Familiar Fight Returns: Canadiens vs. Lightning
It’s not often you see two teams from the same division play for the Stanley Cup title. But thanks to some COVID magic, the last time the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning met in the playoffs, that’s exactly what the stakes were.
Now they’re back at it, and it’s the first time in the modern conference era (since 1982) that two teams that met in the Cup Final play each other in the first round.
“I think it’s going to be a really good series,” Tampa forward Brandon Hagel said Saturday. “You’ve got to play with heart.”
The first time they met, Tampa was in the Central Division and Montreal was in the North Division on two different sides of the bracket. The Bolts beat the Habs in a gentleman’s sweep and were Tampa’s second straight cup at the time.
Both teams have taken different paths since that 2021 series, and only one can move on in the playoffs. Two teams tied at 106 points in the regular season can only go through each other. Let’s see how they stack up.
One aspect both groups share is their affinity for scoring at will — especially from both teams’ top lines. For Montreal, it’s all about Cole Caufield, who lit the lamp 51 times, and Nick Suzuki, who dished out 72 helpers. Caufield’s 51 goals rank seventh in a single season in franchise history, while Suzuki’s assists place him fifth all-time in a single season.
Tampa, on the other side, is headlined by a guy putting up video game numbers — Nikita Kucherov. He was second in the league in points this year, at 130, with 44 goals and 86 assists. Pair that with a few wingers like Jake Guentzel and Hagel, who both combined for 74 goals this season, and you have two sure-fire offenses on both sides ready to score at will.
“I think Kucherov certainly has an ability to take over any series,” CBS Sports’ Pete Blackburn said. “He’s just unbelievable. That’s going to be a tough matchup for the guys on the other side.”
One mark of Tampa’s game has always been special teams. Jon Cooper-led teams have historically always been good on the man advantage. However, this season has been the inverse of previous years. Tampa is third in the league in penalty kill, while being in the bottom half for power play percentage.
Part of this is due to the netminder for the Lightning, Andrei Vasilevskiy. He’s having a Vezina trophy-caliber year. He has a 2.31 GAA, third lowest of his career, a .912 save percentage, second among starting goalies and led the league in wins at 39.
“Vasilevksiy’s been maybe the best goalie over the last five or six years,” Suzuki said. “He definitely knows how to win.”
In the other corner is Jakub Dobes, a 24-year-old fifth-round pick from 2020. Dobes has come on to the scene and shocked many — a 2.78 GAA with 29 wins this year, fourth most by a rookie goalie in Montreal history.
Backing up Dobes is another rookie goaltender — Jacob Fowler. In 17 games with the Habs, he is 9-6-2 with a 2.43 GAA and a .908 save percentage — solid numbers for a first-year goaltender. However, no matter who is in the net for them, they have confidence in their group.
“But, we have confidence in our goalies,” Suzuki said. “They showed down the stretch they can win big games.”
These two are also the definition of “down but never out.” Both teams are in the top three in the NHL in come-from-behind wins, with Montreal leading the league with these at 26 and Tampa at 24. However, this ability to come back highlights a big concern — both teams can put themselves down and stay out.
“They make games a lot more interesting than they need to be,” Blackburn said. “ It’s great for entertainment value, but they play around more than they need to, and that might bite them against really good teams.”
If you look at head-to-head this season, these teams drew. Tampa dominated the first meeting between the teams in a 6-1 win at the Bell Centre before it edged them in the second meeting in a 5-4 shootout win back in Tampa.
Then, it was all Habs. They dominated them 4-1 in a revenge game in Tampa before their most recent matchup — a 2-1 win where the teams combined for 126 penalty minutes.
Montreal defenseman Jayden Struble said that was only a taste of what was to come.
“The last time we played them, it was definitely a playoff game,” he said. “It’ll be a heated series. I think we’re ready for it.”
This series could mean more for Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis. He played for 13 years with the Lightning, won them their first Stanley Cup in franchise history, won a Hart trophy — the most valuable player — with Tampa and has his jersey retired with the Bolts.
He’s the second coach to play against a team that retired his jersey. The first one was in 2002, with Brian Sutter leading the Chicago Blackhawks. However, St. Louis is going to look to avoid the same outcome that happened to Sutter in 2002, with his Blackhawks losing to the St. Louis Blues in five games.
If the regular season was any indication, this one is shaping up to be an all-out war — with St. Louis at the command for the Habs trying to take down the franchise where he became a legend.
Game 1 is already in the books, with Montreal taking it 4-3 in overtime. Forward Juraj Slafkovsky had a hat trick in the game — scoring all three on the man advantage. Game 2 is set for Tuesday night at 7 on ESPN.
Category: Hockey, NHL, Tampa Bay Lightning
