TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Juraj Slafkovsky scored his third power-play goal 1:22 into overtime and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 in Game 1 of their first-round series on Sunday night.
Slafkovsky fired a snap shot from the left circle that beat Andrei Vasilevskiy to the far side for his first career postseason hat trick.
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Montréal Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes (75) makes a save on a shot by Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak (81) during the first period in Game 1 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series, Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Montréal Canadiens right wing Josh Anderson (17) celebrates after scoring against the Tampa Bay Lightning during the first period in Game 1 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series, Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Montréal Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes (75) makes a glove save on a shot by the Tampa Bay Lightning during the second period in Game 1 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series, Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Darren Raddysh (43) celebrates his goal against the Montréal Canadiens during the second period in Game 1 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series, Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Montréal Canadiens left wing Juraj Slafkovský (20) celebrates his goal with right wing Cole Caufield against the Tampa Bay Lightning during overtime in Game 1 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series, Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
“It's pretty nice. I like that feeling,” he said. “Obviously, we don't want to go to overtime. Hopefully we close out games before that. But now we have to focus on the next game.”
Game 2 is Tuesday night at Benchmark International Arena, where Tampa Bay has lost nine of its last 10 home games in the postseason. The Lightning are 1-11 in their last 12 overtime games in the playoffs.
“We took four offensive zone penalties,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “That wasn't over-aggression. That was stupidity. This is the Stanley Cup playoffs. This isn't game 62. That's extremely disappointing.”
Josh Anderson also had a goal for Montreal, and rookie goalie Jakub Dobes made 20 saves.
“His style of play and energy and speed and physicality is perfect for playoff hockey,” Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki said of Anderson. “He had a big night for us.”
Brandon Hagel scored two goals and Darren Raddysh also scored for Tampa Bay.
The Lightning have been knocked out of the playoffs in the first round three straight seasons after falling two wins shy of a three-peat in 2022.
The Canadiens, coached by Lightning icon and Hockey Hall of Famer Martin St. Louis, are seeking their first Stanley Cup since winning their NHL record 24th in 1993. They haven’t won a playoff series since the Lightning beat them in the Cup Final in 2021.
Hagel’s power-play goal — a tip-in off a precise pass by Jake Guentzel 8:58 into the third — tied it at 3-3 a few minutes after Slafkovsky put Montreal ahead.
Slafkovsky’s shot from the high slot slid under Vasilevskiy’s left pad for a short-lived lead. He one-timed a perfect seam pass from Ivan Demidov into the net from the right circle to make it 2-2 in the final minute of the second.
Raddysh tied it at 1 with a powerful slap shot in the second. The Lightning went ahead 2-1 just 29 seconds later when Hagel picked up a loose puck from the side of the net and backhanded a shot past Dobes.
Montreal’s fourth line gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead in the first when Anderson flipped a top-shelf shot into an open net.
Anderson also had a goal overturned by video review midway through the second period. He deflected Mike Matheson’s slap shot past Vasilevskiy but it was waved off because his stick was above the crossbar.
AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Montréal Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes (75) makes a save on a shot by Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak (81) during the first period in Game 1 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series, Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Montréal Canadiens right wing Josh Anderson (17) celebrates after scoring against the Tampa Bay Lightning during the first period in Game 1 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series, Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Montréal Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes (75) makes a glove save on a shot by the Tampa Bay Lightning during the second period in Game 1 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series, Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Darren Raddysh (43) celebrates his goal against the Montréal Canadiens during the second period in Game 1 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series, Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Montréal Canadiens left wing Juraj Slafkovský (20) celebrates his goal with right wing Cole Caufield against the Tampa Bay Lightning during overtime in Game 1 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series, Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) — A Louisiana father fatally shot eight children, including seven of his own, during an early morning attack on his family Sunday that stretched across two houses in a Shreveport neighborhood left shaken by one of the nation’s deadliest mass shootings in recent years, police said.
Two women, including the gunman's wife who was the mother of their children, were also shot and critically injured, according to Shreveport Police Department spokesperson Chris Bordelon. Officials said the children — who were all killed in the same house — ranged in age from 3 to 11 years old.
The gunman, identified as 31-year-old Shamar Elkins, died after a police pursuit that ended with officers firing on him, according to Bordelon. Authorities did not say what may have set off the violence but Bordelon said detectives were confident the shooting was “entirely a domestic incident.”
The attack was the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. in more than two years.
“I just don’t know what to say, my heart is just taken aback,” Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith said. “I cannot begin to imagine how such an event could occur.”
Bordelon said police were familiar with Elkins, who had been arrested in a 2019 firearms case, but he said officials were not aware of any other domestic violence issues.
Police said the attacks began before sunrise in a neighborhood south of downtown Shreveport when the suspect shot a woman at one home and then drove to the other location “where this heinous act was carried out.”
Seven children were killed inside the second house, and one was found dead on the roof after apparently trying to escape, Bordelon said. Another child jumped off the roof and was expected to survive after being taken to a hospital.
State Rep. Tammy Phelps said some children tried to get away through the back door. “I can't even imagine what the police officers, first responders actually dealt with when they got here today,” she said at a news conference.
The victims were three boys and five girls, according to the Caddo Parish Coroner’s office.
Shamar Elkins and his wife were in the middle of separating and were due in court Monday, said Crystal Brown, who is a cousin of one of the wounded women. Brown said the couple had been arguing about the separation before the shooting.
“He murdered his children," Brown said. “He shot his wife.”
Elkins shared four children with his wife and three children with another woman who lived close by and who was also shot, according to Brown. All the children were together at one house, she said.
Brown described all the children as “happy kids, very friendly, very sweet.”
Liza Demming, who lives two houses down from where most of the victims were shot, said her security camera captured video of the suspect running away along with the sound of two shots.
“That’s pretty much all I saw, was him running out of the house and the cars leaving,” she said.
Demming later went outside and saw the covered body of a child on the home’s roof. She said she did not know the gunman’s name.
“He looks like the dad that comes over here,” she said, adding that he was just with the children a few days ago.
Pastor Marty T. Johnson Sr., of nearby St. Gabriel Community Baptist Church, who owns one of the homes where the shootings occurred, said a person who works for him had rented it to the family, but he never had dealings with them.
The Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office released a statement on Sunday saying it was not yet releasing any of the children’s names because identification of the victims was pending.
“What began as a domestic dispute has ended in irreversible harm,” the parish's district attorney’s office said in a statement.
It was the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. since eight people were killed in a Chicago suburb in January 2024, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University.
At a news conference outside the residence where one of the shootings occurred, officials appeared stunned, requesting patience and prayers from the community as they sorted through multiple crime scenes.
“This is a tragic situation — maybe the worst tragic situation we’ve ever had,” said Tom Arceneaux, mayor of the city in northwestern Louisiana with about 180,000 residents. “It’s a terrible morning.”
Louisiana State Police say their detectives have been asked by Shreveport police to help investigate. In a statement, state police said no officers were harmed in the shooting that involved an officer after a police pursuit into Bossier City on Sunday morning.
State police are asking anyone with pictures, video or information to share it with state police detectives.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, who is from Shreveport, said in separate statements that they were heartbroken and praised law enforcement for their response.
“We’re holding the victims, their families and loved ones, and our Shreveport community close in our thoughts and prayers during this incredibly difficult time,” Johnson said in a statement.
This story has been corrected to attribute the statements about the shooting to police spokesperson Chris Bordelon, not Police Chief Wayne Smith, and corrects the ages of the children killed based on updates by officials.
Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio. Contributing were Associated Press reporters Jake Offenhartz in New York, Jeff Martin in Atlanta, Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis, Terry Tang in Phoenix and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles.
People light candles during a prayer vigil for the victims of a mass shooting earlier in the day, Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Shreveport, La. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Councilman Reverend James Green consoles people outside the scene of a mass shooting, Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Shreveport, La. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
People grieve as they comfort each other outside the scene of a mass shooting, Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Shreveport, La. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
People are consoled outside the scene of a mass shooting, Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Shreveport, La. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
People grieve as they comfort each other outside the scene of a mass shooting, Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Shreveport, La. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Council woman Tabatha Taylor, right, hugs an unknown person outside the scene of a mass shooting in Shreveport, La., Sunday, April 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
People are consoled outside the scene of a mass shooting, Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Shreveport, La. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Police enter a house in Shreveport, La., that is one of the locations tied to a mass shooting Sunday, April 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Police work outside a house in Shreveport, La., that is one of the locations tied to a mass shooting Sunday, April 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Council woman Tabatha Taylor arrives on the scene of a mass shooting in Shreveport, La., Sunday, April 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
