April 9th, 2016

The teams come back for the third period and start off with the same lineup that was used in the first period.

Almost immediately at the start of the period, Markov goes after Vladdy, tripping him up with his stick and causing the blond to fall to the ice on his face. Vladdy sighs and gets back to his skates knowing it is pointless to whine to a ref who missed it on purpose. Gallagher gets a shot on the net, but he is stopped again by Bishop, who glares at him.

Gallagher smugly shrugs and rolls his eyes, poking Bishop with the blade of his stick, making the Lightning goaltender swing at him and miss. Vladdy shakes his head and heads to the bench, completing a line change.

As he gets settled down in his spot on the bench, Blunden almost scores on Condon, but the goal gets called back after a Montreal challenge and review of the goal. Instead, Blunden is called for interference. Blunden mouths his dislike of the call but heads off as the Lightning head to a penalty kill.

Ondrej takes the ice with Filppula for the kill. Vladdy watches as Ondrej blocks a shot and carries the puck out of the zone, only to run into Emelin's hands, as he raises them up and checks Ondrej in the face. The scene goes unnoticed as the refs are focused on the puck and the play happening.

"PALLY!" Vladdy screams from the bench, jumping to his feet.

Ondrej groans and lifts himself up, bleeding from a cut on his cheek. He skates with difficulty back to the bench and sits down. "I'm fine. I'm fine." He doubles over, clearly in pain. Vladdy reaches over and touches him on the arm and Ondrej sits up and blinks. "I'm fine." He laughs, looking at Vladdy. "Do you have healing powers?"

Vladdy cocks his head. "I don't know."

Ondrej spins and looks toward the tunnel, where Ryan Callahan and Victor Hedman appear. They sit down on the bench, ready to play. "What's going on? I thought--"

Vladdy smiles. "I guess I can heal people! Which means...TJ!"

Callahan turns to him. "Kid, TJ's concussed...he ain't coming back...our injuries were minor and, you need us from the way this game has gone."

Victor nods.

About five minutes into the third, Gallagher and Vladdy find themselves back on the ice together. Gallagher taunts Vladdy and pokes and prods him with his stick. It gets to a point where he throws Vladdy down to the ice and pins him down in place.

"You can't win!" Gallagher snarls.

He cross-checks Vladdy again and then pries Yzerchuk from his hands, sending the stick skidding across the ice to the skates of Galchenyuk, who picks it up gingerly. Vladdy grabs Gallagher's stick and tries to prevent him from hurting him.

Thankfully the refs come over and grab Gallagher, dragging him to the box for roughing and Vladdy scrambles to his skates and goes over to Galchenyuk, who passes him Yzerchuk back. Vladdy nods his head at the Hab and shakes off Gallagher's attack, heading to the faceoff for the power play. He wins the draw and the Lightning immediately head to the attacking zone. They set up a nice look and Nikita gets the puck and banks it hard at the net, where Vladdy is screening the goalie. Vladdy taps the puck with a waving stick and manages to knock the small black disc into the back of the net.

4-2 Lightning with a power play goal from Vladdy Namestnikov.

What follows is a surge by the Canadiens as Plekanec and Pacioretty almost score without Vladdy on the ice. Suddenly Gallagher and the Habs realize that Vladdy is alive and working and must be stopped.

By any means necessary.

Gallagher leans over to Emelin and whispers softly so only the two of them can hear, "Finish Vladdy and his stick and make sure there's no hat trick!" Emelin nods with a curt grunt and Gallagher chuckles to himself. "It's time to say goodbye to Vladdy Namestnikov."

A little more than halfway through the period, Vladdy hops over the boards with Ondrej and Nikita flanking him. Gallagher nods to Emelin, who nods back. The pest then spins to his coach and whispers, "Coach, put Emelin on the ice."

Therrien looks at him and nods, silently. He taps Emelin, who hops on. Galchenyuk desiphers what is going to happen and whirls around. "Send me out too, Coach!" Therrien sighs and agrees, calling Byron off. Pacioretty and Plekanec join Galchenyuk.

Galchenyuk heads to the faceoff dot, where Vladdy is. Vladdy dips his head at him. "Listen, Gally told Emelin something, so don't worry about him, I'll handle him if he tries anything. Get the hat trick and get the win!"

The puck drops and Vladdy clearly wins it. The puck is purposefully dished toward the boards where Vladdy heads to try and dig it out. Emelin skates for Vladdy, intent on drilling him into the boards and Galchenyuk sees.

"VLADDY, LOOK OUT! NO!!" Galchenyuk screams and skates as fast as he can toward the action.

Gallagher jumps to his feet on the bench, along with all of the Lightning players. Vladdy looks up, just as Galchenyuk launches himself in-between Emelin and himself, taking the brunt of the oncoming hit. He flies into the boards to the side of the stunned Vladdy and slumps on the ice on his face, unconscious.

Vladdy drops down to him at once. "Chucky! Chucky, speak to me!" He feels for a pulse, tears coming to his eyes. One tear drops on Galchenyuk's cheek. "Chucky, come on, get up! Please!"

Galchenyuk remains unmoving as Pacioretty and Ondrej call for medical staff and then glare at one another. Medical people swarm the limp forward on the ice and Vladdy falls backward, looking toward the bench, where Gallagher is gawking at the sight in horror.

Nikita and Ondrej rush over to him and help Vladdy to his skates as Galchenyuk remains unmoving and there is an eerie quiet in the building. Emelin takes a few steps back in his skates and stares at the scene. Pacioretty and Plekanec join him on either side, while Victor and Carle help the medical staff out.

"Come on Chucky, please be okay," Vladdy whispers.

They manage to get Galchenyuk on a stretcher and wheel him off the ice. Vladdy drops his head as the refs shove Emelin toward the tunnel and toss him from the game to join Pateryn. He exits the ice, shaking his head and angry with himself. Vladdy soon looks up to see Gallagher hop onto the ice and zoom over to where the stretcher is being wheeled off to the Zamboni entrance.

He lowers his head and puts his hand out toward his teammate, unable to speak. Vladdy shakes Ondrej and Nikita off of him and skates over to Gallagher, skidding to a halt beside his mortal enemy.

"Vladislav, if you are here to gloat..." Gallagher grumbles, more upset than angry.

"No, I'm here to tell you to stop. He tried to warn you. Something bad will always come from Montreal seeking revenge and cheating. It's time to stop, Gally. Do it for Chucky. I am willing to forgive you, but only if you do the same," Vladdy says, holding his hand out.

Gallagher sighs and turns to Vladdy, cracking a sweet smile for once. "You're right." He shakes his head and then looks toward the bench and throws his arm out, pointing at his coach. "Therrien did this! He told me you all were cheating and that we had to too. And then, when I refused to listen, he had Bergevin threaten me and he drugged me! The drug drove me insane but now...now I see...it's worn off! Chucky was right all along!"

Vladdy glances at Therrien, along with everyone else in the arena. "What the--really?"

"It's true!" Andreychuk's voice rings out.

"He started everything from what Bergevin boasted to me back in 2014!" Yzerman's voice says now.

"Oh shut up Yzerman and Andreychuk!" Bergevin's voice snaps. "Therrien was getting sick of the refs always calling out his players, so he tampered with the Dallas Stars' players skates first. The big, blundering, foolish Russian forward collided with our goalie and that stupid ex-Bruin fell on his face trying to make a one-timer and missed. That led to a breakaway from our superstar Pacioretty."

"Screw you Marc!" Therrien's voice now booms out. "It was never my idea! It was always yours! You told me to tamper with Tyler Seguin and Val Nichushkin's skates so we could get a win and get into the playoffs, so I did! And then you told me to sabotage the Lightning in the playoffs, so I did! You're welcome!"

"You're an idiot, Therrien!" Jon Cooper's voice comes, joining in the argument.

"And if he told you to jump off a bridge, Michel, would you?" Yzerman snarls.

While they all continue to argue, Gallagher suddenly spins to Vladdy, who is distracted by the moment and he smirks darkly and takes advantage, punching the unsuspecting Lightning player with a fist, taking him by surprise. Vladdy falls to the ice with a scream that ends the arguing from the GMs, head coaches and Andreychuk. Gallagher then yanks Yzerchuk from his hands.

Vladdy hovers over the ice and coughs up blood from the hit as Ondrej, Nikita and Victor rush over to him. Gallagher then kicks Vladdy in the side. "I thought you'd changed?!"

"Haven't you learned not to trust a Hab, sweetie?" Gallagher sneers. "And look, I have your stick!"

Victor snatches Yzerchuk from Gallagher and snorts with anger at him. "Get out of here you scum!"

"Heh-heh language Heddy. Turns out Chucky was just a minor inconvenience, now with him gone, we can focus on taking you down!"

"You'll have to get through us first Gally!" Ondrej declares.

"Fine. I'm flexible, keep your head up Palat, Emelin's gonna destroy you next when he comes back out!" Gallagher snickers and heads to the bench. "Let's play some hockey bitches!"

 Vladdy gathers himself and is helped to his skates. He is passed Yzerchuk once more.

"Piss off Yzerman, let's see if your team can handle us for the end of the game?" Bergevin and Therrien snarl.

"Last I checked you cheaters were down 4-2 thanks to our secret weapon!" the GM of the Lightning retorts. 

"Oh, yes, the brave little Vladdy Namestnikov, of course!" Therrien snarls.

Vladdy gets to the bench and wipes his mouth free of blood. "I'm good, just stunned by that prick! We gotta win this for Chucky guys!"

"And you can't do it without me," a familiar, warm voice remarks.

Vladdy perks up, along with Ondrej and Nikita, who break out in smiles and exclaim, "TJ!"

TJ emerges from the tunnel, with a smile on his face. "Montreal can't keep me out for long. And besides, I have unfinished business! Luckily when I left, Vladdy touched me with Yzerchuk. As soon as he did, I began to feel better. And Vladdy, I heard about Galchenyuk, he won't go down for nothing. Triplets, assemble, let's get 'em!"

He skates onto the ice with an excited Ondrej and Nikita. Vladdy and Victor join them for the first power play unit. TJ drops down, ready for action. He wins the puck and gets it back to Vladdy who sends it to Victor. They pass, shuffle and contain the Canadiens, moving them around. Vladdy takes a shot, followed by TJ and then Nikita. All shots are blocked or stopped though.

Gallagher starts a Montreal rush with Bishop standing tall, until three minutes, when the Lightning gain control and reverse the pressure. The clock ticks down to under one minute left, Vladdy enters the zone with Drouin and Carle flanking him.

Drouin dekes Markov and sidesteps Emelin, while Vladdy spins around Gallagher and receives the pass from Drouin. He fools Condon and quickly pulls to his backhand mimicking a Patrick Kane-esque shootout goal. He is able to just reach his arm out and get it past the outstretched, desperate goalie's skate blade and into the back of the net.

Vladdy whips Yzerchuk over the goal at once and slams into the boards, where he is instantly greeted by his teammates. "THAT'S FOR YOU CHUCKY!!"

And with that, the Lightning win and take down the Canadiens 5-2 with a Vladdy hat trick!