MONTREAL, Quebec – Facing a possible sweep in the Stanley Cup Final heading into Game Four, the Canadiens looked to make a few line-up changes.
If for no other reason, it would give their mighty opponent a different look from a team on the brink. In would be Josh Evans in place of Jesperi Kotkaniemi on the third line. The defensive pairing of Erik Gustafsson and Jon Merrill shelved in favor of Alexander Romanov and Brett Kulak.
It was not much of a different look, but it somehow worked.
Josh Anderson potted his second goal of the game just 3:57 into overtime to give Monday the victory and at least for a few days, push off elimination from the Stanley Cup Final.
“We didn’t want to end it tonight in front of our fans,” Anderson said. “We expected to go to Tampa tomorrow, I think everybody in that locker room did and packed their bags this afternoon, you know, just had that feeling that we were going to win tonight and give ourselves a chance.”
The game-winning goal developed when Anderson took the puck along the right boards. While fighting off a Tampa Bay defenseman while taking the play deep and toward the net on a sharp angle, he back-handed the puck out in front to Cole Caufield, who slightly fanned on the shot. Anderson returned from being out of the play and put the loose puck just inside the left post and past Andrei Vasilevskiy.
The goal came after the Canadiens killed off a double minor to Shea Weber for high sticking that was called as the third period ended.
“‘Webby’ is our leader,” Montreal’s Brendan Gallagher said. “You can’t ask for a better teammate, so obviously the guys wanted to bear down especially for him. I mean, we understand the situation we’re in, I think we would have killed it for anyone, but he’s been a rock for us since he’s come to our team.”
It was a marvelous ending for a game that did not start out in any way like it ended, though.
Although Montreal did not get the fast start it sought, it prevented early goals, something they could not accomplish in the first two periods of Game 3 when they surrendered two early goals in the first four minutes of those frames.
Through the first half of the opening period, it seemed like the Lightning might succeed as they did in Game Three, launching wave after wave of speed and body checkers on the attack. Montreal goaltender Carey Price stymied the defending champions through the first half of the period, and it gave the Canadiens strength.
“We’re a resilient group,” Price said. “We’ve faced adversity all season long and have responded well, but we’ve got a lot of work left to do.”
After the first ten minutes in which the Canadiens registered just one shot, that of a trickling puck that Vasilevskiy covered just to freeze the play, Montreal would like the result of their next shot.
With just more than four minutes to play in the first period, Nick Suzuki crossed the blue line along the left boards, dished the puck off to Cole Caufield and continued toward the net on the left side. Caufield returned the puck to Suzuki and as the young sniper neared the end red line, found a trailing Josh Anderson high in the slot. Anderson put the puck inside the right post to open the scoring and give Montreal their first lead in the series, a span of 184:21.
Despite the overwhelming onslaught from Tampa Bay, the Canadiens weathered the storm and now had the lead they sought, this despite trailing in shots 12-5 after one period.
“It’s frustrating, but I don’t look at it as, ‘Oh well, we didn’t win the game in overtime,'” Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “How did we get to overtime? We had ample chances to put this one away and we didn’t, and eventually if you let a team hang around long enough, they get you, and tonight they did. So I’m not worried about the overtime thing.”
Defending Champions, though, have a penchant for dominating and usually does not take them very long to regain their strength. The Lightning did just that 2:40 into the middle frame.
“Obviously, we would have wanted to win tonight, but that didn’t happen,” the Lightning’s Barclay Goodrow said. “They’re a very good team. They’re here for a reason. Their backs are against the wall and they gave it a push. This game is over with. We’re focused on Game 5 (at Tampa Bay on Wednesday).”
It all started when Ryan McDonagh interrupted Montreal’s end zone breakout with a stick check as the puck was about to leave the offensive zone. Blake Coleman then collected the puck and fired a drive from the right point. Price made the left pad save, but the rebound kicked out to McDonagh. The veteran backhanded a pass into the slot where Barclay Goodrow buried the puck into the open side to tie the game.
It was just the type of mistake Montreal could not afford to make and it cost them.
The period ended with shots in favor of Montreal 9 to 8, but 20 to 14 through two periods.
The third period began with a flurry of good change in front of Price, but he held his own and kept Tampa Bay from taking the lead. At 8:48, his teammates scored, sending the Lightning back into a trailing position.
That is when the puck was dumped to the right of the Tampa Bay net. Josh Evans dug the puck out and sent it back to Romanov who sent a drive from the right point through a screen and behind Vasilevskiy for the 2-1 lead. Romanov, playing in just his second playoff game, netted his first playoff point and the Canadiens were back in front.
Exactly five minutes later, the Lightning answered. Tyler Johnson dug the puck out in front of the Tampa Bay bench before dishing it off to Mathieu Joseph. He sped across center ice, veering wide right as he crossed the Montreal blue line. Joseph turned back to his strong left side and sent a pass to a streaking Pat Maroon who tipped the puck past Price to knot the game at 2. It seemed to take the wind out of Montreal’s sails.
As the regulation approached with a little more than a minute remaining, Nikita Kucherov found himself accepting a cross-crease pass at the right side of the Montreal net. He sent a drive back across the crease and hit the left post, causing it to bounce out of harm’s way. It was a golden chance.
Next came a crucial penalty after Montreal’s Shea Weber clipped Ondrej Palat after the face-off while battling for control of the puck off the draw. Weber’s stick drew blood from the bridge of Palat’s nose, earning him a double-minor. It would give Tampa Bay a chance to win it
The Lightning hammered the Montreal net in the closing minute but could never solve Price in regulation and the game went to overtime. The power play continued for nearly three more minutes, but Price stood firm stopping four solid chances.
In that first three minutes of shorthanded play, Montreal had a spectacular chance from Suzuki, but Vasilevskiy got a shoulder on it to deny the game winner, at least for now.
It was not long after this sequence that Anderson solved the Tampa Bay netminder for the second time in the game to give Montreal the victory.
Game Five is scheduled for Wednesday night, but Hurricane Elsa is threatening the Tampa area, currently scheduled to hit the area on game night. No word on any schedule changes as of press time.
“I think any fan of any team, if you gave them the option to win the Stanley Cup or you’ve got to take your chance at home, I think the fanbase would’ve loved if we had come home with the Stanley Cup tonight,” Cooper said. “That’s paramount. I think it’s icing on the cake if you can do it at home, but … you have ample time to celebrate with the fans when you win a Stanley Cup.
“We can’t hang our hat saying, ‘Because we’re going home, it gives us an edge.’ Our fans deserve this, but there’s no guarantees. It’s weird. Maybe it’s set up. Maybe this is the way it was meant to be and that’s going to play out, but two teams still got to play the games and the game is decided in the trenches and, hopefully, we can give our fans that gift.”
Tampa Bay’s next win will give them back-to-back titles and the first time since 2017 a team has won back-to-back titles when the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Nashville Predators. Before that, the 1998 Red Wings team was the last to win back-to-back titles.
Dennis Morrell has enjoyed many years of experience in the great game as a hockey writer, photographer, goalie coach, player and currently as an active USA Hockey-certified referee with over 1,200 games carrying the whistle and wearing a striped jersey. His passion for the game began in the early 70s with his first glance at skaters at Clayton’s Shaw Park. He can be reached at dennis.morrell@prohockeynews.com
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