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The Canadiens had their worst start of the playoffs at the worst possible time. Thankfully, 2 things prevented it from being an unmitigated disaster, the timely timeout taken by Ducharme and the unwavering support of the crowd. Unlike in Vegas when the Habs took the lead over the locals, the Bell Centre crowd only got louder, chanting Price’s name and letting him know they believed in him before launching into a “Go Habs Go” for the ages. Montreal finished the first period with a 17-12 lead in shots and only trailing by one score wise.
Unfortunately for Montreal though, they made a couple of mistakes that lead to 2 odd man rushes, 2 on 0 and 2 on 1 on which Price could do very little and the Lightning jumped to a commanding 4-1 lead in the middle frame. That’s the thing about this Bolts team, they will make you pay cash (as Ducharme would say) whenever you make a mistake. If ever there was a time to be flawless, it’s right now and the Canadiens have been anything but in this game 3, 15 turnovers with 6 minutes to go in the 2nd will never be good enough against a powerhouse like Tampa Bay and at the end of the game that Canadiens had committed 26 turnovers.
In the last 5 minutes of the second, Montreal finally woke up and started pressing and putting pucks on net again. Their efforts were rewarded when Nick Suzuki managed to get one past Vasilevskiy much to the joy of the 3500 fans in attendance. Still, being down by 2 with 20 minutes to go against Tampa Bay is not the ideal position to be in. The Habs retreated to the locker-room knowing that the next 20 minutes of hockey were crucial to their Stanley Cup aspirations.
They came out with purpose and tried to control the play, but they just couldn’t solve the Tampa Bay netminder before Tyler Johnson had increased the Lightning’s lead with a big assist from Eric Gustafsson. Perry gave the crowd some hope when he made it 5-3, but with Price pulled, the Bolts completed the score with an empty-net goal. A 6-3 win and a 3-0 series lead for the defending Champions, time is running out for the Canadiens.
With his back against the wall, will Dominic Ducharme finally decide to make some changes before the Canadiens’ swan song? Gustafsson had a terrible game tonight and while he is useful on the power play, those are now few and far between. Just think about when Perry could have had a breakaway and he ended up with Hedman’s stick on his blade...or when Hedman moved the net as the Habs were pressuring on. I’m not saying this loss is on the officiating, only that Gustafsson is not worth the risk. Especially not with a Tampa forward always playing deep and ready to break out. I’m really hoping to see Romanov and/or Kulak play Monday night. Judging by Ducharme’s comments in the post-game presser though, don’t hold your breath.
Starved for offence, Ducharme might also want to consider bringing in some fresh Tuna in the line-up, could a rested Tatar create a much-needed spark? One thing is for sure, Ducharme has got to do something and do it soon before it’s too late...
Meanwhile, Carey Price did his mea culpa in front of the media, when he was asked how he felt he played, he immediately said that his play wasn’t good enough so far in this series and he just has to be better. Hopefully that happens in the next game, otherwise the Montreal crowd may get to see the Cup be awarded to the Lightning and the Canadiens’ Cinderella story will forever remain unfinished.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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