2021 Stanley Cup Finals : Montreal Canadiens vs Tampa Bay Lightning (TBL Win 4-1)

[J0e Th0rnton]

12 hours ago, Hockey Junkie said:

The 93 Montreal team was the worst team to win a Cup in my lifetime.  Only reason they won was ROY.  Period. Tampa is a total mismatch.  They will beat them in 4 or 5.

The 2006 Carolina hurricanes were worse simply because, Patrick Roy in god mode, one of the greatest goaltenders of all time.

[Alexandron]

Point is a world class fantastic player, having a superb speed and superb puck control.

We have lots of physical play tonight.

[Alexandron]

Kicherov's laser shot to the top of the left corner of the net is making 4:1 score.

[Alexandron]

And a lots of blood too now. PP for Montreal.

[Alexandron]

I have read from Russo twit that current Tampa roster is practically unchanged since last year playoffs. 21 current players played at Stanley Cup finals last year too.

 

No way that Montreal will be able to place 3 unanswered goals in a last 3 minutes of the game. 

[FD19372]

14 hours ago, Hockey Junkie said:

The 93 Montreal team was the worst team to win a Cup in my lifetime.  Only reason they won was ROY.  Period. Tampa is a total mismatch.  They will beat them in 4 or 5.

Eric Desjardins says hello. He had a hat trick and a couple of game winning goals if my memory serves.

[Alexandron]

Stamkos fantastic goal!!!!

[FD19372]

2 minutes ago, Alexandron said:

Stamkos fantastic goal!!!!

Classic Stamkos there.

[Alexandron]

Just now, FD19372 said:

Classic Stamkos there.

It is his very real classic. Point had 3 points(assists) and Kucherov 3 as well(2 goals and 1 assist) in this game. I think entire game was a classic TAMPA.

 

5 goals on 26 shots into Canadiens net is seems a lot for Carey Price. He was not able to resist well such a high offensive pressure coming from a Lightning team.

[lynxrattle]

5 hours ago, Alexandron said:

You expected same things for 3 rounds series already, but they were marching round after round nicely and proudly to the finals. 

And now it is a real time to found out who are they? No questions - it is a serious team to play against.

In fifty years of watching team Finland competing against its betters I really should recognise when a team manages to win with mediocre material. One can't keep on winning for ever, but one can keep on surprising other teams. We'll see if the Habs' story ends now (but even if it does, I'll be predicting at one out of four - that's worse than a meteorologist ).

[Buffalo Rick]

7 hours ago, J0e Th0rnton said:

The 2006 Carolina hurricanes were worse simply because, Patrick Roy in god mode, one of the greatest goaltenders of all time.

Yes he was along with Parent, Hasek, Miller( ha, best US), Plante, Hall, Broduer, Sawchuck.  But the team sucked.  

[Buffalo Rick]

5 hours ago, FD19372 said:

Eric Desjardins says hello. He had a hat trick and a couple of game winning goals if my memory serves.

Team was pure crap.  Luckiest Cup ever.  Gretsky and his Kings lost that one if memory serves me correct?  Barry Melrose?

[Brewin Flames]

 

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

2 hours ago, Brewin Flames said:

 

 

Thanks for posting this.

I get the viewpoint from NBC Sports, and frankly, some of their analysts aren't very good at offering any real insights into...well, anything.
Nice to at least hear a different viewpoint on the action and what went on from the SN people.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Lightning certainly put on a clinic of sorts as to how and what needs to be done to beat a team like the Canadiens:

---Fast transition offense? Check
---Not blatantly turning the puck over? Check
---Lots of traffic around Price? Check
---Score on the PP? Check
---Capitalize on chances when given? Check
---Smother the young stars of the Habs? Check
---Return physicality with physicality? Check and check (literally!)

Yes, I know...it is just one game.
LOTS of series left to play and I would imagine the Canadiens will make adjustments, but IMO, what we saw in Game 1 showcases beautifully that if the Lightning play their game, execute to the levels they can, the Habs simply don't stand a chance.

For Montreal, I believe they have gotten to where they are by making the most out of whatever opportunities their opponents have given them, then turning around and exploiting whatever flaws the other team has (Toronto top heavy, lesser experienced in championship runs.... Winnipeg's lack of depth compounded by not having Schiefele.... Vegas' horrendous streakiness when it comes to scoring and no bite on their PP).

Kudos to Montreal for doing what they needed to against those teams.
But for all the talk that the Bolts may be yet another team the Habs will surprise, the Lightning clearly showed that THEY are the type of team the Habs haven't quite seen the likes of, and they did the surprising on Montreal as to how deadly they can really be.

Tampa Bay will NOT play this well all series, they will have their peaks and valleys like anyone else, which is why I still give two games to the Canadiens at some point, but at the risk of sounding like a complete 'homer', this series is the Bolts' to lose.

[GratefulFlyers]

21 minutes ago, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

Tampa Bay will NOT play this well all series

If the Habs best players keep making cross-ice passes up high in the O-zone they will. TB will keep taking advantage of them. Minus the TOs the teams looked a little more evenly matched. If Montreal quits giving away the puck so easily they have a chance, otherwise 4 or 5 games will be enough for TB.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

6 minutes ago, GratefulFlyers said:

If the Habs best players keep making cross-ice passes up high in the O-zone they will. TB will keep taking advantage of them. Minus the TOs the teams looked a little more evenly matched. If Montreal quits giving away the puck so easily they have a chance, otherwise 4 or 5 games will be enough for TB.

 

Before the series started, I wanted to say Lightning in 5, figuring Price would find a way to steal away at least one game, or some unlikely player will come up with a difference making goal to give Montreal a win.

But, giving credit to the Canadiens to what they've done, especially beating Vegas which was pretty impressive to me, I feel either Price may be good for stealing perhaps two games, or some players on the Habs step it up enough to garner Montreal a pair of wins.

Thing is though, and again, realizing this was just one game, the young stars I thought would be difference makers for the Habs (and the ones more likely to able to match TB stride for stride, play for play), are finding themselves in very deep playoff waters now against an experienced team that is just as skilled as they are.

Those players would be Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Nick Suzuki, and Cole Caufield.
They saw first hand that much of that 'time and space' they had versus previous opponents simply wasn't afforded to them by this more tenacious, experienced Lightning team.

If the Habs are going to do anymore than scrape out two games in the series, those young guys are gonna have to grow up, and grow up FAST over the course of this series.
Tall order even for talented players like them.

[FD19372]

7 hours ago, Hockey Junkie said:

Gretsky

He might have been a rookie, but they also had Wayne "The Great One" Gretzky, on that team....still playing at a high level.

Edited June 29, 2021 by FD19372

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

7 minutes ago, FD19372 said:

He might have been a rookie, but they also had Wayne "The Great One" Gretzky, on that team....still playing at a high level.

 

I was SOOOO PROUD the day the Lightning, way back in the 90's were able to get Gretzky on the team!

Sure, he only played about a dozen games before moving on to other pastures....and sure, his name was Brent, but, dammit, WE had Gretzky play for us! 

[mojo1917]

I was pretty surprised to see the puck and the TB players always going in the same direction. Usually that's the Canadiens jam.

The 'ning out habbed the Habs last night, that game wasn't particularly close.  Every time Tampa was in the MTL zone it felt like they were going to get a quality chance, and they cycled the hell out of the Habs, finally exploiting the "not great" skating of their defense, first team I've seen do that to Montreal for more than a few minutes a game. 

 

Tampa managed to skate through ,if not avoid altogether, the back checking of the Canadiens as well.

For me that's the area where this Habs team makes it's hay. MTL poke the puck away, knock a guy off the puck, even when they look beat, there is never open ice against them for more than a second.

It wears teams down, I saw it last year vs Philly and again this year on their march to the finals.

 

None of that **** seemed to bother the Lightning who have the speed and skill to play any game any way they want or need to. 

This TB team might be the best hockey team I've seen in about 10 years, sucks for the Islanders that they're peaking at the same time. 

 

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

@mojo1917

 

One of the more underrated aspects of the Lightning IS the ability, as you mentioned, to play just about any kind of game the opponent wants to play.
The team is constructed such that they aren't just about all out offense, or all out goaltending, or anything.
They are truly flexible and have the personnel to play a fast transition game, a half court defensive game, a nasty checking affair, or a run n gun high scoring affair.

You beat one aspect of the Lightning, they can get you with another!

Far be it from me to want to have ANYTHING in common with Penguins fans   , but I can now truly understand, when the Pens were flying high, their fans saying "Only ones that can beat us, is us"....and to that effect, it seemed whenever those great Pittsburgh teams "took a night off" or a "shift off", they paid for it.

Seems the same thing is true of this Lightning team.
They let up, Montreal will beat them.
If they don't, not a whole lot the Habs can do about it.

[Brewin Flames]

3 hours ago, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

 

Thanks for posting this.

I get the viewpoint from NBC Sports, and frankly, some of their analysts aren't very good at offering any real insights into...well, anything.
Nice to at least hear a different viewpoint on the action and what went on from the SN people.

 

 

Perspective....is important lol

[Brewin Flames]

Tampa is a complete team...

 

Speed, depth, netminding, forecheck, backcheck, body check, and everything in between, even coaching, just solid all over.

[SaucyJack]

9 hours ago, Hockey Junkie said:

Luckiest Cup ever.  Gretsky and his Kings lost that one if memory serves me correct?  Barry Melrose?

Yup I suppose.  After losing the first game against the Nordiques in OT, Montreal won 10 of their 16 victories in OT, never losing in OT again.  Especially killer was erasing a 1-0 Final deficit to Gretzky’s and Mullet Melrose’s LA Kings to win games 2,3, and 4 in OT.

 

Call ‘em lucky, they knew how to play in the clutch.  Let’s see if this 2021 batch can come back and adjust to last night’s manhandling.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

An opening perhaps for the Canadiens?

Lightning's Alex Killorn out for Game 2 of Stanley Cup Final (nbcsports.com)

 

Alex Killorn appears to be day to day for the series, and won't play tonight, with an UBI.
It is believed he got it after blocking a Jeff Petry shot in Game 1.

For those that don't know, Killorn during the regular season is a so-so top 9 performer who seems to absolutely come alive and go clutch come playoff time.
He does everything..... he sets up, he scores, he checks, he agitates, and is, in fact, one of the core leaders of this group.

He may not have the fancy numbers of a Nikita Kucherov or Brayden Point, but is just as vital to team success as they are.
His playoff exploits are not just for this season, but they have been for a few now.

Tampa Bay has had make to due before without a star player here and there, but now, we will see how they fare without one of their leadership do-everything playoff lynchpins, Alex Killorn.

It is unclear whether Coach Jon Cooper will go with 11 forwards and 7 defenseman as is his M.O..... or, he may go traditional 12 F, 6D by inserting Matieu Joseph, who hasn't seen playoff time since the first two games of the Panthers series.

If the Canadiens were looking for a crack in the Lightning armor and were ready to make a hard push in this series, Game 2 could be their ticket as not having to deal with Killorn's expert jack-of-all-trades skillset works in their favor.