TAMPA, Fla. -- Having completed their regular-season series, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Montreal Canadiens soon could find themselves battling in the post-season. Tyler Johnson scored the go-ahead goal on a short-handed breakaway late in the third period and the Lightning clinched a playoff berth with a 3-1 victory over the Canadiens on Tuesday night. "Just being in the right spot and getting lucky sometimes," Johnson said. The win and losses by New Jersey and Washington gave Tampa Bay its first post-season berth since 2011 and only its second in seven years. Montreal ended a five-game winning streak, but also qualified for the post-season by virtue of the losses by New Jersey and Washington. Canadiens goalie Carey Price took some consolation in advancing to the post-season. "Were disappointed with our game today, but big picture, weve got to be happy with that," he said. The win moved Tampa Bay, with a game in hand, into a second-place tie with Montreal in the Atlantic Division. The second- and third-place teams in each division will meet in the first round of the playoffs. "Its just one game, but its really the 76 games all bottled into one," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "What you are really striving for is to win the Stanley Cup, but you cannot win the Cup if you dont get into the playoffs." With teammate Nate Thompson serving a minor penalty for boarding, Johnson picked up a loose puck near the Montreal blue line, skated in on Price and backhanded a shot inside the left post with 7:19 remaining in the game. Canadiens right wing Brendan Gallagher was on one knee in the low slot when he redirected a rebound past goalie Ben Bishop to open the scoring 10:18 into the first period. Ryan Callahan made it 1-1 on a power play 9:19 into the second, skating through the left circle toward Price and lifting a shot high into the net. Tampa Bay was on a power play when Alex Killorn closed out the scoring with an empty-netter with 45 seconds left in the third period. Bishop finished with 25 saves, while Price stopped 30 shots. Tampa Bay winger Teddy Purcell slammed a shot past Price with 11.7 seconds left in the second period, but the officials ruled forward J.T. Brown made contact with the goaltender and disallowed the goal. The call drew an angry response from Tampa Bay fans after a replay appeared on the video screen. The crowd also became irate when Montreals Douglas Murray drew a match penalty for an illegal check to the head of fellow defenceman Michael Kostka, setting up a 5-on-3 advantage for the Lightning with 2:13 left in the game. "If the crowds reaction was anything after they saw it, then it seems that it was illegal," Cooper said. "Those are the hits you want to take out of the game. Im sure Murray wasnt looking to hit him in the head." Lightning forward Ondrej Palat, who earlier in the day was named the top NHL rookie for the second time in three months, assisted on the goals by Callahan and Killorn. NOTES: Tampa Bay C Valtteri Filppula, who came in with the longest points streak in the league at 12 games, came up empty. . Montreal C Tomas Plekanec returned after missing one game for personal reasons. . The home team won for the first time in the four-game season series. Lightning captain Steven Stamkos was sidelined with a broken leg for the first three games, each of which went to overtime tied at 1. . Price came in victorious in nine of his 10 previous starts. Bishop improved to 8-1-1 in his last 10. Wholesale Shoes Website . "Uuufff," was all shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria could come up with after Stantons latest mammoth shot. Air Max Sale . The Nevada Athletic Commission voted unanimously in Las Vegas to quit granting therapeutic use exemptions for fighters undergoing the so-called TRT. https://www.wholesaleshoesforcheap.com/nmd-sale/. The injury will keep the Finnish forward out of the Olympics. The 29-year-old has 20 goals and 41 points in 56 games this season, his first with Tampa Bay. Nike Shoes Sale . MacLean clocked 8:24.91 seconds, eclipsing the previous mark of 8:27.59 set by Brittany Reimer of Victoria at the 2005 FINA World Championships in Montreal. MacLean and Tabitha Baumann of Ottawa -- second in 8:32.37 -- both went under the qualifying standard to be nominated to the Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacific teams. Air Max 95 Sale . Lineup news, Fantasy and more in Scott Cullen’s Statistically Speaking. HEROES St. Louis Blues – After rolling the San Jose Sharks for seven goals, for the second time in a week, the Blues have a bunch of players on hot streaks.The worst possible news has happened for the Montreal Canadiens. Head coach Michel Therrien announced Monday morning that Carey Price will miss the rest of the Eastern Conference Final against the New York Rangers after suffering a lower-body injury in Game 1. The incident occurred when Rangers forward Chris Kreider slid into Price after falling on a partial breakaway. The question is, with Montreals best and most important player sidelined while already being down in the series after a miserable loss in Game 1, can the Habs still beat the Rangers and advance to the Stanley Cup Final? The Canadiens seemed to be on top of the world coming into the series. They brushed off the Tampa Bay Lightning in the opening round followed by a grueling victory over their hated rivals - the Boston Bruins - in seven games. Many thought Montreal had a great opportunity to advance to the Stanley Cup Final and maybe even become the first Canadian team to hoist the Stanley Cup in 21 years. Now after just one game, all of that is in doubt. Montreal could go with backup Peter Budaj or former Canadian world junior goalie Dustin Tokarski for Game 2. Budaj replaced Price in the third period of Game 1 and proceeded to let in three goals on eight shots, all on the power play. Budajj has only one post-season start in his career (last year with Montreal) and has appeared in a total of seven games with a 5.dddddddddddd.10 goals against average and a .843 save percentage. Can this 31-year-old backup send the Habs to the Cup or is he too inexperienced? Therrien might decide to shake things up and go with Tokarski. The 24-year-old has only played in 10 regular season games in his short three-year career, but has shown signs of success this season, picking up two wins in three games with a 1.84 GAA. Is it possible Montreal can catch lightning in a bottle with Tokarski? It happened once before when Ken Dryden came out of nowhere to lead the Canadiens to victory in 1970-71. Adversity has a reputation of either bringing a team together or causing them to fail miserably. To say losing Price at this time of year is adversity would be an understatement. This really is a punch in the gut. Do the Canadiens have the strength and leadership to recover from such a blow or will it cause them to crumble? Therrien did say Price might be available for the Stanley Cup Final. Well, theyre going to have to get there first without the guy that was instrumental in getting them this far. Can the Canadiens beat the Rangers without Price? As always, its Your! Call! ' ' '