MONTREAL - The Montreal Canadiens, coming off a heartbreaking overtime loss to Carolina on Tuesday, were able to work some last-minute magic of their own on Thursday night.

Juha Lind tie-breaking goal with 1:45 left in the third period lifted the Montreal Canadiens to a 3-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lighting. Finally, we got a bounce for us, said Canadiens head coach Michel Therrien. If we deserved to win one game, it was that one.

The guys worked very hard and were able to set the tempo. We really deserved that win.

Brian Savage and Craig Darby, an empty-netter with 19 seconds left, also scored for Montreal (15-25-4-3).

Montreal is are 5-2-1-3 in its last 10 games, the best 10-game stretch the Canadiens have had all season. Montreal imrpoved to 8-13-2-1 at home.

We played solid defence all game, said captain Saku Koivu. We haven't played well at home, we've been playing a lot better on the road.

If we want to make the playoffs, we have to start winning these home games.

Mathieu Garon, making his sixth start of the season, had to come up with just 12 saves for his second win in a row. Garon has allowed only two goals in his last three starts.

It was kind of hard to stay focused on the game, said Garon. Those are the hardest kinds of games, with very few shots but some good scoring chances.

But that's my job, to stay focused. And my defencemen played very well in front of me.

Nils Ekman scored for Tampa Bay (13-25-5-2). Kevin Weekes made 27 saves in his second game since coming back from a groin injury that sidelined him three games.

I love playing here, it's one of the true meccas of hockey, said Weekes. It's frustrating (to lose so late in the game). We want to compete in every game, but it doesn't mean much when we don't get at least one point out of it. It takes a lot of the luster out of the effort.

Tampa Bay was outshot 30-13 and has only outshot its opponent eight times all season.

Tampa Bay now has won only one of its last 10 games (1-8-1), and its record under new coach John Tortorella is 1-5-0.

The teams were tied 1-1 when Eric Chouinard, playing just his second NHL game, tipped the puck past the Tampa Bay defence to a streaking Lind, who went in alone on Weekes and beat him on a wrist shot to the top corner. It was Lind's third of the season.

There wasn't much time left, so I was thinking of making sure I was in good defensive position. But I was wide open, said Lind, who plays mainly a checking role for the Habs. It's all about reading the game.

Luckily, well maybe not luckily, maybe Eric saw me when he tipped it over to me. But that's hockey, you get some lucky bounces sometimes.

Ekman tied the game at 6:55 of the third on a partial breakaway when he got behind defencemen Patrice Brisebois and Karl Dykhuis, took a pass from Mike Johnson and fought off a Brisebois check to slip the puck past Garon's glove side.

Savage, who had just finished serving a tripping penalty early in the third, found himself on a 2-on-1 break with Chad Kilger. Savage re-directed a pass from Kilger into an open net to give Montreal the initial lead at 2:56.

Tampa Bay had the two best chances of the second period. Garon made a spectacular stop on Ekman on a point-blank shot, doing the splits and catching the shot with the tip of his skate. With four minutes left in the period, Garon also stopped Kaspars Astashenko on a partial breakaway.

Tampa Bay manged just two shots in the first period.

Notes: Craig Darby returned to the Montreal lineup after missing the previous four games with a separated shoulder. . . .The Canadiens were still missing 10 players, including Dainius Zubrus, Martin Rucinsky, Benoit Brunet and Trevor Linden. . . .Tampa Bay played without star centre Vincent Lecavalier and defenceman Petr Svoboda.