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MONTREAL (Ticker) -- The Montreal Canadiens were 16.5 seconds away from getting back in their Eastern Conference semifinal series with the Tampa Bay Lightning . Instead, they were pushed to the brink of elimination.

Brad Richards ' second goal of the game 65 seconds into overtime gave the Lightning a 4-3 victory over the Canadiens and a commanding three games to none lead.

Trailing by a goal after two periods, the Canadiens rallied to take the lead on tallies by rookie Michael Ryder and defenseman Patrice Brisebois . But after a faceoff in the Montreal zone, Vincent Lecavalier used a between-the-legs move to redirect Dave Andreychuk 's shot past goaltender Jose Theodore with 16.5 seconds left.

"This is my home and I knew a lot of my family and friends were at the game," said Lecavalier, who lives in Montreal during the offseason. "I had butterflies, but I stayed focused. I can't believe I scored that goal."

"We must hold some kind of record for always allowing goals late in the game," Montreal defenseman Sheldon Souray said.

Just over a minute into overtime, Canadiens rookie defenseman Mike Komisarek turned over the puck in the neutral zone. Richards took a kick pass from Fredrik Modin and skated down the left side before unleashing a shot that Theodore stopped.

From behind the goal line, Richards got his own rebound and banked it off Theodore's left skate for his third playoff goal.

"Fredrik made a great play to get the puck in. I just banked the shot in off the back of Jose Theodore 's pad," Richards said. "You can't know how good I am feeling. ... I'm so happy my father was in the building to see me play and get the winner."

Cory Stillman also scored for the Lightning, who extended their playoff winning streak to six games.

"Montreal outplayed us," Tampa Bay coach John Tortorella said. "But look at your local newspaper here tomorrow morning and you'll see that we got the win."

Alexei Kovalev netted his sixth tally for Montreal, which will try to extend the series at home on Thursday.

"It's frustrating, we were just 17 seconds away from getting back in this series," Canadiens captain Saku Koivu said. "I can't explain it. We gave everything we could."

"Right now, I'm stunned with disbelief," Souray added. "Now we have a big mountain to climb and the road is going to be tough."

Energized by a sellout crowd at the Bell Centre, the Canadiens stormed out of the gate and attacked Tampa Bay with strong, physical play. But they could not penetrate Nikolai Khabibulin , who stopped Richard Zednik from the doorstep late in the first period and denied Steve Begin 's redirection four minutes into the second.

"They turned it up to a different level," Tortorella admitted. "They went after Lecavalier and (Martin) St. Louis right at the start of the game. We expected that, it's part of hockey."

With Montreal on the power play midway through the period, Stillman intercepted a pass by Souray and raced in on a breakaway but put a backhander wide. Just 20 seconds later, Stillman made the most of another breakaway chance, backhanding a shot past Theodore at 8:41.

"Things can change so quick in hockey," Stillman said. "I got a break and luckily, I was able to score a goal."

The Canadiens tied it 52 seconds later on Kovalev's power-play tally. It was the first playoff goal allowed on the road by Khabibulin, who posted a pair of shutouts against the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum in the conference quarterfinals.

But Richards redirected a shot by St. Louis past Theodore at 12:24 for a power-play goal.

After failing to score on his first 34 postseason shots, Ryder finally cashed in on the rebound of defenseman Craig Rivet 's point shot, flipping a backhander by Khabibulin at 10:32 of the third.

Brisebois snapped a shot that beat a screened Khabibulin, putting Montreal ahead with 3:47 remaining.

"We showed everyone that we don't give up," Kovalev said. "We proved that even though we were down 2-1 in tonight's game, we still know how to put the puck in the net."

But on a play reminiscent of the goal by San Jose's Jonathan Cheechoo on Saturday, Lecavalier put his stick between his legs and deflected Andreychuk's shot for his fifth goal of the series.

"As a coach standing behind the bench, it's frustrating to see the way they tied up the game and then they won it," Montreal's Claude Julien said. "It's a hard loss to take and we are bitter. But we will have courage on Thursday night."