In a game that likely took ten years off every single Habs fans’ life, Montreal blew two different one-goal leads before finding themselves shorthanded for four minutes with the game on the line. Price was heroic, Suzuki was on another level, and Anderson scored two huge goals as the Habs forced Game 5 with a 3-2 overtime victory.
Enthusiasm for Montreal’s first Stanley Cup Final appearance since 1993 went away rather quickly as the Habs already find themselves on the brink of elimination following a trio of losses to Tampa Bay.
As improbable as it may have seemed, the Montreal Canadiens have fought their way to the Stanley Cup Final. It took a full team effort to get to this stage, meaning there are plenty of stars to choose from for the month of June.
The Habs came out flat in both the first and second periods on Friday night, hardly a good recipe for success. Those early goals came back to haunt them as they fell 6-3 and now trail Tampa Bay 3-0 in the Stanley Cup Final.
We’re now two games into the Stanley Cup Final and a familiar problem has returned for the Habs. Their top scorers during the regular season have all suddenly stopped scoring and the end result is a 2-0 deficit to the Lightning.
After dominating the first forty minutes of the game, the Habs found themselves down 2-1. Tampa Bay shut things down in the third and the Habs simply didn’t have the offensive firepower to overcome the Lightning’s solid defensive play who got the 3-1 win and the 2-0 series lead in large part thanks to Andrei Vasilevskiy.
While the offseason hasn’t arrived for the Habs just yet – there is a Stanley Cup Final to be played, after all – the draft and free agency are quickly approaching. Accordingly, it’s time to kick off our annual depth assessment series, beginning with the goalies.
For the first time in 28 years, the Habs participated in a Stanley Cup Final game on Monday night in Tampa Bay. Unfortunately, they didn’t put up much of a fight in the opener as they fell 5-1.
A day after missing practice and being placed into COVID-19 protocol, Habs winger Joel Armia has received the green light to rejoin the team. He is on a flight to Tampa Bay and has not been ruled out for Monday’s series opener.
Our latest podcast is now available. We take a look at the upcoming Montreal-Tampa Bay Stanley Cup Final, recap the Montreal-Vegas semifinal, plus a discussion on other news and notes around the NHL, including several former members of the Canadiens.