CANADIENS
Montreal

LIGHTNING
Tampa Bay

Game Report

Crushing. Demoralizing.

Pick your adjective. It was a devastating loss, for the players and Canadiens fanbase alike.

Tyler Johnson’s goal with 1.1 seconds left in the third period, left many fans in stunned silence.  And yet others took the opportunity to heap the criticism on their favourite targets.

Some blasted Tomas Plekanec for failing to get the puck deep in the Tampa zone. Max Pacioretty got his share for choosing the wrong man on the back check.  Too many piled on Andrei Markov for sprawling on the ice to take away the pass. As is often the case, P.K. Subban cheerleaders looked everywhere else but in his direction.

The card-carrying “Plekanec-disappears-in-the-playoffs-crowd” claimed that as the centre had crossed the redline, all he needed to do was to fire the puck in the corner away from Bishop and the period would have expired.  But Plekanec hadn’t crossed centre, and with Nikita Kucherov, a Lightning defender closing, he chipped the puck up to Max Pacioretty so that he could carry it into the zone.  The puck hit Pacioretty in the back of the leg creating the turnover at the Lightning blueline.

The play by Plekanec was well-intentioned with a bad result.

Pacioretty was doing a lot of directing on the back check but was ineffective himself. Following Pacioretty’s direction, Markov took the puck carrier Victor Hedman. Subban peeled away from Ondrej Palat and should have headed to Tyler Johnson. Instead, inexplicably, Subban’s attention was also focused on Hedman.  Needless to say, coverage was botched. Markov, for his part, played the puck carrier well forcing Hedman to the goal line.

Subban was late to get to Johnson who stood in front of Carey Price all alone for what seemed like an eternity. Johnson should have been flattened by Subban. Not a shining moment for a Norris-nominated defenseman who has been outplayed in every respect by Hedman in this series.

Subban said that it felt like there were seven Lightning players on the ice. Indeed the Canadiens looked like a team that stopped playing for the final two minutes while the Lightning swarmed.

A sudden end to the game that felt much worse than an overtime loss. It’s hard to remember a loss that was as stunning as this one.

The Canadiens again seemingly played well, 5-on-5, dominating the possession game. But when it came to directing pucks at the net, the bolt on the the front of Bishop’s jersey was often the target. Price had fewer shots but far more of the more difficult variety.

Personnel choices again were baffling at times.  Lars Eller, the Canadiens best forward in the Senators series and who looked good with a reunited EGG line in this series was saddled with the stone hands of Brandon Prust and the feckless P.A. Parenteau.

Still fighting off the effects of the flu and dehydration, and not being the fleetest of foot at the best of times, David Desharnais played just over 15 minutes including 1:34 on the power-play. Desharnais was 42 per cent in the faceoff circle, had just one shot and missed a backup setup from Alex Galchenyuk.

With Bishop having trouble with rebounds, there were plenty of second chance scoring opportunities squandered with the Canadiens unable to get to the puck.  Brendan Gallagher was the exception with his three shots coming from rebounds.  It was Gallagher’s second effort that resulted in the only Canadiens goal. Gallagher was the best player for the Canadiens not named Price.

It will be a taste of character to see which Canadiens team shows up on Thursday night. With the Habs having trouble scoring more than one goal in a game, they have lost five of their last six playoff games. And just nine goals in their last seven games. The power-play is non-existent and there has to be a feeling among the Montreal players that they can’t beat this team.  As during the regular season Price has been their only bright light.

Will they be able to bring the series back to Montreal? That’s the only goal the Habs can have on their minds for game 4.

“I feel like I can stop every puck.”

▲     Carey Price, Brendan Gallagher, Alexei Emelin

▼     Tom Gilbert, P.K. Subban, Jeff Petry, Andrei Markov, David Desharnais, Alex Galchenyuk, P.A. Parenteau, Devante Smith-Pelly, Michel Therrien

1.  Tyler Johnson  TBL
2.  Ben Bishop  TBL
3.  Carey Price  MTL

• “The only thing we can ask of them is to keep competing. We have no time to feel sorry for ourselves.”
• “The commitment they showed was unreal. I can’t ask for more. The only thing we’re looking forward to now is bringing the series back to Montreal.”

P.K. Subban

• “It happened really quickly. It seemed like they had seven guys on the ice to be honest with you. Just looking around there were guys everywhere. But that’s the playoffs. It comes down to one bounce and all you need is one second to win a hockey game.”

Tomas Plekanec

• “We played a hell of a game, had a lot of chances, put so many pucks at the net, hit some posts again. It’s a bad way to lose.”

Brendan Gallagher

• “I don’t know what to say. Ever since I’ve been a member of the Montreal Canadiens, one thing we’ve always done is find a way to win games.  It just seems that right now we find ways to lose after playing good hockey. We’re doing everything we’re asked to do, but we’re coming out on the wrong side of things. That being said, this team is full of character. We’re not going to quit. Now, we have to win four games, and we can’t win four unless we win one. We have to move on. We have to focus on the next one.”
• “For three games, it seems that we’ve been the better team 5-on-5. We’re doing everything we want to do. It’s tough. We talk about playoff hockey. We talk about the emotions and how high and how low you can get. At the beginning of the playoffs, we knew it wasn’t going to be easy. We’ve certainly dug ourselves a hole that will be tough to get out of. If anyone’s capable of doing it, though, it’s this group. It’s a matter of moving on, as frustrating as it is. Our team won’t quit.”

Max Pacioretty

• “We have a special group in this room. We’ve faced a lot of adversity this year. This is obviously one of the biggest times where we’re going to have to face adversity and be strong. But, you can’t do that individually. You’ve got to do that as a team. We felt great out there. We played a good game. We have to try and stay positive in this room. This has been done before. But, it’s not done in one day. We’ve got to show up to the rink on Thursday night and play the same way as we did in Game 3.“

Lightning forward Steven Stamkos

• “It was almost disbelief. It was like pulling a rabbit out of a hat.”
• “For whatever reason, we had some good shifts at the end and we were rewarded. But we realize we needed a better effort.”

Lightning forward Tyler Johnson

• “I literally had no idea it was that close. I knew when I jumped on the ice this would probably be the last shift of the period, but I didn’t realize when I was standing in front it was that close. It’s pretty cool.”

Lightning coach Jon Cooper

• “I saw us win 50 games playing just like that.”
• “I don’t know if it was more relief for me that [Steven Stamkos] scored or the power play scored. So it was kind of a whole combination of Alka-Seltzer.”