Lightning’s D’Astous shows flash in dream night win at Bell Centre

Tampa Bay Lightning' Charle-Edouard D'Astous (51) celebrates his goal with teammates Nikita Kucherov (86) and Darren Raddysh (43) during second period NHL hockey action against the Montreal Canadiens in Montreal on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov

MONTREAL — All it takes is a quick glance at Charle-Edouard D’Astous’ HockeyDB page to realize just how much passion he has for the game.

The 27-year-old native of Rimouski, Que., has already played in six different leagues over the course of his young career, beginning in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League with the Rimouski Oceanic, with pitstops along the way in both Finland and Sweden’s top leagues.

All roads, however, ultimately led to the NHL for D’Astous, with the defenceman signing a one-year, two-way contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning in May.

“When I left the East Coast Hockey League to sign in Finland, I told everybody that I would be back in North America to play in the NHL,” said D’Astous. “That’s exactly what happened.”

The 50 or so friends and family members in attendance at Tuesday night’s 6-1 Lightning win over the Montreal Canadiens were treated to quite the show. D’Astous scored a second-period goal to give Tampa Bay a 4-0 lead. He also finished the night with a plus-five rating, five shots, one hit and a pair of minor penalties.

“If you would have told me before the game that I would score a goal and finish plus-five, I would have taken it right away,” said D’Astous. “Everything went great overall. I’m really happy with my game.”

It was D’Astous’ first game on Quebec soil since 2019, his final year with the Oceanic.

“I was a little nervous, but the good kind of nervous,” he said. “I was just excited to be able to play at the Bell Centre. Everyone has been saying how this is one of the best places to play. It was really fun.”

“I can’t imagine being a French-Canadian and getting to play in this atmosphere,” said Lightning head coach Jon Cooper. “I’m from the West Coast and I think it’s sick being here. It’s a really special place. It’s one-of-a-kind. That’s got to be a dream come true for him.”

Since being called up from the Lightning’s AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, on Oct. 20, D’Astous has scored three goals and collected six assists for nine points across 23 games.

With each passing game, D’Astous says he has not only improved as a hockey player, but built up his own self-confidence as well.

“I’ve played at times on the power play and on the penalty kill as well,” said D’Astous. “I think I have earned a spot in this league and I know I can play at this level.”

D’Astous’ confidence (and ice-time) may climb even higher with the first-period injury suffered by veteran Lightning defenceman Victor Hedman on Tuesday.

Cooper expressed concern about the 34-year-old, who had only returned to the Lightning lineup on Saturday after missing 12 games with an undisclosed injury.

“We’ll get him re-evaluated here,” said Cooper. “We still have a couple games on this road trip, but it’s tough to lose the big guy. He’s such an important part of our team. Fingers crossed here.”

In the event Hedman is on the shelf again, Cooper says he won’t shy away from continuing to rely on D’Astous and the rest of his D corps to shoulder the load.

“Guys are getting more ice time and there’s a lot of confidence in the group,” said Cooper. “They’re not afraid to make a mistake. There’s just good chemistry back there with the guys and so far, it’s worked out well for us.”

Canadiens make post-game call-ups

Immediately following Tuesday’s loss to the Lightning, the Montreal Canadiens recalled forward Owen Beck, defenceman Adam Engstrom and goaltender Jacob Fowler from the Laval Rocket of the AHL. It marks the second call-up this season for both Beck and Engstrom, who each went scoreless in two games with Montreal earlier this season.

For Fowler, however, it is his first NHL call-up. The Melbourne, Fla., native leads the AHL with 10 wins to go along with a 2.09 goals-against average, .919 save-percentage and three shutouts.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 10, 2025.

Jordan Stoopler, The Canadian Press