TAMPA, Fla. -- It took 48 starts, but Montreal Canadiens rookie goalie Mike Condon got his first career shutout Thursday night.

Condon stopped all 26 shots he faced in the Canadiens' 3-0 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena.

"Better late than never, I guess, right?" said Condon, who took over as Montreal's top goaltender after Carey Price was lost to injury in November. "It was a really fun game, and I thought the guys played a hell of a defensive effort there. Joel Hanley blocked a shot with his bare hand, stuff like that. That was huge."

David Desharnais and Torrey Mitchell scored goals before Phillip Danault added an empty-netter with 2:28 left, shortly after the Lightning pulled Ben Bishop for an extra attacker.

Tampa Bay (44-28-5) fell two games behind Florida for first place in the Atlantic Division, as the Panthers beat the New Jersey Devils 3-2 Thursday.

The Lightning remain five points ahead of the Boston Bruins for second place in the division with five games to play for both teams. Tampa Bay still has not mathematically clinched a playoff berth, but it is battling for home-ice advantage, at least in the opening round of the playoffs.

"We didn't score any goals," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "The problem is ... it's a little (bit) of a concern to have three shots on goal in the third period. That just can't happen. Not if you're pushing to make the playoffs and you want to have any success in the playoffs."

Montreal (36-36-6) won back-to-back games for only the third time in the last six weeks. The Canadiens were coming off a 4-3 home victory against the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night.

"From top to bottom, it was awesome to see," center Lars Eller said. "The last game against Detroit gave us some confidence as a team. I think we played a great 60 minutes. Before the Detroit game, we might have put together two good periods. Tonight, we deserved to win."

Tampa Bay was shut out once in the previous 56 games, while Montreal hadn't recorded a shutout since getting two from Price in October.

"We were hoping to take a step forward," said Bishop, who made 21 saves. "Just a lot of people talking the talk and not many guys walking the walk.

"We've got five games left. We'll figure it out. ... It didn't look like we had five guys on the same page. We still have some time to figure it out."

Montreal, trying to play spoiler after getting eliminated from playoff contention, took a 2-0 lead into the third period thanks to strong play from Condon.

The Canadiens opened the scoring midway through the first period, with Desharnais collecting his 10th goal of the season on a rebound from a shot by Sven Andrighetto.

Montreal build on the advantage in the opening minute of the second period. Mitchell pushed down the left side, beat defenseman Andrej Sustr and flicked the puck to the top right corner of the goal past Bishop for his 10th goal of the season and a 2-0 lead.

Tampa Bay had a chance to cut into the lead when Palat drew a penalty shot on a breakaway, but his first career penalty shot was stopped by Condon to preserve the two-goal lead.

NOTES: The Lightning got back two key forwards who were out with injuries. RW Ryan Callahan had missed five games with a lower-body injury and RW Nikita Kucherov was two games with a lower-body injury. ... Lightning D Anton Stralman is out a month or more with a broken leg, and RW Erik Condra, RW Mike Blunden and D Nikita Nesterov were healthy scratches. ... Montreal is also without a top defenseman. P.K. Subban missed a 10th game with his neck injury, with Victor Bartley (sixth, lower body) and Mark Barberio (seventh, concussion) remaining out as well as RW Brendan Gallagher (11th, lower). RW Mike Brown was a healthy scratch. ... The teams will face off again in the regular-season finale on April 9 in Montreal, with the Lightning playing four games in eight days between the meetings.