Last year, the Montreal Canadiens only survived five games in the playoffs, and it’s fair to say that they were dominated and bullied by the Washington Capitals. The young Habs looked shellshocked and surprised by the intensity of the playoffs. They could only muster a single win against a team that didn’t last long in the second round.
This season, they had to take on what is a much more formidable foe. A team that has been dominant for years and has one of the best, if not the best, coaches in the NHL. The Tampa Bay Lightning have won two Stanley Cups since 2020 and boast a wealth of experience. After seeing the Florida Panthers win the last two Cups with bullying tactics, the Bolts tried to take a page out of their book this year and submit the Canadiens to the same treatment. It didn’t work; Martin St-Louis’ team was ready this year, and his men pushed back.
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The Habs and Bolts duel is turning out to be a classic series, the only one to go the distance to seven games. After six confrontations, both teams have won three games and scored 14 goals. They couldn’t be more evenly matched. Tampa Bay has gotten a lot of production from their top guns; Brandan Hagel, Jake Guentzel, and Nikita Kucherov have combined for 22 points. Meanwhile, Montreal’s top guns have only produced 12 points, but all but two Canadiens have gotten on the scoresheet.
Only Jayden Struble and Oliver Kapanen remain pointless for the Habs. For the Bolts, 10 players remain pointless. Granted, some of them only played a couple of games, but four of their regulars haven’t contributed offensively: Corey Perry, Zemgus Girgensons, Nick Paul and Emil Lilleberg. Braydon Point, who had 50 points in the regular season, only has one assist.
In net, Jakub Dobes has a 2.19 goals-against average while Andrei Vasilevskiy’s stands at 2.20. The rookie netminder has a .916 save percentage, while the battle-tested veteran has a .905. So far, the youngster has had the upper hand and has been incredibly valuable to his team.
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Both teams average 2.33 goals for per game and 2.33 goals against per game. They both have a 5-on-5 Goals For/Against Ratio of 1.00. The Canadiens have a 20.8% success rate on the power play, while the Lightning only strikes 15.4% of the time. The Habs have a 84.6% success rate on the penalty kill, while their success rate in the regular season only stood at 78.2 %. The Bolts’ PK succeeds 79.2% of the time. In the regular season, it ranked third in the league at 82.6%. Montreal won 56 % of the faceoffs taken in the series, leaving the Bolts with a 44% success rate.
Whatever happens on Sunday night, win or lose, the Canadiens’ organization can be proud of what the players and the coach have accomplished in both the regular season and the playoffs. The future looks bright in Montreal, especially since the Habs still have some exciting prospects in the pipeline. Game 7 is scheduled for 6:00 PM on Sunday night, and it promises to be a must-watch for all hockey fans, not just those who support the two teams.
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