The Montreal Canadiens won’t sweep the Tampa Bay Lightning this year. It took a long time, thanks in large part to the heroics of both Carey Price and Ben Bishop, but the Bolts scored a double-overtime winner to power themselves past the Habs by a margin of 2-1 in Game One of this Eastern Conference Semifinal series.
If you look up ‘classic goalie duel’ in the dictionary, you’ll likely be redirected to a tape of Friday night’s hockey game. Both Price and Bishop were phenomenal. They made big saves, they made timely saves, and they made nearly ALL the saves. Anyone who says that a low-scoring game can’t be entertaining clearly didn’t witness this one, as the Bell Centre was rockin’ all night long.
One of the things Tampa head coach Jon Cooper must have been aware of as his team entered the Bell Centre is fatigue. While the Canadiens had plenty of time to rest after defeating the Ottawa Senators, the Bolts just arrived in Montreal yesterday after beating the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night. As a result, it’s no surprise that Montreal was able to control possession and pace all night long. They peppered Bishop with 44 (!) shots and looked generally fresher than Tampa as the game moved into its latter stages.
Because of that aforementioned goalie duel, it took a long time for one of those shots to actually beat a goaltender. Following countless spectacular saves from both goalies, Tyler Johnson was finally able to break through Price’s force field. At 2:34 of the third period, the young forward was able to tip a Matt Carle shot past the Montreal goalie for the score. The tally was his seventh (!) of the postseason, which makes him the National Hockey League’s leading goal scorer right now. That’s not too bad for an undrafted forward who was once deemed ‘too small’ for hockey at this level.
At that point, the game started to parallel Game Seven between the Wings and Lightning. Like on Wednesday, the Bolts weren’t firing on all cylinders or clicking with precision. Like on Wednesday, they scored only a few minutes into the third period. Like on Wednesday, they were tasked with holding on to that one-goal lead.
Unlike on Wednesday, however, the opponent struck back. And it was… ugly.
Bishop’s brilliance has already been mentioned more than once, but his attempt to save a Max Pacioretty shot at 14:47 of the third left a lot to be desired. Words can’t exactly do the play justice, so just see for yourself:
GIF: LOL Ben Bishop. LOL. pic.twitter.com/lo9xxTb3A1
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) May 2, 2015GIF: Bishop save pic.twitter.com/kmnhhT8ZiR
— Stephanie Vail (@myregularface) May 2, 2015With all that said, the Pacioretty goal was enough to force the game into overtime, which probably made the Canadiens happy. That happiness quickly evaporated from the Bell Centre, at least for a moment, when Nikita Kucherov got the puck past Price and into the net early-ish in the extra frame:
GIF: Probably the best look at Tampa’s disallowed goal. Price dragged it in. pic.twitter.com/9hKwhHMmi0
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) May 2, 2015Subsequent to that missed opportunity, there was almost a sense that Tampa Bay wasted the chance they needed to beat Price for a second time. Simply put, Montreal was the fresher team, their opponent (Lightning) was essentially a three-line team, and they were on home ice. With those facts in mind, it’s easy to understand why chances were hard to come by for Tampa as overtime moved along.
Thankfully, however, the Bolts got the one chance they needed. 2:06 into the second overtime period, Nikita Kucherov wired a shot past Price to end the game. This one counted, but, again, controversy ensued. This time it was because the scoring play occurred after a missed offside call:
Offside on the gwg? pic.twitter.com/V9Suk8gALO
— Stroumboulopoulos (@strombo) May 2, 2015Before signing off, I’d just like to make mention of Tyler Johnson and Brenden Morrow. Johnson, who scored Tampa’s first goal, was injured in the third period after being hit in the shoulder/arm by Brendan Gallagher. While he did return to the game after a prolonged stint in the dressing room, he didn’t take faceoffs. His status will be something to keep an eye on as the team moves towards Game Two.
In Morrow’s case, we’re back to the same question: What on earth is he doing in the lineup? He played a whopping 5:05 in a game that lasted 82:06. Cooper was rolling three lines as Morrow sat on the bench through every moment of overtime. At this point, it’s hard to suggest that Jonathan Drouin would contribute any less. When you consider that this team is still starving for goals, and looking to get Steven Stamkos scoring, it just makes sense to put the former third overall pick in the lineup.
With this win, the Lightning can sleep easy knowing that they have stolen home-ice advantage away from Montreal. They can turn their focus toward Sunday’s Game Two matchup, which will again be held at the Bell Centre. Another win there would be a huge accomplishment, but a loss would hardly be the end of the world. Simply put, this is a good situation to be in for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Here’s hoping they make the most of it as the series continues!
As always, thanks for reading.
Michael Stuart has been the Tampa Bay Lightning writer for HockeyBuzz since 2012. Visit his archive to read more or follow him on Twitter.