CANADIENS
Montreal

3-0

LIGHTNING
Tampa Bay

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

[one_half]Pacioretty – Galchenyuk – Byron
Eller – Plekanec – Mitchell
Danault – Desharnais – Andrighetto
De la Rose – McCarron – Matteau[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Markov – Emelin
Beaulieu – Pateryn
Hanley – Dietz
[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders:

Condon
Lindgren

Scratches:  Mike Brown, Lucas Lessio, Mark Barberio, Victor Bartley, Brendan Gallagher (lower-body), P.K. Subban (upper-body)
Injured reserve:  Carey Price, Daniel Carr, Brian Flynn, Jeff Petry, Tom Gilbert

Game Report

Post-game Mike Condon said, “Better late than never!” At age 25, Condon had earned his first career shutout in the NHL. It was Condon’s 52nd game this season. As tweeted by Eric Engels, “no goalie had played more games this season without recording a shutout.”

While Condon has an intriguing personal story, Marc Bergevin’s decision to turn to the rookie as his number one goaltender has been one of the reasons that the Canadiens find themselves out of the playoffs. More often than not, the team received sub-NHL goaltending. Just two games ago, Condon was pulled after giving up five goals against the Rangers.

On Thursday night, Condon was solid when he needed to be. He faced his toughest test when Ondrej Palat was awarded a somewhat questionable penalty shot midway through the second period after Joel Hanley was called for hooking.  Condon made the pad save.

But as radio broadcaster Sergio Momesso said, “Condon did not steal the game.” It was “a team shutout.” Condon himself paid tribute to his defencemen, down to five with Nathan Beaulieu lost after the first period.  Alexei Emelin was the best of the d-corps with two assists, five blocked shots and a plus-3 ranking in over 29 minutes of icetime.

The Canadiens allowed just three shots on goal in the final period.

Condon’s role has not been challenged for the number one position this season by Ben Scrivens or Dustin Tokarski. But his performance may have been motivated by having Carey Price and college phenom Charlie Lindgren along on this road trip.

It was the Canadiens third win in as many games against the Lightning this season. They are looking nothing like a team that is playoff bound and is competing for the Atlantic division title.  The Habs will meet the Bolts one more time at the Bell Centre for their final game of the season.

The Canadiens will be in Sunrise on Saturday to meet the Panthers.

~~~

▲     Alexei Emelin, Andrei Markov, Mike Condon

▼     Stefan Matteau

1. Mike Condon  MTL
2. Alexei Emelin  MTL
3. Steven Stamkos  TBL

• “I thought we played the right way and with the right compete level. We made the right decisions with the puck and had a good checking game. I’m happy for Condon to [get] his first shutout.“

Mike Condon

• “It’s a special feeling. It took me 48 tries, but better late than never. I’m very happy it got done, but I’m happier about the win. Two in a row. I haven’t done that in a while, so it feels pretty good.”
• “It was a really fun game, I thought the guys played a great defensive effort. Things like Joel Hanley blocking a shot in the third period with his bare hand.”
• “Scoring chances weren’t that high compared to most nights. There was that penalty shot there, but the guys kept most shots to the outside and cleared out the rebounds. There were only two or three of those [high quality scoring chances] if I remember well. That’s a manageable night in the NHL.”
• “They played five D when Beau got hurt and four when Dieter [Darren Dietz] got in that fight. At the end of the year, I think that’s something all goalies should do, take their D out for dinner, much like quarterbacks take their linemen out for dinner. I owe those guys everything. They’re sacrificing their bodies and blocking shots wearing a lot less equipment than I do. They’re very tough.”

Lightning captain Steven Stamkos

• “Can’t keep making excuses. Guys have to hold each other accountable and come to the rink and starting putting in the work. We can’t keep having these sort of efforts this time of the year.”

Lightning coach Jon Cooper

• “The guys are going to have to be held accountable a little bit here. We couldn’t score goals. We had three shots in the third period and that just can’t happen for a team that’s making to push to get into the [Stanley Cup Playoffs].”

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com

Mike Condon with his 1st career regular season @NHL shutout! @CanadiensMTL @AllHabs @Condibear1 pic.twitter.com/raAiRHWC0O

— Matt Smith (@Snakebite350) April 1, 2016

Beaulieu ne reviendra pas.
Beaulieu will not be back.#Habs #UpperBody

— L.A. Lariviere (@L_A_theRiver) April 1, 2016

#AskAnIceCap | Nikita Scherbak Answers Your Questions https://t.co/SQX2MLHb7P #IceCaps #Habs pic.twitter.com/672ChRRQ8j @nikscherbak

— All Habs (Canadiens) (@AllHabs) April 1, 2016

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