3 least impressive players from Montreal Canadiens' 5-3 loss to Tampa Bay Lightning feat. Nick Suzuki

The Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-3 at Bell Centre on Sunday. Montreal fell to 25-26-5 (55 points) in defeat, while Tampa improved to 31-20-4 (66 points).

The Canadiens have been struggling lately, losers of seven of their last eight games, seeing their playoff hopes slowly dissipate. They came into Sunday as the seventh seed in the Atlantic Division, six points out of the final wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference. They couldn't make any ground up on those teams on Sunday.

Despite heavily outshooting the Lightning to start the game, Montreal found themselves in an early deficit. Nick Paul started the scoring on a nifty backhand move to beat Jakub Dobes. Victor Hedman buried a wrister all alone on an odd-man rush to make it 2-0.

Montreal continued to push and finally broke through on the power play, thanks to a snipe from Brendan Gallagher.

Just 1:05 into the second period, Brayden Point scored on the power play to extend the lead back to two goals. Tampa continued to roll as Zemgus Girgensons tapped home a great feed from Cam Atkinson to make it 4-1. Christian Dvorak provided the Canadiens with some life, burying a wrister past Andrei Vasilevskiy. Montreal went into the final period of play down 4-2.

The Habs wouldn't go down without a fight. Brendan Gallagher registered his second goal on another wicked wrister from the slot. Montreal made a hard push, peppering Vasilesvkiy, but it wasn't enough.

Anthony Cirelli capped the game off with an empty-net goal as Tampa Bay took down Montreal 5-3 on Sunday afternoon.

NHL: Andrei Vasilevskiy - Source: Imagn

For the Montreal Canadiens, the two-week hiatus for the 4 Nations Face-Off couldn't come at a better time. They'll return from the break on Saturday, February 22, for a matchup in Ottawa against the Senators. The puck drops at 7 p.m. ET at Canadian Tire Centre.

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3 least impressive players from the Montreal Canadiens' 5-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning

#1. Nick Suzuki

It was a disappointing game for the Canadiens captain. Nick Suzuki was held pointless, with two shots on goal and had a -2 rating in 20:26 of ice time.

The 25-year-old has been in a recent slump, producing just one point (one assist) in his last six games. The Canadiens need their top line to start scoring if they want to keep their diminishing playoff chances alive.

#2. Jakub Dobes

While he didn't get much help in front of him, Jakub Dobes had a tough afternoon. The goaltender was pulled after allowing three goals on just eight shots.

The 23-year-old has been a great story for the Canadiens, going 5-3-1 to begin his NHL career. The experience of getting pulled is something all goalies go through, so they hope he's able to shake it off and rebound moving forward.

#3. Mike Matheson

Despite registering an assist, Mike Matheson was not at his best against Tampa Bay. The 30-year-old blueliner produced one assist in 23:31 minutes of ice time.

Matheson also took a penalty just after Montreal scored. It killed all the momentum the Habs had generated. He's now had a -8 rating in his last 10 games played.