CANADIENS
Montreal

1-2

LIGHTNING
Tampa Bay

Game Report

It was a well-played, entertaining game.  The Canadiens came out of the gate strong bringing the play and their physicality to the Lightning.  Montreal had six shots on goal, two goalposts and 18 hits for about the first thirteen minutes of the first period.

At the 12:52 mark, Brian Boyle was called for the first penalty of the game as he interfered with the Habs Torrey Mitchell.  The Canadiens had four shots on goal on the resulting power-play but the penalty-kill seemed to energize the Lightning. After their own power-play a short time later Tampa Bay were much more in control.

From that point on, it was a much more even contest. It was two skating teams that played physically.  The Canadiens did a much better job bringing the puck to the centre of the ice but could not finish.

Tomas Plekanec and Lars Eller centred the most dangerous lines. The Plekanec trio with Brendan Gallagher and Max Pacioretty had 19 shots on goal while Eller’s crew had 17 hits. Eller, who continues to be the Habs best forward in the playoffs, was a team-best 68 per cent in the faceoff circle with Tomas Plekanec close behind at 66 per cent.

By the coach’s description, Alex Galchenyuk had a “tough night.” In addition to his three minor penalties, Galchenyuk was making poor decisions with the puck. David Desharnais had a team worst Corsi differential of minus-17 yet played more than 20 minutes. Of considerable concern for fans was Desharnais continuing to take a spot on the first wave of the power-play.

Just over two minutes after the Lightning went out to a 1-0 early in the third period, Tyler Johnson went to the box for holding Brendan Gallagher. The Canadiens had a prime opportunity to tie the game. Desharnais lost the ensuing offensive zone faceoff and it took considerable time for the Canadiens to return.  With Desharnais attempting to set a screen, 6’8″ Tampa Bay defenceman , Andrej Sustr simply stepped around and ignored Desharnais. The Montreal power-play ended without a shot on goal.

Both goalies played well but Carey Price was the more solid, confident netminder. Ben Bishop made some excellent saves but looked shaky in the early part of the game and particularly on Max Pacioretty’s tying goal. And it was clear that the Habs were getting under the skin of Bishop.

Post-game, Michel Therrien was clearly frustrated that the winning goal was clearly offside. And while one can sympathize, the greater concern is that the Canadiens have scored just four goals in the last four playoff games (excluding the Game 6 empty-netter.) And the Montreal power-play is now 1-for-23 in the playoffs.

This game should be a big boost to the Lightning who, not only grabbed home-ice advantage in the series, but won a double overtime game against a rested Canadiens squad just two nights after defeating the Red Wings.

Montreal lost a close, hard fought game in double overtime. It’s hardly a fatal blow. But, it does feel that this was the game the Canadiens needed to win to make a series of it.

▲     Carey Price, Tomas Plekanec, Max Pacioretty, Lars Eller, Brendan Gallagher, Alexei Emelin, Devante Smith-Pelly, Dale Weise, Brandon Prust, Jacob de la Rose

▼     Alex Galchenyuk, David Desharnais, P.A. Parenteau, Greg Pateryn, Michel Therrien

1.  Nikita Kucherov  TBL
2.  Carey Price  MTL
3.  Ben Bishop  TBL

• “We’re disappointed and frustrated because of the situation (Lightning being offside on the winning goal), but there’s nothing we can do about it. But what I look at more is the way we played, against the Lightning it was definitely our best game. We were the team that put on the pressure, we followed our game plan practically to the letter. There’s a lot of positive to take out of this game.”
• “[Alex Galchenyuk] had a tough night.”

P.K. Subban

• “You get that first goal and it’s a different game, but we didn’t get it. We battled hard, they scored a goal and we battled back to get it back, and I thought in overtime we had a lot of opportunities to end it.”
• “This is probably one of the best games we’ve played all year. I thought we did a good job moving the puck out of our zone and defending and I thought we limited their opportunities to carry the puck through the neutral zone with speed. We did a lot of good things today, except win the game. If we play that way for the rest of the series, I think we’re going to be in a good spot.”

Dale Weise

• “It’s a frustrating way to lose when you lose in a deep game like that, but you’ve got to feel good about our game. We had a lot of chances, and you’ve got to turn the page and come back and win Game 2.”

Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov

• “It’s fun, made the fans frustrated, fun to see the fans go home unhappy. It feels great.”

Lightning goalie Ben Bishop

• “[Max Pacioretty’s goal] didn’t bother me that much. I felt I was playing pretty well. You’d like to have it back. I played baseball for a lot of years, so it’s kind of disappointing.”

Lightning coach Jon Cooper

• “I can’t argue with the ref’s call (waiving off Nikita Kucherov’s goal as he pushed Carey Price into the net.) It’s tough in the moment when you watch it fast. But they’ve got the trained eye, and when I looked at the replay he pushed his pad in the net and didn’t really give Price the chance to make the second save, so it was probably the right call.”
• “You want to know why both these teams have 50 wins? A big reason is they’re both sitting in the blue paint at each end. And that’s why you’re probably going to see all these games go down to what happened tonight.”