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Lightning @ Canadiens: Habs Alive After OT Thriller | GAME 4 RECAP

Montreal Canadiens vs Tampa Bay Lightning Recap: Habs Line-up, Score, Statistics, Highlights, Post-game Interviews, NHL Three-Stars, Stanley Cup Playoff Series

FINAL/OT | Stanley Cup Final, Game 4 | Monday July 2, 2021 

Lightning lead series 3-1

Bell Centre, Montreal, QC

CANADIENS

Montreal

3-2

LIGHTNING

Tampa Bay

Carey Price, Josh Anderson (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)

Canadiens Lineup

Forward lines

Josh Anderson – Nick Suzuki – Cole Caufield

 Tyler Toffoli – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher

Paul Byron – Jake Evans – Artturi Lehkonen

Joel Armia – Eric Staal – Corey Perry

Defence pairings

Ben Chiarot – Shea Weber

Joel Edmundson – Jeff Petry

Alexander Romanov – Brett Kulak

Goaltenders

Carey Price – Jake Allen

Scratches

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

Black Aces

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

Injuries

Jonathan Drouin (undisclosed)

COVID protocol

Game Report

With their season on the line, in the most important game of the year, the Canadiens came out flat. It was a dangerous start for Montreal who were a step behind Tampa Bay from the drop of the puck. The Habs were on their heels showing no signs of urgency as it took more than eight minutes to register their first shot on goal after eight unanswered shots by Tampa.

It was Carey Price who was superb in the first period fending off the Lightning on his own until his team found their footing. Shots were 11-1 for Tampa before Josh Anderson opened the scoring off a great pass by Nick Suzuki. It was the first time the Canadiens have had a lead in the Final series. 

Scoring first

Taking a 1-0 lead to the first intermission played right into the Canadiens game plan. After their show start, Montreal became more comfortable as the game went along. Shea Weber and Ben Chiarot led the team in punishing the Lightning at every opportunity. 

It was a rough outing for Joel Edmundson and Jeff Petry. Edmundson took a bad penalty, had a team worst CF% REL of -32.14 playing more than 28 minutes while the other three Clydesdales found themselves in penalty trouble. Petry had several giveaways and was victimized on Tampa’s tying goal in the second period.

Changes on D

The big pre-game news was the new third-pairing on defence. Fan favorite Alexander Romanov didn’t show ill effects from having only played two previous games in the playoffs. Romanov was physical, made crisp passes and scored the Canadiens go ahead goal (facilitated by a timely Artturi Lehkonen screen) in the third period, his first of the playoffs.

Brett Kulak played a quiet, mostly steady game in a sheltered role even leading the break on the first goal. But with Ben Chiarot and Jeff Petry trapped in the penalty box for more than six minutes waiting for a stoppage, Kulak was paired with Romanov. Kulak was overly aggressive placing himself out of position and got knocked down by Pat Maroon. Kulak should have been able to track down the slower Maroon or perhaps dive to prevent the tying goal. 

The Canadiens penalty-kill was severely tested but held fast as the Lightning had five power-play opportunities. Montreal’s penalty-killers need to do more to disrupt Tampa’s zone entries as once they get set up, they can be lethal. Carey Price was by far Montreal’s best penalty-killer.

Led by Price and Anderson

Price’s magic was leaned on when Shea Weber was assessed a double minor with one minute left in the third period. Even with a full three minutes on a clean sheet as overtime began, Price could not be beaten. Overall, high danger scoring chances were 14-4, heavily lopsided in favor of the Lightning. 

Anderson showed more life in this game on a line with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield. After his opening goal, Anderson used his speed and physical play effectively. With Price and the penalty-killers firmly snatching the momentum in overtime, Anderson went to work to notch his second goal of the game and send the series to Game 5.

Up Next

It was yet another playoff game stolen by Carey Price. The Habs are 4-0 in elimination games in the playoffs. The series continues on Wednesday night in Tampa with Game 5 at the Amalie Arena.

Plus

▲  Carey Price, Artturi Lehkonen, Shea Weber, Ben Chiarot, Eric Staal, Joel Armia, Corey Perry, Josh Anderson, Paul Byron, Jake Evans

Minus

▼  Jeff Petry, Tyler Toffoli, Joel Edmundson, Phillip Danault, Brendan Gallagher

Game Preview

Check out the game preview here: Lightning @ Canadiens: Lay It On The Line | HABS GAME 4 PREVIEW

The Numbers

Game Statistics
CANADIENS   LIGHTNING
21 Shots 34
52 Face-off % 48
0-for-1 Power Play 0-for-5
20 Penalty Minutes 12
35 Hits 36
32 Corsi For 50
Scoring Summary
FINAL 1 2 3 OT SO T
Canadiens (13-8) 1 0 1 1 3
Lightning (15-7) 0 1 1 0 2
Scorers Goalies
  • MTL: Anderson (4), Romanov (1), Anderson (5)
  • TBL: Goodrow (2), Maroon (2)
  • MTL: Price (W) 13-8 | .941 Sv%
  • TBL: Vasilevskiy (L) 15-7 | .857 Sv%

Stars of the Game

Official NHL Three Stars
  1. Josh Anderson  MTL
  2. Nick Suzuki  MTL
  3. Carey Price  MTL

Watch

Video Highlights

What Did They Say?

Post-game Quotes

Dominique Ducharme

  • “We weren’t going to lose this game on a penalty to our captain. I was convinced that our players would kill it off. It shows the character of our group. We wanted to do everything we could to kill the penalty for our captain.”

Brendan Gallagher

  • “Webby’s our leader. You can’t ask for a better teammate, so obviously the guys wanted to bear down, especially for him. We understand the situation we’re in. I think we would’ve killed it for anyone. But, he’s been a rock for us since coming to our team. The physicality that he brings, it’s just what you expect from him every single night. He’s hard to play against. Especially as these series go on, he’s a pain. We’re happy to have him on our side.”

Carey Price

  • “We’ve faced adversity all season long and responded well, but we’ve got a lot of work left to do.”

Josh Anderson

  • “Our penalty kill has been outstanding all playoffs, so we came back to the room and we just believed in each other. We weren’t down. It was all positive things in the room. We just had to execute. I thought we did a phenomenal job. Carey was a wall tonight. He gave us that chance to finish it in overtime. Everyone stuck together and did their jobs.”

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com

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