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RECAP | Canadiens – Lightning: Habs Fall Flat in Tampa

Rick Stephens

Montreal Canadiens vs Tampa Bay Lightning Game Recap: Line-up, Score, Statistics, Highlights, Post-game, Three-Stars

FINAL | Game 58, Away Game 27 | Saturday February 16, 2019
Amalie Arena, Tampa, FL

CANADIENS

Montreal

0-3

LIGHTNING

Tampa Bay

 

Canadiens Lineup

Forward lines  

Jonathan Drouin  – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher

Tomas Tatar – Max Domi – Andrew Shaw 

Artturi Lehkonen – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Joel Armia 

Nicolas Deslauriers – Nate Thompson – Dale Weise

Defense pairings

Victor Mete – Shea Weber

Mike Reilly – Jeff Petry

Brett Kulak – Jordie Benn

Goaltenders

Carey Price – Antti Niemi

Scratches

Christian Folin, Charles Hudon, Matthew Peca

Injuries

Paul Byron (upper body)

Game Report

Four games against the NHL’s best was considered a reasonable barometer of what we can expect of the Canadiens for the remainder of this season. After losing three of four, it’s clear that Montreal is not yet ready for prime time.

While Montreal looked strong against a suddenly listing Jets squad, the Canadiens are not equipped for a long playoff run. They are a few guns short.

That should be rather instructive for Marc Bergevin who has been considering his options for the trade deadline. This could be the idea time to part with players who have been performing well, but may not be part of a long term solution. Andrew Shaw and Jordie Benn come to mind.

The wish list includes upgrades on defence. Victor Mete, Mike Reilly and Brett Kulak are each being put in roles that are a little too much for them to manage on a consistent basis.

The Canadiens top scorer, Max Domi, has not lived up to that billing for two-and-a-half months. For 14 games in November, Domi scored six goals. In 33 games since then spanning December, January and February, Domi scored just six goals.

And Domi is running into discipline issues.

Jonathan Drouin has followed his two strongest games this season with another ‘I can’t be bothered’ tour. That’s two straight games where Drouin delivered the puck on a silver platter to the opposition and then got out of the way so they could score.

The Canadiens fourth line may appear to be upgraded on paper but we have not seen any evidence. Dale Weise, Nate Thompson and Nicolas Deslauriers have been dreadful in their first two games together. Perhaps, a solution within the organization would have been preferable.

Rather than getting caught up in the ‘contender talk, they Canadiens must change their focus to ensure that they make the playoffs this season.

Plus / Minus

▲  Carey Price, Joel Armia

▼  Nicolas Deslauriers, Jonathan Drouin, Mike Reilly, Brett Kulak, Dale Weise, Nate Thompson, Max Domi, Victor Mete

The Numbers

 Game Statistics 
CANADIENS   LIGHTNING
20 Shots 37
40 Face-off % 60
0-for-2 Power Play 1-for-4
20 Penalty Minutes 16
23 Hits 24
39 Corsi For 61
 Scoring Summary
 FINAL 1 2 3 OT SO T
 Canadiens (31-20-7) 0 0 0 – – 0
 Lightning (44-11-4) 0 0 3 – – 3
Scorers Goalies
  • MTL: no scoring
  • TBL: Kucherov (27)-PPG, Gourde (16), Johnson (21)
  • MTL: Price (L) 23-15-5
  • TBL: Vasilevskiy (W) 25-7-4

Stars of the Game

 NHL Official Three Stars
  1. Andrei Vasilevskiy  TBL
  2. Nikita Kucherov  TBL
  3. Yanni Gourde  TBL

Watch

 Video Highlights 

What Did They Say?

 Post-game Quotes
Claude Julien  
  • “We cracked in the third. That was the game right there, the fact that we didn’t manage the third period as well as we wanted to.”
Tomas Tatar
  • “It was a pretty even game, but we kind of felt that we had some pretty good jump. But, they came out in the third and outplayed us pretty badly. We gave them too many prime scoring chances and that’s probably where we lost the game.”
Carey Price
  • “It’s a frustrating result, for sure, because we thought we played very well for 40 minutes, and for 20 we didn’t show up. At the end of the day, I think it was the second intermission that was the turning point.”
  • “Even up to that point, they elevated their game and we didn’t. We just didn’t match their effort and just their everything.”
  • “They’re a good team. They’ve got a lot of poise with the puck. There’s a reason why they’re No. 1. They work well together. They know where each other are. They communicate well. They execute their game plan. They do everything that a good team does.”

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com

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