CANADIENS
Montreal

6-2

LIGHTNING
Tampa Bay

Game Report

The bandwagon was considerably lighter heading into Game 4.  Fan chatter on social media was unusually quiet for a game day.  And many in the mainstream media had turned their attention to the Mike Babcock watch. Just how badly did he want that smoked meat sandwich from Schwartz’s?

Needless to say, expectations were not high. The Canadiens had lost eight straight games to the Lightning, six times in the last two months. Tampa has that Ben Bishop guy in net with his lofty career record against Montreal. If you have been watching Hockey Night in Canada you know that Bishop is tall.

(Did you hear, Tyler Johnson was undrafted.)

And if you listen to morning radio in Montreal you heard a host who contended that the “best goalie in the world against the Canadiens is Ben Bishop.”

So I suppose it’s understandable that my sanity has been called in to question for contending throughout the series that Carey Price has been winning the goaltending battle. Hands down.  And I’m not arguing the case in homer fashion.  Despite fewer shots, Price has simply had far more difficult saves to make.

The Canadiens have been putting plenty of pucks to the net, but in doing so, have been dramatically reducing the quality of their scoring chances.  No one would be surprised to hear that Bishop had set a record for saves resulting from shots to the lightning bolt in the center of his chest.

Bishop has looked shaky at times, had pucks squirting out of his catching glove and has been a rebound machine. None of that really mattered until tonight, as the Habs weren’t getting to the net.

But being down 3-0, it seemed that desperation took over and the ‘read and react’ system went out the window.  The Canadiens used their speed effectively to play more of a react than read game. Rather than waiting for Tampa to make mistakes to create opportunities, they pushed ahead and created their own. They pressed the Lightning hard right out of the gate.

After the crushing defeat on Wednesday night, getting the first goal was crucial. Andrei Markov made a smart decision to sneak towards the Tampa net for a back door chance.  Markov took P.K. Subban’s pass in his skates and quickly made it 1-0 on the first shot of the game.

Assists went to Subban and Max Pacioretty, the two players who were victimized on Tyler Johnson’s buzzer beater from the night before.  Pacioretty picked up a shorthanded goal prior to the halfway mark of the opening frame and the Canadiens had their first two-goal lead of the series.  Even after chasing Bishop from the goal only 23:08 into the game, the Canadiens didn’t let up increasing their lead to 5-1 after 40 minutes.

Montreal closed out the win with a strong third period, outshooting the Bolts 16-6.

Contributions came from across the lineup: Lars Eller and Alex Galchenyuk led the team in shots on goal with six apiece and three points between them.  Dale Weise had an assist and five hits. But, in a game where losing wasn’t an option, it was the leadership group who stood tall: Carey Price, Max Pacioretty, Tomas Plekanec, Andrei Markov and P.K. Subban.

While some fans stepped off the ship thinking four in a row was just too tall an order, the Habs correctly knew that all they needed to do on Thursday night was win one game.  And they made no mistake of that.

▲     Carey Price, Brendan Gallagher, Tomas Plekanec, Max Pacioretty, P.K. Subban, Andrei Markov, Alexei Emelin, Dale Weise, Jeff Petry, Lars Eller, Alex Galchenyuk

▼     Tom Gilbert, P.A. Parenteau, Devante Smith-Pelly

1.  Max Pacioretty  MTL
2.  P.K. Subban  MTL
3.  Tomas Plekanec  MTL

• “I expected a good game [Thursday] from our club. We didn’t change anything, honestly. We played the same way we did in Game 1. We did the same thing that we did yesterday. I’m really proud of our players; they got rewarded finally [for] their hard work.”

P.K. Subban

• “You don’t control whether you get the good bounces or you’re on the bad end of the bounces. I think we’ve competed hard, we’ve done a lot of things well, but we just didn’t finish. We had to focus on continuing to do the things that have allowed us to put 40 shots on net, 35 shots or whatever it is, consistently for most of the series.”
• “These are the games where your best players are going to be your best players. You’re facing elimination and you have to be the difference in the game. We worked hard and we deserved to win. Throughout this series I think we’ve deserved better than we’ve received, but that’s out of our control.”
• “I think Bishop sort of was sitting on a horseshoe for a little bit there. He’s played well, but he’s been lucky, as well. I think seeing him being pulled out of the net is a confidence booster for our team.”

Brandon Prust

• “We love playing at home. We love playing in front of our fans. That’s our favourite place to play. We’re excited to go back there, and we’ll do everything we can to come back to Tampa for Game 6.”

Brendan Gallagher

• “That’s the type of character that we have. That’s what got us to this point. We have a lot of character guys, a lot of guys who love big games and love to step up to big opportunities. That was one thing no one ever doubted. When you look around the room, you trust that your teammates are going to do the job. We did that in Game 4.”
• “We believe in each other. We believe in the guys we have in this locker room. We enjoy coming to the rink every day. We just want to make it last. Every opportunity we get to go play a game, we’re just trying to earn 60 more minutes right now.”
• “I think we all believed that we’d score goals eventually. It could be different next game. We’re just prepared for anything at this point. Every time we’re on the ice, we’re just playing for our lives now. We can’t afford to take any nights off.”

Max Pacioretty

• “We got a break and ran with it, but it’s only one game. We’ll have to find a way to come out the same way next game and play with the same desperation. We know that they will come out and play their best. We’ll let them feel a little bit of heat. We’re going to play desperate as well. We have to keep rolling off that and play the same way. We expect Bishop to come out and play his best game of the year next game. That’s the approach we have to have. We really just have to worry about ourselves.”
• “This group won three out of four elimination games in the playoffs last year, so we knew what to expect and we played with that desperation we needed to have. But we’re still down three games to one and we need to play with that same desperation the next game and hope to creep into their mind by playing the right way.”
• [P.K. Subban] gave it to (Andrei) Markov with a great chance to score by the goalie being out of the net. So that gets us going, obviously that’s the first shot of the game, so you think maybe you get in their goalie’s head a little bit.”
• “It’s too early for our season to end. Everyone feels that way. We love being together as a team. We don’t want to go our separate ways for the summer just yet. We need everybody right now because it’s no room for error.”

Lightning forward Steven Stamkos

• “It’s a resilient team over there. Their backs are against the wall. We stole one [Wednesday], and probably didn’t deserve to win. Definitely didn’t deserve it [Thursday] and we got what’s coming. No point in dwelling on it now. We didn’t expect this to be a quick series at the beginning, and we’ve got to find a way to win in a rink where we’ve won the past couple of times.”

Lightning coach Jon Cooper

• “It was a back-to-back. I sit there and look at the goals. (Max) Pacioretty’s got a breakaway, that’s a big-time shot. Even (Andrei) Markov, those aren’t [Ben Bishop’s] fault. That was a complete cluster in the [defensive] zone. We just completely broke down and gave them an easy one. So that’s not his fault.”
• “They got out to the big lead, and we truly were pressing too much, and it just got worse after that. We’ve just got to regroup. … Nobody ever thought that when this series started that it was going to be a sweep, and I don’t think anybody ever thought that we were going to roll into Montreal and take two.”