Following the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Game 6 series win over the Montreal Canadiens, Eric Engels provides his post-game and -series takeaways for sportsnet.ca. Follow him on Twitter @EricEngels
Here’s everything you need to know after the six-game series between the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning.
A dominant performance at the right time
If the Tampa Bay Lightning had any doubts about its ability to put the plucky Montreal Canadiens down, they were erased in the opening minutes of Game 6.
The Lightning controlled the pace of the game right from the onset, pushing the Canadiens back on their heels and taking advantage of the first pure scoring chance they got.
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Tomas Plekanec, known as Montreal’s best defensive forward, had time and space to clear a puck out of the defensive zone but failed to do it. Instead, he put the puck on Ondrej Palat’s stick, and Palat found Nikita Kucherov for a slick tip to get the Lightning on the board at 15:35 of the first period.
The first intermission galvanized Tampa’s resolve.
The Lightning jumped out of the gate in the second period with the first three shots for either team before Steven Stamkos launched a dagger into the top shelf at 5:12.
Stamkos had been subject to heavy scrutiny for not breaking through with a goal in Round 1 against Detroit. After notching one in a blowout over the Canadiens in Game 2, he was held to zero shots on net in Games 3 and 4, which was cause for more criticism.
But when it mattered most, Stamkos scored his team’s only goal in Game 5 to give them a chance to eliminate the Canadiens in Montreal. They couldn’t build on it, as Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau responded with a little over four minutes to play to send the Canadiens back to Tampa Bay.
In Game 6, with the Lightning under immense pressure to avoid going back to the hostility of the Bell Centre, there was Stamkos using Jeff Petry as a screen and firing through his legs to beat Carey Price with a perfect shot that proved to be the winner.
Palat provided the insurance marker with just over a minute left in the second period. Kucherov added an empty–netter with 2:01 left in the third.
“We really controlled the game,” said Lightning coach Jon Cooper. “We elevated our game, and [the Canadiens] sensed it, and our structure was sound.”
An NHL score sheet tracks eight key stats from each game. They are: Goals, shots, blocked shots, missed nets, hits, giveaways, takeaways, and face off percentage. In Game 6, the Canadiens only held an advantage in blocked shots, which was indicative of how much the play was in their end.
“If I’m calling a spade a spade, they outplayed us tonight,” said P.K. Subban.
It’s an understatement.
Powerplay failings for the Canadiens
In a series against the league’s highest scoring team in the regular season (and the highest scoring Eastern Conference team in Round 1), the Canadiens’ power play was 1-16 against Tampa Bay and 0-3 in Game 6.
Whether it was puck management, player movement, or inability to establish zone presence, the Canadiens’ power play failed in every way, like it had all year in finishing 23rd in the regular season (16.5 percent).
“I can’t remember the last time our power play was the difference in a hockey game in a positive way,” said Subban.
Subban’s memory isn’t failing him. The Canadiens went 2-36 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Only the New York Islanders, who went 0-14 in the first round, were worse.
The advent of Palat-Johnson-Kucherov
They were formed last year in the four months Stamkos missed with a broken tibia. Their genesis has been remarkable ever since, as they’ve combined torrid speed in transition with killer instinct in the offensive zone.
Tyler Johnson, Kucherov and Palat combined for 14 points in the seven games of the first round as they scorched the Red Wings.
Johnson led with with six goals and Palat and Kucherov were in on most of them.
In Round 2, the ‘triplets’—as they’re known—combined for 17 points in six games against Montreal. Kucherov led with six goals.
When you consider Stamkos’ absence from the goal column in 10 of the Lightning’s 13 playoff games, this line has given the team reason to believe they can go all the way.
Defenceman Anton Stralman is a veteran of 544 games (regular season and playoffs combined), and he was marveling after Game 6 about how this line has carried the Lightning to the Eastern Conference final for the third time in its history.
“I’ve never seen a line with that much chemistry,” said Stralman. “Sometimes you just sit on the bench and smile because they’re just picking lines apart, picking defences apart, and it looks so smooth and easy sometimes.”
Price takes the blame he doesn’t deserve
The Canadiens had the 23rd best shot attempt differential this season and they finished 20th in scoring.
They were able to turn the tables in puck possession in the post-season, but they still only managed 25 goals for an average of 2.08 per game.
Price carried the Canadiens to the playoffs, finishing with the league’s best save percentage, best goals against, and the most wins. As a result, he’s a runaway favourite for the Vezina Trophy, he’s a strong bet to become the first goaltender to win the Hart Trophy since Jose Theodore did it in 2002, and he’s also been nominated for the Ted Lindsay Award given to the best player according to his peers.
Price got the Canadiens to the second round on a 43-save shutout to close out the Ottawa Senators in Game 6. Down 3-0 against the Lightning in Round 2, he came up with his best saves of the series to extend the it to a 6th game.
It’s not just about what he does on the ice. On a captain-less Canadiens team, he is their most accountable player.
“I didn’t play well enough,” said Price after Game 6. “I think that’s more or less what it comes down to. We lost a lot of tight games, I just needed to make that one more save in all the games that we lost, and I didn’t do that.”
Short of scoring goals, what else could he have done?
The better team won.
