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The arena in Montreal lived up to the hype and reputation. Every completed pass, hit, shot (attempted and completed) was cheered, and every Lightning touch was booed. Montreal’s interior was rocking before, during, and most especially, after Friday’s contest that saw lead changes, blood on the ice, excellent goaltending, and a lot of chess from the coaches. Lineups were constantly shifted to match up players and Jon Cooper seemed to have very little issue making sure Anthony Cirelli was on the ice to meet Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki each shift. Unable to get them going, the Habs relied on their depth to put out and pull through. Alexandre Texier, Kirby Dach, and Zach Bolduc combined for both of the regulation goals, and Texier created the winning shot from Hutson in overtime for the 3-2 victory.

P.K. Subban’s breakaway moment coming out of the penalty box remains unrivalled, despite plenty of opportunity for replication during the game. The Canadiens almost let a game that could have been won thrice over slip through their grasp at home, and will surely look to make significant adjustments to their offensive scheme and power play. Victorious at home and having taken a 2-1 lead in the series, Montreal has the opportunity to take a stranglehold in the matchup on Sunday before heading back to Florida next week.

Habs Lineup

Cole Caufield — Nick Suzuki — Juraj Slafkovsky
Alex Newhook — Oliver Kapanen — Ivan Demidov
Zach Bolduc – Kirby Dach – Alexandre Texier
Jake Evans – Phillip Danault — Josh Anderson   

Mike Matheson – Kaiden Guhle
Lane Hutson — Alexandre Carrier
Arber Xhekaj – Jayden Struble 

Jakub Dobes 

10 Thoughts

1. As Alexandre Sylvestre finished serenading the crowd to the twin anthems of North American sport, the Bell Centre faithful whipped themselves into a frenzy for puck drop. Josh Anderson and Arber Xhekaj delivered for them within the first two minutes with hard hits to set the tone, and play was continuous until 17:34 of the first. The Lightning had a few giveaways at the top of their zone that lifted the spectators’ voices, but it was a rush chance that opened the scoring.

2. Alexandre Texier labelled a wrist-shot past Andrei Vasilevskiy courtesy of Kirby Dach and Zach Bolduc, the former creating the play at the Tampa Bay blueline. Brayden Point possessed the puck inside the Habs zone, was skating up the wall towards the blueline, and then dumped it behind himself. Bolduc was there to cut the puck off, and then he carried it up the ice before dumping it off at the offensive blueline for Dach. Dach made the simple, stable, straightforward play and completed the give-and-go to Bolduc. Bolduc swung down into the zone, then flipped it behind him to the slot for Texier. Texier’s shot beat the netminder in the top-left corner and spun the arena into a madhouse.

3. Just over a minute following the marker, Montreal took the first penalty of the game. As Yanni Gourde attempted to bring the puck across the crease, it bounced to the side of the net, Jakub Dobes and Gourde in pursuit. Dobes got his stick into the skates of Gourde as he pivoted, then gave him a little yank. The penalty kill, Hutson in tow, lined up against Nikita Kucherov and comported themselves honorably for a minute and a half before Point evened the game. A quick tic-tac-toe play was executed perfectly and left Point alone in the slot for a one-touch shot past Dobes. Unfortunately for Dobes, Alex Newhook failed to commit to his block with his whole body, instead giving a half-leg slide. Montreal furthered their troubles early when Dach swung his stick into Dominic James’ skates like a lumberjack and tripped him. Certainly soft in nature and made by the far referee, the play was far too risky for Dach to make and a completely careless maneuver in the playoffs. Thankfully for Montreal fans around the world, and likely Dach’s agent, Tampa Bay was held off for the duration of the two minutes. Despite their escape, Montreal gave up two glorious slot chances that were identical to Point’s goal, bailed out only by the goaltender.

4. Kucherov gifted the Canadiens their first power play when he tripped Alexandre Carrier in the neutral zone long after he had lost possession. Montreal scrambled for the puck off the opening faceoff, but couldn’t keep the clear from reaching Dobes twice during the first 45 seconds. Gourde chased down the loose puck, beating out Hutson and killing off another 30 seconds. With 40 seconds remaining, Bolduc and Texier connected for a great cross-slot chance that was stopped by Vasilevskiy, and with seven seconds left, the puck was blown down outside the zone. Despite another bounce and giveaway, Anderson missed the net from seven feet out and Dach hammered the crossbar after palming down a bouncing puck in the same spot as Anderson was.

5. Another minor was called on the Habs with 48 seconds remaining in the first when Mike Matheson “hooked” Brandon Hagel. Matheson lost body position on Hagel, spun, and more or less slashed Hagel’s belly with the inside of his stick shaft, somehow leading Hagel to trip forward but still maintain possession of the puck.  The period expired and Montreal fought off the first stage of the power play, headed to the dressing room hoping their second period would not turn out like the overtime in Game 1. With about one minute remaining on the man advantage, Brandon Hagel and Kucherov got Tampa Bay’s chances while Hutson was the best blocker until Matheson returned to the ice.

6. Following the penalty, Montreal’s top line got a quick shift before being yanked off the ice for the in-zone faceoff to Vasilevskiy’s right. Martin St. Louis, in an attempt to get his top players away from Cirelli’s line, instead went with Dach’s. Dach lost the faceoff, was lost on the clear, and gave the puck away along the wall to give Tampa Bay a faceoff of their own to Dobes’ left. Moments later, Demidov took a stick to his face and Montreal was flat-footed for an agonizing 25 seconds as the Habs scrambled to fight off a renewed attack with more giveaways.

7. The Bell Centre was silenced when a perimeter wrist shot from Hagel beat Dobes to the short side. The brutal goal, resulting from a poor saving effort and another giveaway – from Evans this time – served to ramp up the emotion for Dobes as he reacted poorly to a taunting Kucherov as the Russian skated past. Dobes thrust his blocker into Kucherov’s midsection, then took a tumble when Erik Cernak followed Kucherov up by skating through his left leg. Opposing minors were issued on the goal, and Demidov failed to even the game up on a clean breakaway during the ensuing four-on-four play. The Canadiens took another penalty after Demidov was careless with his stick as he skated past Ryan McDonagh, grazing his chin as he dragged it up and over. Without any space at five-on-five and every mistake magnified, Montreal’s penalty killers held the zone and their formation even as Kucherov wormed his way around the net with the puck and nearly walked in front of Dobes without being touched.

8. More critical depth scoring got the Habs back in the game as the same line of Bolduc, Dach, and Texier produced another goal. The line had been grinding high and low in the zone, and the puck eventually squirted out of the trapezoid along the wall, where Xhekaj pinched to the hashmarks to retrieve. The robust defenceman pushed the puck forward and used his body to outnumber the Lightning defender attempting to cover Dach, who was also now along the wall and had received the puck. Dach skated north, held on the puck for a moment as he curled inside the circle, then sent a low shot into the morass of bodies in front of Vasilevskiy. The puck hit a leg and went through Vasilevskiy, revitalizing the Bell Centre into lauding him with chants. With just over six minutes left in the second period, referee Chris Rooney issued a holding penalty on Hagel for grabbing Caufield’s stick as the two wrestled for possession in one of the Habs’ corners. Slafkovsky opened the advantage by directing passes from the goal line and then uncorking a shot from the point, which would prove to be Montreal’s only shot. The Habs drew another call immediately following the expiry of the initial – a hook on Newhook by Emil Lilleberg into his hands. The top unit remained disjointed and seemingly paralysed by the pressure issued by Tampa Bay, and Demidov could not hit the net. Caufield had no shot attempts for another power play, while Hutson had to scramble to each end of the blueline to stop long dump passes along the boards. Play returned to five-on-five after the slew of offences without any meaningful progress and a complete lack of momentum-building.

9. Darren Raddysh dutifully earned his team another penalty when he drove his fist into Evans’ throat as he attempted to move past Raddysh on the dump-in. Once more, Montreal’s best players were given an advantage that bled into the following period. Suffice to say, nothing was working for Montreal as they were unable to even establish themselves effectively in the zone before the penalty expired early as the third period progressed. Caufield, with perhaps the game on his stick, failed to get his shot off on another clean breakaway at the five-minute mark of the third. Between Demidov and Caufield can be found two failed breakaways – a miss and a whiff – and an open cage miss. As Declan Carlile finished his hit along the Tampa Bay bench on Evans, Anderson accidentally – maybe on purpose – got his stick into the neck/ear area of Carlile while skating past. After being reviewed for a major penalty, the minor was appropriately called and Tampa Bay was back on another cost-free attack. Newhook and Phillip Danault stole the puck in the neutral zone and attempted to kill off as much time as possible, and Dobes had to do his past in the latter minute of the minor to stop Gage Goncalves on his doorstep. Carrier was able to clear out a loose puck with approximately 20 seconds left, and Anderson got hit perfectly coming out of the penalty box. No, Anderson did not score to put Montreal ahead on their third uncontested breakaway.

10. The Lightning and Canadiens exchanged rush chances and zone control as the time in the third dwindled down, both edging for a final goal that would establish which club is in the driver’s seat of the series. With less than five minutes left, each shift and whistle was characterized by scrums and quick linesmen into them. One particularly intense conflagration left Danault with a bloodied nose and numerous skaters in the penalty box. After a lengthy delay that involved scraping the “bloody mess” (Brian Boucher – TNT) off the ice behind Dobes, play continued with offsetting minors and at full strength. For a third game in a row, overtime would be needed. In the first minute and a half, a broken play and failed keep-in at the line by the Lightning sprung Slafkovsky deep near Vasilevskiy with Cernak and Caufield. Cernak was seemingly able to keep the puck out of Caufield’s wheelhouse and save a goal. That saved goal would end up only delaying the Canadiens, as Lane Hutson sent a blast from the point bar-down on Vasilevskiy and ended the game less than another minute later.

HabsWorld Habs 3 Stars

1st Star – Lane Hutson

Oh Lane, my Lane. A 90.1 MPH game-winning blast from the point to cap off a night of dancing and hustle seems an adequate result after a season’s worth of shooting and working on his shot. Hutson is trusted in all zones and to play at all times, eclipsed only by the age and experience of Matheson in closing out games. Hutson kept his matchups to the perimeter and leveraged his size to box out new nemeses in Corey Perry and Kucherov. In the absence of Noah Dobson, Hutson has done nothing but step up in his roles.

Stats: 1 goal, 2 shots, 4 blocks, 3 hits, 26:40 T.O.I.

2nd Star – Alexandre Texier

Scoring the opening goal for the Montreal Canadiens both got them into the game but also satisfied a burning need for the fans in attendance to let out their breath that has been building since Monday’s loss. Texier was situated perfectly for the play and – crucially – he hit his target. Montreal was plagued by misses and poor shooting, but Texier nailed the top corner and got the bottom six of the roster rolling. He threw hits, supported his line whenever needed, and nearly got a second goal in the second period. His pivots in overtime and puck protection fed Hutson for the winning goal! When a player performs such as Texier has, it makes one imagine how the situation could have been so ugly in Columbus and St. Louis.

Stats: 1 goal, 1 assist, +3, 1 shot, 1 hit, 11:29 T.O.I.

3rd Star –  Kirby Dach

This star is a challenge as much as a recognition. Kirby Dach was directly responsible for the Game 2 loss over the course of compounding errors and nearly cost Montreal multiple times in Game 3 as well. He has consistently made bone-headed and outright lazy plays, and in the same game tries to make up for them with a shift or two of physicality. Now, think about the position Kucherov has consistently put his team in this series and in the past. He commits horrendously unnecessary and ticky-tacky penalties that contributed to the Lightning’s position as the most penalized in the league, but he also contributes 120+ points per year. Not a single Canadien fan would care at all if Dach has a turnover a game as long as he at least contributes more than he costs the hockey team. 

Stats: 1 goal, 1 assist, +3, 2 shots, 1 hit, 11:32 T.O.I.