Montreal Canadiens defenseman Noah Dobson had already missed the first four games of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The depth defenceman – in the lineup for the first time these playoffs – flattened Juraj Slafkovsky at centre ice Sunday, sparking the Tampa Bay Lightning in a wild 3-2 comeback over the Montreal Canadiens in Game 4 to tie the first-round series at two games apiece.

He's one of those rare players that's on the smaller end, but he's just not afraid of anything," teammate Arber Xhekaj says.

The Montreal Canadiens held a short practice in Brossard on Thursday night, and the mood was good around the team.

With the best-of-7 series tied 1-1 after the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 3-2 overtime victory at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa on Tuesday, the stage shifts to Montreal for Game 3 on Friday (7 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, HBO MAX, The Spot) in arguably the most raucous arena in the NHL.

As Lalonde reports, Alex Newhook, Jayden Struble, Juraj Slafkovsky, Josh Anderson and Kirby Dach were among the players that were not on the ice for the session. Anderson was abse

NHL alumni Glen Metropolit explains why the Lightning must play simple, direct hockey to succeed against the Canadiens in Montreal’s Bell Centre, one of the NHL’s toughest playoff environments.

Occupying the role of sixth defenseman, Xhekaj is playing inspired hockey to help the Montreal Canadiens take a 2-1 lead in the best-o