Canadiens Lineup

Josh Anderson – Nick Suzuki – Cole Caufield

 Tyler Toffoli – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher

Paul Byron – Jake Evans – Artturi Lehkonen

Joel Armia – Eric Staal – Corey Perry

Ben Chiarot – Shea Weber

Joel Edmundson – Jeff Petry

Alexander Romanov – Brett Kulak

Carey Price – Jake Allen

Tomas Tatar, Michael Frolik, Charlie Lindgren, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Erik Gustafsson, Jon Merrill

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

Jonathan Drouin (undisclosed)

Game Report

The start of this game looked very familiar. It was almost a repeat of Game 4 with the Lightning dominating play in all areas of the ice. With the shots 13-4 for Tampa, the Canadiens were very grateful for the outstanding performance of Carey Price who kept the Lightning off the board at the first intermission.

Scoring the first goal was always critical in the Cup Final — it determined the winner of each game — but even more so after a scoreless first period. The only goal of the game came in the second period where Joel Edmundson failed to tie up Ross Colton. And just like that the Canadiens hopes dimmed.

Lack of offence

The Lightning heavily outplayed the Canadiens throughout this game. While Tampa executed smooth entries setting up shop in the Montreal zone for extended periods, Habs puck carriers found themselves pressured at every spot on the ice. The Canadiens had difficulty generating any serious offence at 5-on-5 and on the power-play.

Montreal shots were mostly one-and-done. After the game when asked about his role, Tampa head coach Jon Cooper said, “I just stood there and chewed gum.” Be that what it may, but given the Canadiens lack of offence, goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy had less to do than that. 

Thanks to Price

The Tampa Bay Lightning were the better team, that was clear. They had more talent and depth than the Habs, and that’s on Marc Bergevin. But this close knit group of Canadiens were able to make this an entertaining Final for their fans.

While Canadiens players may have expected to be competing for the Stanley Cup, it was a surprise playoff run to most observers. Montreal had a solid mix of veteran leadership with contributions from their youth but there is no denying that the success was driven by Carey Price. As Jon Cooper said postgame, Price is the best goaltender of his generation and Price was the best goalie that Tampa faced in the playoffs.

Not ready

Fans may be pleased that their team got this far and that the Cup was not won by Tampa on Bell Centre ice. But as Brendan Gallagher said, there are no moral victories in sports. The Canadiens were just three wins away from winning a Stanley Cup.

The players know how difficult ii was to get to the Final, it had been 28 years since the last Canadiens team made it. So that’s why players like Brendan Gallagher, Carey Price and Shea Weber were so disappointed.

This loss in the Stanley Cup Final hurts and it will hurt for quite some time. But it’s up the the Canadiens at every position in the organization to learn from it so that they can battle hard to return. And to be better prepared next time they do.

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