Steven Stamkos and Nicholas Paul had two goals apiece to lift the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 7-4 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.

NHL points leader Nikita Kucherov scored his 34th goal of the season and added two assists as the Lightning (43-26-7) earned their 10th win to tighten their hold on the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

Michael Eyssimont and Brandon Nagel scored the other Tampa Bay goals.

Joel Armia scored twice for the Canadiens (29-34-12). Juraj Slafkovsky and Cole Caufied scored the other goals in a third-period push which fell short.

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Matt Tomkins, a 29-year-old journeyman who was making only his fourth NHL start and the first since Nov. 7, made 27 saves for the win. He has a 2-2-0 record with both of his wins coming against the Canadiens in Montreal.

Cayden Primeau made 30 saves in the loss.

The Canadiens played most of the game with five defencemen. Kaiden Guhle left with an upper-body injury early in the first period after he was driven into the end boards by a hard check from Kucherov. There was no penalty on the play.

Hagel left the game with seven minutes remaining after an open-ice collision with teammate Stamkos.

Stamkos snapped a 2-2 tie with his first goal of the night at 7:58 of the second period and Paul scored his second goal of the game 74 seconds later

UP NEXT

The Lightning wraps up its three-game road trip with a Saturday afternoon game in Pittsburgh.

Montreal is home to the archrival Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.

Canadiens eliminated from playoffs in loss to Lightning

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