TAMPA, Florida – The Tampa Bay Lightning basked in the glory of their stunning victory in the closing seconds of game three. With no day off between games, the home team looked to close out the series in sweeping fashion. Storm clouds surrounded their opponent and with a clinching scenario in play, momentum clearly was in Tampa Bay’s favor. There was just one problem with that plan; the visiting team had other ideas.
With their backs to the wall, Montreal’s leaders got things going early. Max Pacioretty chased down a loose puck in the Tampa Bay zone before finding P.K. Subban joining the play. Pacioretty sent the puck back to Subban who drew the attention of Lightning goaltender who zeroed in on the All-Star defenseman’s next move. Subban found an open Andrei Markov on the left side, sending a slick pass to the left winger who fired the puck into a semi-open net to give the visitors a 1-0 lead just less than three minutes into the game.
Six minutes later, it was Pacioretty’s turn. While short-handed, defenseman Tom Gilbert cleared the puck out of the Montreal zone along the far boards where Pacioretty chased it down and sped in all alone on Bishop. Lightning forward Tyler Johnson tried to chase the Montreal left wing down, but couldn’t before Pacioretty fired a low shot stick side to give the Canadiens a 2-0 lead.
While the Lightning held close in shots during the first period, trailing Montreal 9-8, the Canadiens clearly had the jump on Tampa Bay and it wasn’t too far into the second period before the visitors extended their lead.
Just more than five minutes into the period, Montreal sped up their transition game out of their own zone. Alex Galchenyuk took the puck at the near boards, sending a quick pass to Dale Weise across his own blue line. He kept the play going to the far side where he found David Dasharnais wide open. The centerman sent a blast which went off Bishop’s glove, reminiscent of Montreal’s only goal in game one, to give the Canadiens a 3-0 lead.
That was it for Bishop who gave up three goals on 14 shots in just more than 25 minutes of play. In came 20-year old Andrei Vasilevskiy who entered the crease with no NHL playoff experience and just 16 games of regular season play. It took a little more than four minutes to introduce him to postseason hockey in North America.
With Ryan Callahan off for high-sticking Tomas Plekanec, the Canadiens set-up the man advantage nicely in the Tampa Bay zone. Alex Galchenyuk and P.K. Subban passed the puck between them looking for the right opening and after several exchanges, found Jeff Petry on the far side in the circle. He sent a blast along the ice which beat Vasilevskiy low glove side to give Montreal a 4-0 lead.
Fifteen seconds later, Montreal was back to the quick transition game working the puck smartly out of their own zone. Tom Plekanec worked the puck up ice to Max Pacioretty and delivered a quick pass to Brendan Gallagher. With a burst of speed, Gallagher barreled in on Vasilevskiy, laying into a heavy slap shot and beating the rookie goaltender low stick side to give Montreal the 5-0 lead.
Tampa Bay made a move to gain some respectability a few minutes later. With Andrei Markov off for tripping Lightning captain Steven Stamkos, Anton Stralman worked the man advantage nicely, sending a pass to Ondrej Palat high on the right point. He found an open Nikita Kucherov who sent a redirection past Montreal goaltender Carey Price to get the home team on the board.
As the period came to a close, Montreal led the frame in shots 15-10 and 26-18 for the two-period total.
Not long after the puck dropped for the third period, Tampa Bay drew closer to the Canadiens. With Dale Weise off for roughing Braydon Cobourn at the end of the second period, Tampa scored on the man advantage when Steven Stamkos started the play up ice. He found Tyler Johnson speeding along the near boards. Along with Ondrej Palat, the two passed back and forth before Johnson ended up drawing Price out enough to expose the far side of the goal. He sent a pass to Palat who deposited the puck into the net to close the Montreal lead to 5-2.
That was as close as the home team got to Montreal, who gained a sixth goal less than five minutes into the final period. The shot total was 16-6 in the third period and 40-24 for the game.
Max Pacioretty ended the game with a goal and two assists and P.K. Subban added two assists while Carey Price stopped 22 of 24 shots for Montreal’s first victory in nine tries.
Montreal heads home to the Bell Centre in hopes of keeping the series going. Their effort in game four seems to give Canadiens’ fans hope their club can build on the dominating victory and start the long road back to winning the series.
Game five returns to Montreal at the Bell Centre on Saturday, May 9th. If the Canadiens extend the series, game six would return to Tampa on Tuesday, May 12th with a seventh game back in Montreal on Thursday, May 14th.
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