed off a four-minute Tampa Bay power play late in the third period and into overtime, Anderson gathered the puck in his own zone and raced down the left side.

Holding off Tampa defender Jan Rutta, he managed to get the puck into the slot for Cole Caufield as he was ridden into the back boards by Rutta.

Caufield’s backhand attempt slid through the crease, before Anderson lunged back in front to grab the loose puck and fire it past Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy.

“We didn’t want to end it tonight in front of our fans,” the former Notre Dame Catholic Secondary School student told NHL.com. “We expected to go to Tampa tomorrow, I think everybody in that locker room did and packed their bags this afternoon, you know, just had that feeling that we were going to win tonight and give ourselves a chance.”

Anderson, 27, opened the scoring late in the first period when he one-timed a backhanded pass from Nick Suzuki below the goal line.

It was just Montreal’s second shot of the game.

NHL.COM PHOTO

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