FINAL | Round 3, Game 2 | Wednesday June 16, 2021

Series tied 1-1

Canadiens Lineup

Tyler Toffoli – Nick Suzuki – Cole Caufield

Artturi Lehkonen – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher

Paul Byron – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Josh Anderson

Joel Armia – Eric Staal – Corey Perry

Ben Chiarot – Shea Weber

Joel Edmundson – Jeff Petry

Erik Gustafsson – Jon Merrill

Carey Price – Jake Allen

Tomas Tatar, Michael Frolik, Charlie Lindgren, Brett Kulak, Alexander Romanov

Alex Belzile, Laurent Dauphin, Lukas Vejdemo, Jesse Ylonen, Cale Fleury, Otto Leskinen, Xavier Ouellet, Cayden Primeau, Michael McNiven

Jonathan Drouin (undisclosed), Jake Evans (concussion)

Game Report

It was a chaotic start, and that was even before the puck dropped at T-Mobile Arena.

Eight Habs defencemen were on the ice for the warm-up with Jeff Petry and Alexander Romanov not taking part in the line rushes. With the team back in the dressing room, the Montreal Canadiens tweeted the starting lineup which included Brett Kulak. Romanov and Petry were scratched according to the team.

But wait a minute. When the game rosters were posted by the NHL, Petry was in and Kulak was out. Was it gamesmanship at work?

Petry was playing with dislocated fingers in a modified glove and two heavily bloodshot eyes. But his impact was felt in the game immediately. 

Petry has not played well in the playoffs but his presence in the lineup gave Luke Richardson four defencemen on which he could rely. And Petry did what he does well: move the puck.

The Canadiens played a strong team game in the first period with each line putting pressure on the Knights. But it was Montreal’s fourth line who opened the scoring with Joel Armia picking up his fifth goal of the playoffs. With three-and-a-half minutes left in the first period, Petry created a scoring opportunity with Tyler Toffoli’s mishit fooling Marc-Andre Fleury.

The final 40 minutes belonged to the Golden Knights as they outshot Montreal 27-11. It was an constant onslaught particularly in the final five minutes of the third period where they mounted immense pressure. Carey Price was sensational once again making 29 saves, including 16 stops in the final frame.

This game belonged to the Canadiens veterans, the ones who made an extra reach to deflect a pass, and who put bruised bodies in the path to block another shot. Playoff games can turn on the smallest of plays meaning each player, particularly the Canadiens young players, must focus on executing every detail of each shift.

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