Alex Newhook broke a third-period tie with the game-winning goal to give the visiting Montreal Canadiens a 2-1 Game 7 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday.

Nick Suzuki also scored for the Canadiens, who were outshot 29-9 and outplayed for much of the deciding game, but now face the Buffalo Sabres, who finished atop the Atlantic Division, in a best-of-seven second-round series that begins Wednesday in Buffalo.

The Canadiens set a Stanley Cup playoff record for fewest shots on goal in a win, per Sportsnet.

Montreal goaltender Jakub Dobes made 28 saves, standing especially tall while Tampa Bay peppered him with shots in the second period.

“I feel we are such a good team, no matter what the situation or circumstances, we’ll find a way to win,” Dobes said. “Now we’ve got to go to Buffalo. We cannot get satisfied, we have to keep going. I’m really excited about the second round.”

With overtime on the horizon, Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped a point shot, sending the puck bounding to the end boards. But Newhook batted it out of the air toward the front of the cage, banking it off Vasilevskiy and into the cage for his first goal of this year’s playoffs with 8:53 remaining in regulation.

Montreal had last won a series in 2021, the year the Canadiens lost to Tampa Bay in the Stanley Cup Final.

“It feels amazing,” Suzuki said. “We had a lot of dark days after (going to the Stanley Cup Final in 2021) and going into the rebuild. This moment definitely makes up for a lot of it and we want to keep this journey going.”

Dominic James scored for the Lightning, who were eliminated in the opening round of the playoffs for a fourth consecutive year.

“You don’t get any younger, that’s for sure,” Tampa Bay forward Brandon Hagel said. “Listen, I got one goal on my mind and one goal on my mind every single year … I just want to win.”

Vasilevskiy stopped seven of nine shots in the game.

The Canadiens opened the scoring on the game’s first big break. Suzuki netted his first goal of the series when he deflected Kaiden Guhle’s point shot off Lightning defenseman J.J. Moser and into the net at 18:39 of the opening frame.

James tied the game with a deflection tally of his own, tipping a Charle-Edouard D’Astous point shot for a power-play marker at 13:27 of the second period.

The Canadiens failed to register a shot on goal in the middle period, even with two power plays, while the Lightning fired 12 on the Montreal net in the period. It is the first time the Canadiens failed to net a shot on goal in a period during the playoffs since shots were counted in 1955-56.

The Canadiens finally put a puck on net more than five minutes into the third period, going nearly 27 minutes between shots. That sparked Montreal to gain some momentum and eventually Newhook’s winning goal.

The Lightning pushed, and even pulled the goalie for the extra attacker with more than two minutes remaining, but could not find the equalizer.

“It’s not the movies,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “It’s not something where you can retake it and get the scene right. It is live theater right there in front of you and you never know what is going to happen. That is why it’s unbelievable to be a part of, to be a part of something like this, but it damn well stings when you are on the wrong side of it.”

Montreal benefited from the return of defenseman Noah Dobson, who had been out since being hit in the left hand by a slap shot April 11. Dobson blocked a shot with his right hand in the waning minutes of regulation.

–Field Level Media

A day after Cloud9 and Team Liquid maintained perfect records atop the standings of the LCS Spring event in Los Angeles, LYON and FlyQuest kept pace Sunday with victories of their own.

LYON improved to 4-1 with a 2-0 sweep of the Sentinels, while FlyQuest held off Shopify Rebellion 2-1, boosting that squad to 3-2.

That gave FlyQuest a two-game lead over the other four teams competing in the event, while LYON now has a three-game lead and the co-leaders are four games up.

Eight teams are competing in best-of-three matches in the round-robin regular season before advancing to the playoffs of the League of Legends event, which will be contested in best-of-five matches in a double-elimination format. The top two teams will qualify for the Mid-Season Invitational.

The Mexico-based LYON made short work of the Sentinels with 37- and 44-minute victories, both playing on blue, to secure the sweep.

Kim “Berserker” Min-Cheol racked up a 12-1-20 kills-deaths-assists ratio to pace the victors.

The America-based FlyQuest team got off to a similar start with a 31-minute win on blue to kick things off, but a 32-minute loss on red evened things up. Ultimately, FlyQuest secured the victory with a 34-minute win on blue.

Song “Quad” Soo-hyung was the leading point-getter for FlyQuest with a 13-3-27 KDA ratio.

Two more weeks are left in the season. Week 6 will commence on Saturday when Shopify take on the Sentinels and Disguised faces Dignitas.

Regular-season standings (Win-loss total, map differential)

T1. Cloud9, 5-0, 10-3

T1. Team Liquid, 5-0, 10-3

3. LYON, 4-1, 9-3

4. FlyQuest, 3-2, 8-5

5. Shopify Rebellion, 1-4, 3-8

6. Sentinels, 1-4, 5-9

7. Disguised, 1-4, 2-9

8. Dignitas, 0-5, 3-10

–Field Level Media

Five-star prospect Ahmad Hudson, regarded as the No. 1 tight end in the country in the Class of 2027, decided to stay in state and committed to LSU in a social media post on Sunday.

The Tigers and new head coach Lane Kiffin secured the pledge from Hudson, who was deciding between LSU and Nebraska as of last month and had publicized a commitment deadline of July 4.

A two-sport star at Ruston (La.) High School, Hudson is ranked the No. 1 tight end by ESPN and rated No. 18 overall in the country, first at his position and third in Louisiana in the 247Sports Composite rankings for the Class of 2027.

Listed at 6-foot-6 1/2 and 239 pounds, Hudson has 36 football offers, per 247Sports, as well as reports of basketball offers from Nebraska, LSU, Alabama, Auburn, Texas A&M, Missouri, Ole Miss, Louisiana Tech and Grambling.

He visited LSU multiple times this year and canceled official visits for Nebraska and Southern California in June.

Kiffin also secured pledges this year from Class of 2027 four-star prospects Jaiden Bryant (defensive end, Columbia, S.C.), Braylon Calais (wide receiver, Carencro, La.) and Ah’Mari Stevens (wide receiver, Hollywood, Fla.). The program also is holding a commitment from four-star quarterback Peyton Houston (Shreveport, La.), who chose LSU when Brian Kelly was head coach last September.

–Field Level Media