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Make that Three in a Row

February 17, 2019, 9:05 AM ET [200 Comments]
Karine Hains
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
No one said it was going to be easy but after a successful stint at home during which they dominated the Jets in a 5-2 win and battled hard only to lose in OT against the Leafs, Habs nation was allowed to be optimistic about the 3 game road trip the Habs were embarking on. Unfortunately, they dropped the game in Nashville on Thursday and the result was pretty much the same last night in Tampa Bay. Against a Bolts team seeking its 5th consecutive win, the Canadiens just didn't measure up. They did put up a fight for the first 40 minutes but after that, they were downright overpowered.

The Lightning came out with a bang, clearly intending to take no prisoner and destroy the competition. After a shaky first few minutes, the Canadiens' nerves seemed to settle and they had their share of puck possession. At the midway mark, Brett Kulak got an unlucky tripping call and the Habs had to withstand the pressure of the league's best power play which they did. Before the period ended, the Lightning went down a man and it was the Tricolore's turn to deploy their man advantage unit. As per usual though, it failed to convert...to be fair, it's hard to score when you lose the face-off in the opponent's zone and you then turn the puck over on your way back up ice. After 20 minutes, the Canadiens had committed 5 giveaways while the Lightning were flawless in that department. If you're playing against the league's top attack, you definitely do not need to give them the puck, they will be just fine taking it away from you. At least, in the shots department the Sainte-Flanelle was hanging in there with 7 to the Bolts' 8.

The next 20 minutes were reminiscent of the first period, the Canadiens did their best managing to register 8 shots on the Lightning's net and even getting a puck past the excellent Andrei Vasilevskiy. It didn't stand however since John Cooper's challenge for offside was successful. Shame for Brendan Gallagher who had worked some pure magic in the corner of the offensive zone before sending a beautiful feed in front of the net which Kulak converted. This overturned goal seemed to cut the Habs' legs and after the game, while Gallagher spoke of a lesson that needed to be learnt, Carey Price said that his team should know that in situation such as these they need to elevate their game. To be honest, Price looked somewhat dejected after the loss, he had played a great game but his squad just forgot to turn up for the last period.

Speaking of the 3rd, the Lightning had 12 shots in the first 8 minutes of it while the Canadiens managed to get one single puck on Vasilevskiy's net. To me, that last frame looked like Carey Price was facing a firing squad without even having been "court martialed" first. To make matters worst, Philip Danault got a holding penalty 52 seconds in, paving the way to the Bolts' first goal on the power play thanks to a wicked shot by Kucherov. Less than 2 minutes later, Tampa Bay doubled its lead courtesy of Jonathan Drouin. For a second consecutive game, number 92 made a questionnable pass in the middle of the ice and the result was to be expected. The Canadiens' defence was changing at the time and the turnover could not have been more ill timed...the puck found its way behind Carey Price. Needless to say the Habs coach's was less than impressed and said so in his post game comments: "When Jonathan doesn't skate and just forces plays like he did tonight, that can can cost a goal, he needs to correct that. It cost a goal tonight, and it did in Nashville as well". It feels like Julien's patience is really starting to wear thin with the forward and to be fair, it's understandable. The Bolts then had their third goal overturned after it was ruled that there was goaltender interference to Garry Galley's bemusement...guess he didn't see the Tampa Bay player make contact with Price's stick...it's not only about the pads Gary...It was only a temporary relief though as the Lightning did score a third goal which stood. In the end, they took 17 shots on Price during the 3rd period while the Habs only got 4. There was just no way this was going to end well.





Special mentions to Yanni Gourde and Adam Erne who both really got under the Habs players' skin and got them out of their game. Gourde made Domi see red in the second and he just lost his focus for the rest of the match. Meanwhile, Erne really sold an injury on a Deslauriers hit which sent the forward off for 2 minutes for boarding and for the rest of the game, the fourth line was really looking for Erne. Dale Weise even got himself a two minutes in the box for roughing him. Tampa Bay really does have everything; incredible firepower, an excellent defence (that Cernak kid is quite something on the blue line, he registered 7 shots on goal last night) and a great goaltender who's now the franchise leader in shutouts with 18. I've said in a previous article that it's good to see that the Leafs are relevant again but if you compare them to the Bolts, you have no choice but to conclude that Tampa is in a league of its own. At this stage, it's hard to see how a team could stop them from winning it all this year...

The Habs won't even have 24 hours to get over this crushing loss as they will be taking on the Florida Panthers tonight at 19:00. Bobby Lou and co. have won their last game but they're pretty much already out of the playoffs picture (even though they've got games in hand - their 56 points in 56 games just won't cut it). If ever there was a must win game for the Canadiens, it's tonight. On paper, they can beat the Panthers but they really need to do it on the ice to get some breathing room in the playoffs race. The Hurricanes overtook the Penguins in the 2nd wild card spot last night and they're just a point behind the Habs (who have a game in hand, which will be played tonight). Since this is the second half of a back to back, it's likely we'll see Niemi in goal tonight. In 10 career games against the Cats, he's won 3 and lost 7 BUT let's not forget that on January 15th, he beat them saving 52 of 53 shots in a 5-1 Habs win, perhaps he can do it again. It will be interesting to see if Julien will want to shake things up on the 4th line or perhaps give Folin a chance to play his first game in the Bleu, Blanc, Rouge.
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