Six days ago, this series was all but over in the eyes of many in the hockey world. The Lightning downed the Habs in Game 3 on home ice, despite being severely outplayed. It seemed like the series was not meant to go in favor of Montreal this time around.
Fast forward to tonight.
The Canadiens, backed by two clutch wins by 6-2 and 2-1 scores, were back in the series with the fruits of their labor paying off and Carey Price turning in a tremendous performance in each game. After scoring a combined four goals in games 1-3, a doubled total at eight in the past two seemed to spark the team in staving off elimination.
They would have to do it again Tuesday night against a Tampa Bay Lighting team facing some of their own adversity, losing winger Ryan Callahan indefinitely to an emergency appendectomy.
Early on in the 6th tilt of the series, not much was doing as the tight defensive stances by both teams were very apparent. Tampa fired just 3 shots to Montreal’s 1 in first eight minutes of the contest. Price stood tall at the visiting end, and Ben Bishop did much of the same, making a huge save on Tomas Plekanec with just under seven minutes left in the stanza after Brendan Gallagher persisted and freed a puck up in front of the net.
The deadlock would be broken just a few minutes later however, as the Triplets Line would strike. Ondrej Palat capitalized on a turnover and threw a puck to the net from the wall that was tipped on the way through by Nikita Kucherov, his 5th of the postseason.
The Habs in both of their wins scored the first goal of the game, and their yielding of the first strike was a sign of things to come. A delay of game penalty by PK Subban with 3:08 left in the period gave Tampa Bay a powerplay and a monumental chance to take a two-goal lead into the intermission. They would not capitalize, and the game would stay at 1-0 heading into the second. Tampa led in the game and in shots at a 13-6 mark.
Tampa Bay would continue to hem the Canadiens in their own zone to start the second, pressuring the Montreal netminder Price who stood up to every challenge. The Lightning dominated possession, leading 19-11 in faceoff wins with a couple minutes gone in the second period.
With just over five minutes gone, the Lightning would break through yet again. The captain Steven Stamkos potted his third of the series with an ultra-quick release on a wrist shot from the slot to extend the lead to 2-0. By the first commercial break, the Lightning were leading 17-7 in shots, looking to put the nail in the coffin.
The Canadiens had their share of chances, but Ben Bishop stood tall as the team continued to pressure. A grand opportunity came the Habs’ way with just under four minutes to play in the period, as Andrej Sustr went to the sin bin and the visitors went to the powerplay.
That opportunity would go for naught, but P.A. Parenteau had a grand opportunity to score another big goal after his game winner in Game 5. He hit the post, the eighth of the series for the Canadiens. As the missed chance passed, another chance loomed as Tampa went to another powerplay with just over a minute left.
They would capitalize on theirs. Palat and Kucherov played catch on a give and go, with Palat catching the last pass and tucking the puck in on Price’s far side, burying the third of the game for the home team. It was 3-0, the same score as the series six days before. They also led in shots on goal by a 21-13 mark, signifying the performance.
The third opened with a Canadiens powerplay 17 seconds in, and nothing again came from it. Coming into tonight’s game, it ranked second to last in conversion rate for the playoffs at a 5.9% clip. With 7:12 gone, the speed of Dale Weise created a breakaway that could’ve put Montreal back in the game. He was turned away, like many Habs. Bishop flashed his glove for his 16th save. The Canadiens were averaging 31.6 shots per game in the postseason, but tonight, they ran into a tremendous defensive effort.
The Habs would get a bounce however, as Brendan Gallagher fed the puck across to Max Pacioretty for his 5th goal of the playoffs and first of the night for Montreal with just under five minutes left in the final period of regulation. The Bolts would ice it however, as the player who scored the game winner in Game 1 would bury the Habs for good with just over two minutes to play. Nikita Kucherov had his 6th. The minutes ticked down and the inevitable approached. A 4-1 win for the home team. The end of one season, the continuation of another.
Tampa Bay was the team moving on, awaiting the winner of the Washington Capitals-New York Rangers series that will be decided Wednesday. The Canadiens and the record breaking goaltending of Carey Price would see their season end, losing to the team they swept last season.
The experience of defeat is paying dividends at the moment for the guys from Tampa Bay as victors of this series. The star players came to play and as good as Tampa Bay was offensively with the Triplets Line and Steven Stamkos putting pucks in, the defensive game was astounding, holding Montreal to 19 shots with their backs against the wall. Ben Bishop made the saves he needed to, outdueling the possible surefire Vezina winner and possible MVP of the league.
We know one team in the final two fighting for the title of best in the Eastern Conference, and we will know our second tomorrow.
No matter who the Lightning play, the 2015 Eastern Conference Final promises to be another classic showdown, with a Tampa team on one end with something to prove.
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