First Round Playoffs Game 4 Home game 2 | Tuesday April 22, 2014 | Canadiens win the series 4-0 |
|
|
|
Game Recap:The Canadiens are the first team to qualify for the second round of the playoffs. How unlikely is that? The Habs took an early lead, lost it in the third and found a way to put the Lightning away. Max Pacioretty scored his first ever playoff goal to secure the victory. Carey Price, Lars Eller and Brendan Gallagher, once again, led the way for the Canadiens.
Plus / Minus ▲ Carey Price, Rene Bourque, Lars Eller, Brendan Gallagher, Brian Gionta, Andrei Markov, Tomas Plekanec, Mike Weaver, Dale Weise, Daniel Briere ▼ David Desharnais |
 |
 |
|
4 |
3 |
Boxscore:
| FINAL | 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | SO | T |
| Canadiens | 2 | 1 | 1 | – | – | 4 |
| Lightning | 0 | 1 | 2 | – | – | 3 |
| Summary: | |||||||||||||
|
 |
||||||||||||
Shots on Goal:
| FINAL | 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | T |
| Canadiens | 15 | 14 | 8 | – | 37 |
| Lightning | 6 | 7 | 10 | – | 23 |
| NHL Three Stars | ||
 |
|
 |
| Post-game Press Conference |
- “A lot of credit goes to our players. First of all, we played against a team that (had) a tremendous season and to the end they battled hard. They are a first class organization from top to bottom. They got a lot of young guys making their debut in the playoffs and I’ve been in that position before with a young team in Pittsburgh. That organization is going in the right direction.”
- “A lot of credit goes to our players. They stick to the plan. We got tremendous leadership and in my wildest dreams, I was not expecting to win the series in four (games.) But I was confident as a coach of the way that we prepared and the commitment we got from everyone that I was confident that we were going to win that series. This is the approach that you should have when you start the playoffs.”
- “We played against a good hockey team with a lot of speed. We were capable to take away their speed and the way we were playing in the neutral zone and the way we would forecheck. Guys stuck to the game plan and they got rewarded.”
- “We got better as the season went on. I liked the way we finished the year. It gave us the confidence to have good playoffs. That’s a process. We learned how to play the right way, the way that we wanted to play. Players bought into that. All season long as a group we got better and better.”
- “For me hard work is the most important thing. Skill, yes, you need skill but hard work is always going to beat skill.”
- “[Steven Stamkos] is a world-class player, he’s tough to contain. Definitely we needed to take time and space from that guy because he can change the game in one shift. I thought we didn’t give him the time and the space and we were frustrating him the way we wanted to play and the guys accomplished that.”
- “For me matchups, you can’t always.. We got (Tomas) Plekanec, I trust his game and on the defensive side we got Lars Eller. Most of the time we try to send two lines, we got four defenseman and try to use the (David) Desharnais line as much as we can offensively where the faceoff is. That is my philosophy as a coach.”
- “We’re going to take some time to heal. At this time of the year guys are hurt. They show a lot of courage to play. I’m not worried, we’re going to be well-prepared for the next round.”
- “We ended the season with confidence, we’ve played good hockey the last six or seven weeks, since the Olympic break. Confidence is a big factor. Our team was confident in the way we were playing, the team believes in the way we play, so we start games with the intention of winning.”
- “If you look all the games in the playoffs, it was always us that dictated the play, we were the more aggressive team in terms of scoring chances and shots. We were well prepared and played with a lot of confidence.”
- “I just wanted to calm things down. We were playing on our heels too much and that’s not what we wanted to do. It might be an unintentional, natural reaction. But we faced some adversity, and I liked the way we reacted.”
- “We’re going to be well prepared, I can tell you that. As far as I’m concerned, we won the series but we haven’t accomplished what we set out to accomplish. For me this was a step, and we have another step to take.”
Goalie Carey Price
- “I thought we played really well the whole series. There were breaks around each game that could have gone the other way. That team is a good hockey team over there. I just thought we got the majority of the breaks.”
Lightning head coach Jon Cooper
- “To be honest I didn’t see [the late Tampa Bay penalty.] It’s the one part of the ice when you’re standing on that bench that you can’t see. Our coaching staff was a little animated in the room after. I couldn’t watch it. It’s really unfortunate that it has to come down to a call with less than two minutes left in a game like that. Ultimately, you have to kill them off and you can’t hang your head and you have to kill it off and we didn’t.”
- “It’s been well-documented what this team has gone through this year. I don’t want to throw any cliche words out there. It’s been a transition year for us in an unbelievably positive way. I think we had 12 players make their NHL playoff debuts in this series. I’m sure that’s somewhat unheard of.”
- “But the big thing was I said if we were going to go down, we were going to go down swinging. I thought we went down swinging. I think there was a lot of the 21,000 people that were a little nervous in that third period.”
- “That was the one thing I pointed out as soon as I walked into the room. I said ‘Ceddy (Cedric Paquette) pick your head up. I know it’s a touch time for you.’ That poor kid gave us everything he had. Two game-winning goals in the series, the poor kid is on the ice for. He’s the first guy I’m going to hug in the room because he was absolutely outstanding for us. I hope nobody out there looks at Cedric Paquette and says he’s the goat, because I believe we may not have been in those spots without him. He won every D-zone draw we had. He had a plethora of chances himself or maybe his linemates better. He punished their team every single time he was on the ice. It’s a game of bounces and it’s a game of breaks.”
- “Ultimately our goal was that we wanted to make the playoffs and we did that. But we wanted to make sure that Tampa Bay Lightning fans everywhere, wherever they may be, were proud of their team, because I sure as hell was proud of our team. They made me a better person and a better coach and I couldn’t have been more proud to coach that team. I don’t know if that will sink in.”
- “How often did Steven Stamkos come down the hole and has the open (net) and his stick breaks? You just sit there and think that has got to end at some point but it just didn’t. And a break is a penalty. And they got that break and give them credit, they capitalized on it. It’s just tough. But it ain’t that kid’s fault. That kid is going to be in this league for a while.”
To look back at the full lineups for tonight’s game, check the Game Day preview.
Follow @All_Habs on Twitter