MONTREAL — Tyler Johnson and the quick-strike Tampa Bay Lightning moved a victory away from successfully defending their title, beating the Montreal Canadiens 6-3 on Friday night in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final.

The Lightning caught the Canadiens flat-footed by scoring twice in the opening minutes of each of the first two periods to take a 3-0 series lead. Game 4 is Monday night in Montreal.

Tampa Bay is now in position to join Pittsburgh (2016 and ‘17) in becoming just the second team to win consecutive titles since 1999. The Lightning also have an opportunity to complete the first sweep in the final since Detroit beat Washington in 1998.

Johnson scored twice and Nikita Kurcherov and Victor Hedman each had a goal and assist. Jan Rutta and Blake Coleman, with an empty-netter, also scored for the Lightning, who also won the Cup in 2004. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 31 shots

Vasilevskiy inexplicably whiffed in allowing Nick Suzuki’s shot from the right circle beat him through the legs to cut Tampa Bay’s lead to 4-2 with 1:56 left in the second period. The goalie responded by stopping the first eight shots he faced in the third period, including Joel Armia from in close, before Johnson scored his second goal to put the Lightning up 5-2 with 4:41 left.

The game was the NHL’s first played in the month of July, a year after playing its first games in August.