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MONTREAL (Ticker) -- The Tampa Bay Lightning weathered an early storm and completed the first playoff sweep in team history.

Defenseman Dan Boyle scored a power-play goal and Brad Richards snapped a tie for his second consecutive game-winner as the Lightning wrapped up their Eastern Conference semifinal series with a 3-1 triumph over the Montreal Canadiens .

Facing just the fourth four-game sweep in their storied history, the Canadiens came out hard and took a 1-0 lead 5:46 into the game on Niklas Sundstrom 's goal. But Boyle, whose turnover helped create the deficit, redeemed himself midway through the second period.

Two nights after breaking the hearts of a sellout crowd at the Bell Centre, Richards struck again. Taking a feed from Dmitry Afanasenkov low in the left faceoff circle, he put a backhander past goaltender Jose Theodore with 2:46 left in the second, giving Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead.

" Brad Richards gets less headlines than we do, he gets left out," said Tampa Bay right wing Martin St. Louis, a Hart Trophy finalist. "People don't even realize he's on our team. He doesn't get the publicity he deserves, but he's important."

Fredrik Modin ended Montreal's hopes with an empty-netter and Nikolai Khabibulin made 27 saves for the Lightning, who improved to 4-0 on the road and advanced to the conference finals for the first time.

"I didn't expect a sweep. It's incredible," Richards said. "Things happened so fast in this series. I thought we'd have a long series, but we were able to get key goals at key times."

"Give Tampa Bay credit, they showed why they came in first in the East," Montreal defenseman Craig Rivet said. "They were quick to capitalize on any mistakes we made."

Theodore stopped 21 shots for the Canadiens, who lost right wing Richard Zednik to a lower left leg injury in the first period.

"We did the best we could in the last two games," Theodore said. "We had a great run, but it's frustrating. But this is a building process for the future."

While falling in his own zone, Boyle coughed up the puck to Joe Juneau at the left point. Juneau made a cross-ice pass to Sundstrom, who beat Khabibulin with a backhander from the bottom of the right circle to give Montreal a 1-0 lead.

"I fell down," Boyle said. "It was a lucky play for Montreal."

Zednik nearly doubled the Canadiens' advantage with a minute to go, but his shot hit the shaft of Khabibulin's stick and glanced off the crossbar. Moments later, Zednik was injured after he was tackled by Modin.

Boyle made up for his gaffe during a power play in the second period. From the right corner, Vincent Lecavalier made a pass that hit Boyle's skate in the right circle and deflected past Theodore at 11:57. It was the defenseman's first career playoff tally.

A former Stanley Cup winner with New Jersey, Jim Dowd left a drop pass in the Tampa Bay zone that was picked up by Afanasenkov. After carrying up the left side, Afanasenkov dished to Richards, who netted his third goal in two games and fourth of the postseason.

"I can't explain my goal, but it was a great play by Affy," Richards said. "He doesn't get as much credit as he deserves. He's supposed to be a defensive player, but look how hard he worked to set up the goal."

Theodore kept Montreal in the game with a save on a spinaround shot from the slot by Afanasenkov with 13 minutes to go in the third. But Khabibulin preserved Tampa Bay's seventh consecutive win with stops on Yanic Perreault and Saku Koivu .

"Montreal really played well, but we capitalized on our chances," Tampa Bay coach John Tortorella said. "This is what hockey's all about." The Canadiens' captain, Koivu holds a share of the playoff scoring lead with 11 points, despite playing with injuries.

"Nobody knows this, but Saku Koivu played this entire series and all the games against the Bruins with broken ribs, shattered cartilage and a bruised lung," Montreal coach Claude Julien said. "He got a dirty check from Martin Lapointe in the first game in Boston."

"I'm not feeling too good right now," Koivu admitted.