George Richards, FHN Publisher
The Montreal Canadiens certainly had momentum in their first-round playoff series with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Up 2-0 in Game 4 on Sunday, it looked like the upstart Canadiens could be coming back to Tampa holding a 3-1 series lead and a chance to win in on Lightning ice.
The Lightning did not like how that sounded.
Tampa Bay scored three straight goals Sunday and quieted down the Bell Centre by taking a series split in Montreal with a 3-2 win in Game 4.
The best-of-7 series is now a best-of-3 with perhaps two of those games being in Tampa.
Game 5 will be on Wednesday night in Tampa.
There will be a Game 6 at the very least.
“If you have a two-goal lead, you win more than you lose,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “But the way that game was going, I felt we deserved a little bit better of a fate. And, if we kept going, something would turn for us. And sure enough…’’
Montreal was 2-0 in this series when scoring first but it took until midway through the second for the opening goal to be scored.
Zach Bolduc gave the Habs a 1-0 lead by coming in off the rush and driving around Darren Raddysh, his soft shot bounced through Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Cole Caufield then made it 2-0 on the power play, getting to the front of the net and knocking home a pass from Nick Suzuki with 6:31 left in the second — 3:23 after Bolduc opened the scoring.
Montreal was on fire.
But the Lightning had Brandon Hagel, who had already scored four times in the first three games.
He added two more on Sunday.
“These type of atmospheres, these moments are probably the best to be a part of. It’s exciting,” Hagel said. “This is what the playoffs are all about. They have passionate fans, which makes this so much more fun.’’
Tampa Bay started its comeback and made it 2-1 with 59 seconds left in the second.
On a 4-on-4 after Hagel was called for slashing during what was a Lightning power play, Jake Guentzel redirected a throw in from J.J. Moser for Tampa’s first goal of the night.
Hagel ended tying it at 2 on a power play early in the third, getting in front and knocking in a pass from Nikita Kucherov at 1:40.
With 4:53 left, Hagel scored again for a 3-2 lead when Kucherov’s shot from the top of the right circle clipped him on the way past Jakub Dobes.
The go-ahead goal came right after Montreal killed off a 5-on-3 that for 1:11. Kucherov was cross-checked by Jake Evans with Mike Matheson already in for a high stick.
Vasilevskiy did the rest knocking back the only four shots he faced in the third and 16 overall.
Sunday’s game was the first in this series to not go to overtime although the Canadiens got a late power play on a slash by Kucherov but could not get the equalizer to force yet another OT.
The Lightning went 1-for-7 on the power play; Montreal was 1-6.
“They are a veteran team, very good at drawing penalties. They have talented players, are a tough team,” Montreal coach and Lightning legend Martin St. Louis said. “We’re in a battle. There’s a fine line between winning and losing in these games. But, we’re battling.’’
STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS: ROUND 1
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING (Atl2) v MONTREAL CANADIENS (Atl3)
GAME 5
Best-of-7 Series Tied 2-2
- When: Wednesday, TBA
- Where: Benchmark Arena, Tampa
- Tampa Local TV: The Spot-66
- National TV: TBA
- Streaming: TBA
- Season Series: Tampa Bay won 2-1
- All-time Regular Season Series: Lightning leads 63-43-11, 6 ties
- All-time Postseason Series — Lightning Lead 3-1: Won 2021 Stanley Cup Final (5 games); Won 2015 Round 2 (6); Lost 2014 Round 1 (4); Won 2004 Round 2 (4)
- Series Schedule (Tied 2-2) — Game 1: Montreal 4, Tampa Bay 3 OT; Game 2: Tampa Bay 3, Montreal 2 OT; Game 3: Montreal 3, Lightning 2 OT; Game 4: Lightning 3, Montreal 2; Game 5: at Tampa Bay, Wednesday TBD; Game 6: at Montreal, Friday TBD; *Game 7: at Tampa Bay, May 3 TBD