Montreal Canadiens vs Tampa Bay Lightning is officially started after the Lightning took game one. There were a lot of great performances from a lot of great players, but the standout was Nikita Kucherov. Kucherov was able to score both the third and assist the fourth goal that helped solidify their game one win.
1st Period
Montreal Canadiens: The Canadiens had a great first period, and showed great fore-checking and pressure in the offensive zone. Gallagher was adding lots of pressure on the defense early putting the Tampa Bay defense on watch. Offensively the Canadiens were shooting well that caused Vasilevskiy to make some great saves in goal, but were without a goal.
Tampa Bay Lightning: The Tampa Bay Lightning are looking to run it back, and started hot with a great goal by Erik Cernak. From Palat, to Point, and the finish by Cernak, they were able to take the early lead as he was able to sneak it past Price’s glove. Tampa showed a lot of good shifts that was making it hard for Montreal to find any form of puck control.
Canadiens Stats:
Carey Price: 6/7, 1 goal allowed
Lightning Stats:
G: Erik Cernak(1)
A: Brayden Point(7), Ondrej Palat(6)
Andrei Vasilevskiy: 4/4, 0 goals allowed.
2nd Period
Montreal Canadiens: The Montreal Canadiens started a little slow that resulted into Tampa scoring against them, but after finding some fire they had a great finish to the second period. They were able to put themselves on the scoreboard in the final minutes of the second period off a slapshot by Jesperi Kotkaniemi that deflected off the skate of Ryan McDonaugh. Ryan Chariot was then credited with the goal.
Tampa Bay Lightning: Tampa played a great second period that resulted in them getting another goal in the middle part of the second period. The Lightning were applying a great deal of pressure on Carey Price with a numerous amount of speed, and strength in their offensive zone. Brayden Point is drawing a lot of defense leaving multiple shots open by other players on the ice.
Canadiens Stats:
G: Ben Chairot(1)
A: Jesperi Kotkaniemi(3), Shea Weber(4)
Carey Price: 17/19, 2 goals allowed
Lightning Stats:
G: Yanni Gourde(6)
A: Blake Coleman(7), Barclay Goodrow(2)
Andrei Vasilevskiy: 13/14, 1 goal allowed
3rd Period
Montreal Canadiens: Montreal struggled in the third period trying to create plays. Their timing was off when setting up plays in the slot that made execution a big problem. They played very physical all game, but the Lightning were playing a better positional game than Montreal was. Giving up three goals it’s going to be hard to top that when you aren’t executing off your opportunities and that was the downfall to the Canadiens in game one.
Tampa Bay Lightning: Tampa definitely bested the Montreal Canadiens in the third period. After all but solidifying a win after the third goal early on in the period, there wasn’t much hope to Canadiens fans. The positional zone that Lightning were playing in the defensive zone was fantastic and were playing a shut down defensive game against the Canadiens to help solidify the win in game one.
Canadiens Stats:
Carey Price: 21/26, 5 goals allowed
Lightning Stats:
G: Nikita Kucherov(6), Brayden Point(15), Steven Stamkos
A: Mikhail Sergachev(3), Nikita Kucherov(23, 24), Brayden Point(9)
Andrei Vasilevskiy: 18/19, 1 goals allowed
Conclusion
The Tampa Bay Lightning get the game one win against the Montreal Canadiens. In a one-sided performance the Canadiens couldn’t put anything together that the Lightning couldn’t handle. They didn’t execute passes in the slot and it caused them to not put much pressure on Vasilevskiy. On to game two in Montreal as the Canadiens look to bounce back at home.