With Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Fina; looming on Monday night in Montreal, the slipper is starting to feel a little snug and is pinching the toes a bit on the Canadiens.
Through three games, Montreal has not taken a lead over the Tampa Bay Lightning. They’ve scored only five goals, yet much of the ire seems placed on goalie Carey Price.
Price has, in fact, struggled, but no more so than any other goalie this season against the Lightning.
“Carey’s the guy playing Monday,” Montreal head coach Dominique Ducharme said Saturday. “So, if people wonder who’s going to be in net, Carey’s going to be in net.”
You leave the dance with who brung ya, as the saying goes.
The Habs are not trailing 0-3 because of Price, they are trailing because the Lightning are methodically taking them apart, Price is left holding the bag.
“Yeah, you can talk about one guy or another guy, it’s about all of us,” Ducharme said. “We need to be better in front of him. Everyone, all 20 guys putting on the jersey are looking for Monday night playing their best game, that’s it.”
As a veteran and leader, Price looks to himself as the problem.
“I can definitely play better,” Price said after Game 3. “It’s just not good enough so far.”
That’s all well and good, but when the team in front of you is outclassed and being beaten to loose pucks in the corners, the slot, the points, and the concession stands, you need some plexiglass across the goal mouth, not a goalie.
“You can’t look too far ahead,” Ducharme said. “You see the mountain and it looks pretty high, but there are steps you have to go through. The first step we gave to take is we have a home game that we have to win (Monday). And those who think that we’re going to disappear just like that, we’re going to let that go. They don’t know us well. We’re going to fight to win and right now that’s the only thing we are thinking about.”
Montreal getting to the Final has been no fluke, but they are out of their league this series. The Lightning are clinical in their dismantling of teams.
“We’re obviously one win away now, so it’s all we’re really focused on,” Tampa’s Tyler Johnson, said. “We’re working together as a team on it, and we’re trying to create something special.”
The Habs rallied back from a 1-3 deficit in the first round of the playoff this year. That was against the Toronto Maple Leafs who have not seen a second round playoff series since “Gone with the Wind” was in first release.
“You start throwing legacy around and a lot of these words that describe teams that, you know, you sit there and say, ‘Jeez, they were a pretty [darn] good team,’ but you really only get that moniker if you win Cups,” Tampa head coach Jon Cooper said. “I know we’ve won one, and nobody can take that away from us, but the determination on this group to get another one is … It’s amazing to watch.
“We are not there yet. But I’m so proud of just the maturity level of this group and their sheer determination to continue and to try and get another one, and hopefully at some point here we can do that.”
Game 4 is set for Montreal on Monday night. The Stanley Cup will be in the building, can the Canadiens delay the inevitable?
“We’ve overcome adversity all season,” Price said. “Our backs are obviously against the wall, so we’ve got to start bringing our best.”
All photos by Jack.Lima@prohockeynews.com
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