Canadiens Game Day: Habs one game away from getting swept by Lightning
Game Day #GameDay
It had been 28 years since a Stanley Cup Final game had been played in Montreal and on Friday night the first one was played at the Bell Centre since the building opened in 1996.
The last time a Stanley Cup Final game had been played in Montreal was on June 9, 1993, when the Canadiens beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-1 to win their 24th championship.
There was so much excitement around the city and inside the Bell Centre on Friday night — even with only 3,500 fans because of COVID-19 — as well as outside the building, where thousands more had gathered.
But the excitement didn’t last long.
This game appeared to be over only 3:27 into the first period when the Lightning jumped out to a 2-0 lead on the Canadiens after Tampa had already won the first two games of the best-of-seven series at home.
The odds of the Canadiens scoring at least three goals against Andrei Vasilevskiy in Game 3 appeared to be somewhere between slim and none after they only scored two goals against the Lightning goalie in the first two games. Vasilevskiy also had a 10-0 record in his last 10 games against the Canadiens, along with a ridiculous .955 save percentage during that span.
The Canadiens did manage to score three goals on on this night — by Phillip Danault, Nick Suzuki and Corey Perry — but it still wasn’t enough because the Lightning ended up scoring six to win 6-3. The Lightning now have a chance to sweep the series and win their second straight Stanley Cup in Game 4 Monday at the Bell Centre (8 p.m., CBC, SN, NBC, TVA Sports, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM).
There hasn’t been a sweep in a Stanley Cup Final since 1998 when the Detroit Red Wings won four straight against the Washington Capitals. Only once have the Canadiens ever been swept in a final, losing four straight to the Red Wings in 1952.
Vasilevskiy now has 11 straight wins against the Canadiens. His last loss was on Jan. 4, 2018, when he stopped 37 of 38 shots in a 2-1 shootout loss at the Bell Centre. He has owned the Canadiens and Carey Price.
Vasilevskiy allowed three goals on 35 shots in Game 3 and has a .948 save percentage in this series. Price allowed five goals on 29 shots (the sixth goal was an empty-netter) and has an .835 save percentage in this series. Vasilevskiy improved his playoff record this season to 15-6 with a 1.94 goals-against average and a .938 save percentage. Price has a 12-8 record with a 2.36 GAA and a .921 save percentage.
Both of these teams would not have made it to the Stanley Cup Final without some outstanding play from their goaltenders. But in this series there is little doubt which is the better team and who has the better goalie.
“I can definitely play better,” Price said after the game. “It’s just not good enough so far.”
He has to play better or this series will likely come to an end Monday night.
First goal wins
The Lightning have scored the first goal in all three games in this series.
It’s tough enough battling back from a 1-0 deficit, never mind going down 2-0 less than four minutes into the game.
Danault was able to cut the Lightning’s lead to 2-1 at 11:16 of the first period, but then the Lightning scored two goals in the first 3:33 of the second period to go up 4-1. Suzuki scored at 18:04 of the second period to give the Canadiens and their fans some hope going into the third period, but they weren’t going to win this uphill battle against the defending Cup champions.
“Obviously, it wasn’t the start we wanted,” the Canadiens’ Brendan Gallagher said. “We don’t have to explain that. We fell in a hole. We responded well. We kind of came out in the second (period) and again at this stage we’re playing good hockey, playing good hockey, and then we’re making mistakes against a very good hockey team and they make you pay. They’re very opportunistic.
“For us it’s just important to not have those lulls in our game, especially when you’re playing from behind and you’re chasing,” Gallagher added. “That’s when they’re going to jump on you. We’re in a hole, it goes without saying. But I can promise you one thing about this group … there won’t be any quit. Every single guy is going to show up and that belief that we’ve talked about all year isn’t going anywhere. Win Game 4 and go from there. That’s all our focus is right now. That’s all we can control and that’s what we’re going to do.”
It was head coach Dominique Ducharme’s first game back behind the Canadiens bench since testing positive for COVID-19 and then spending 14 days in isolation at his home in Montreal, watching games on TV.
“We made too many mistakes and they make you pay and they make you pay cash on those mistakes and we’re aware of it,” he said. “We just have to execute better.”
Not giving up
One thing the Canadiens have shown this season is that they won’t give up.
They wouldn’t be in this Stanley Cup Final if they hadn’t battled back to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round after falling behind 3-1 in that series.
“We believe we can play with these guys, we’ve believed it since Game 1,” Gallagher said. “We just haven’t shown it enough for a full 60 minutes. We’ve had spurts where everything we’ve talked about, everything we’ve done worked. But there’s just been mistakes in our game and we’re playing too good of a hockey team. They’re deep everywhere and they’re going to capitalize, they’re going to make you pay.”
One of those mistakes was a delay-of-game penalty on Eric Staal for shooting the puck over the glass at 2:44 of the first period that led to a power-play goal by Victor Hedman to put the Lightning up 2-1
Another mistake was a horrible line change less than two minutes into the second period that led to a two-on-none breakaway with Nikita Kucherov scoring for the Lightning to make the score 3-1.
“This team’s been in many holes, this team’s been doubted, but the character in that locker room isn’t going anywhere,” Gallagher said. “That’s something that we’re going to keep competing, keep playing. In terms of how the games are being played we need to get better.”
A lot better.
Problems on defence
The Canadiens have been riding their top four defencemen — Shea Weber, Ben Chiarot, Jeff Petry and Joel Edmundson — hard since the start of the playoffs and assistant coach Luke Richardson has called them Clydesdales.
But Ducharme played his fifth and sixth defencemen more in this game and it ended up being costly. Erik Gustafsson logged 16:00 of ice time — by far the most he has had in the playoffs — and he finished minus-2. Jon Merrill played 13:52 and was minus-1.
With the Canadiens trailing 4-2 and less than five minutes left in the third period, Gustafsson made a bad, soft pass up the middle that was intercepted at centre ice and led to a momentum-killing goal by the Lightning.
Gustafsson has only been averaging 10:00 of ice time in the playoffs.
Meanwhile, Alexander Romanov continues to be a healthy scratch — along with Brett Kulak — which is hard to understand.
Some stats
The Canadiens outshot the Lightning 35-30, while Tampa won 51 per cent of the faceoffs and outhit Montreal 46-38.
The Lightning went 1-for-1 on the power play and the Canadiens were 0-for-1.
Danault’s goal was his first in 20 playoff games.
Chiarot led the Canadiens in ice time with 22:50, followed by Weber with 22:11 and Petry with 22:05. Suzuki led the forwards with 20:41, followed by Cole Caufield with 19:52 and Tyler Toffoli with 19:14.
Gallagher and Weber both had five shots, while Petry had four. Danault had a team-leading five hits, while Paul Byron, Arturri Lehkonen and Joel Edmundson had four each.
Suzuki went 10-6 on faceoffs (63 per cent), Staal went 8-5 (62 per cent), Danault went 7-8 (47 per cent) and Jesperi Kotkaniemi went 4-9 (31 per cent).
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The schedule
Here’s the rest of the schedule for the Stanley Cup final:
Monday, July 5 (Game 4): at Montreal, 8 p.m.
x-Wednesday, July 7: at Tampa, 8 p.m.
x-Friday, July 9: at Montreal, 8 p.m.
x-Sunday, July 11: at Tampa, 7 p.m.
x-if necessary
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