TAMPA, Fla. _ Alex Killorn battled against Montreal's Jordan Weal at the wall for puck possession before fishing it out to the corner.
He stepped back, hovering at the edge of the left faceoff circle in the defensive zone as the puck and traffic moved around the right side of the ice.
And while everyone's attention was focused on where the puck went, no one had sight of Killorn, who raced down the ice in-line with Anthony Cirelli.
Cirelli pulled the puck back, passing it behind him to Killorn in a 2-on-1 formation. Only Montreal defenseman Brett Kulak stood in their way.
Killorn absorbed the puck against the toe of his stick, turning his hips toward his left and fired off a shot toward Carey Price. A ping later, Killorn gave his team a two-goal lead in the 4-0 win over Montreal on Thursday night.
The Lightning forward was already on-pace for a career season, but his first-period goal cemented the deal as he recorded his 48th point of the season, besting his 47-point career-high campaign from 2017-18.
Killorn's play hasn't gone unnoticed by his teammates this season. He has recorded seven multi-point games and has only gone four or more without a point twice this season.
The forward has never played with a goal surge like this (his previous best was 19 goals in 2016-17). Thursday night's goal was No. 25 on the year for Killorn and there are still 15 games to go in the regular season.
Killorn's approach for this season has been different than most. He's more contemplative and more concentrated than before. It shows, too. His average time on ice has increased from his previous seasons, averaging 17:54 this season compared to 14:52 last year. His career-high time was 18 minutes from 2016-17 when he logged a 19-goal season.
The Lightning broke out with an early lead _ quite literally _ scoring in the first 40 seconds against the Canadiens.
Victor Hedman notched the opening goal off a backward pass from Nikita Kucherov. Hedman raced down the ice and sent the puck flying from the top of the slot, getting his team on the board.
Kucherov's night didn't stop there as he tipped in a shot late in the second period. Pat Maroon shuffled off a pass to the right-winger. Kucherov sped past Montreal's Ben Chiarot for the outside position and smacked the piece of rubber past Price for the 3-0 lead.
Hedman notched his second goal of the night with 1:03 left in the third period, once again from the top of the slot for his 11th goal of the season.
