FINAL | Round 1, Game 4 | Tuesday May 25, 2021

Leafs lead series 3-1

Canadiens Lineup

Tomas Tatar – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher

Tyler Toffoli – Nick Suzuki – Cole Caufield

Paul Byron – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Josh Anderson

Joel Armia – Eric Staal – Corey Perry

Ben Chiarot – Shea Weber

Joel Edmundson – Jeff Petry

Brett Kulak – Jon Merrill

Carey Price – Jake Allen

Erik Gustafsson, Michael Frolik, Alexander Romanov, Charlie Lindgren

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

Jonathan Drouin (undisclosed), Jake Evans (undisclosed), Artturi Lehkonen (undisclosed)

Game Report

Game 4 was pivotal for the series. Win it and the Canadiens would be heading back to Toronto to start a best of three. Win game 4 and the Habs could generate hope amongst their supporters and put a measure of doubt in the minds of the Leafs players.

Winning game 4 would have ensured a game 6 in this series which would be played before 2500 fans in the Bell Centre. It’s hard to argue that they wouldn’t have made a difference.

But, the Canadiens lost game 4. And they lost without putting up much of a fight. It was a dominating 4-0 win for the Toronto Maple Leafs demoralizing Montreal fans.

The damage was done, as has been common in this series, in the second period. Former Canadien Alex Galchenyuk recorded the primary assist on goals by William Nylander and Jason Spezza. And despite 27 minutes left on the game clock, there was a feeling that it was over. 

Scoring three goals, for this offensively challenged team, was a mountain too high. While the Canadiens fired 14 shots at Jack Campbell in the third period, at no time did it feel like the Habs offence was springing to life.

With the Habs continuing to struggle offensively, you might imagine that they were locking down the defensive zone. It’s a reasonable assumption but an incorrect one. The Canadiens were porous defensively giving up a steady stream of odd man rushes to the Leafs.

Once again, it was Carey Price to the rescue making numerous superb saves with two huge stops on Jason Spezza and Mitch Marner in the opening minutes. Price has been stellar in each game of the series but hasn’t received the support from his teammates offensively or defensively.

Spezza on Price: “He’s probably the best goalie of our generation.”

— Joshua Clipperton (@JClipperton_CP) May 26, 2021

It was another tough night for Jeff Petry who was on the ice for all four of Toronto’s goals. In four games, Petry has not registered a point in support of the Canadiens attack.

Brendan Gallagher has not been a factor in the series offensively or through physical play. It is reminiscent of Gallagher’s play in the bubble last August. Tyler Toffoli, who lead the Canadiens in scoring in the regular season does not have a goal in the series. Phillip Danault doesn’t have a point in the series and has been a defensive liability.

Marc Bergevin created steep expectations of the roster he assembled but they were never going to be able to live up to his promises. And under the direction of interim coach Dom Ducharme, the majority of the skaters are underachieving.

Next season, away from the shelter of the Canadian division, the Canadiens will have to contend with the likes of Tampa Bay, Florida, Boston, the Islanders, Carolina, Pittsburgh, Washington and Toronto to compete for a playoff spot. It’s clear that change is in order for that to happen.

Up Next

Plus

Minus

Game Preview