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Stanley Cup Final 2021: Montreal Canadiens Falter Late in Game 1

Game 1 felt like Vegas opener and yet it did not

by Chris Wassel

June 29, 2021

in Montreal Canadiens, NHL, Stanley Cup Playoffs, Tampa Bay Lightning

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There are always some similarities when it comes to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. For the Montreal Canadiens, Game 1 versus the Tampa Bay Lightning felt a lot like Game 1 against the Vegas Golden Knights. However, one glaring difference existed.

Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point were healthy and dominant.

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Montreal did not have the luxury of last line change but took a few too many penalties on Wednesday night. One of the keys of Game 1 was that the Canadiens needed to be extremely disciplined. That is difficult to do against a Tampa Bay team that can create and get to the net quickly.

The results were not pretty, especially late. Tampa Bay scored three times in the third period and once on the power play. That final score of 5-1 may not have been indicative of Montreal’s play but then again the Lightning can make a team pay dearly for mistakes.

Brayden Point had three assists on the night and Kucherov scored twice while chipping in an assist. It was just the opening night Tampa needed them to have and Montreal did not need.

Of course, there was that second Kucherov goal that should concern the Canadiens going forward.

Nikita Kucherov’s shot deflects home off of Brayden Point to push the Lightning lead to 3 in the third!#GoBolts pic.twitter.com/T57M4W5Dv4

— Hockey Daily 365 (@HockeyDaily365) June 29, 2021

Only, the shot was so precise that it did not deflect off Brayden Point in any way. This was a bonafide laser. Also, for what it is worth, Kucherov played nearly 19 minutes on Monday night. He looked completely different compared to Game 7 versus the New York Islanders.

That is not good news for the Montreal Canadiens. Yes, Montreal played about as bad as it had all playoffs. Their even-strength play in the final 20 minutes was better but then again, they gave up three goals.

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The adjustment game for the Montreal Canadiens

Now, it begins. What adjustments can Luke Richardson and Alexandre Burrows make before Game 2 on Wednesday? One of the things that Tampa Bay excelled at was getting to the net with acceleration and not just speed solely. This often left Montreal trying to catch up.

The other part was lateral passing turnovers. Brendan Gallagher made the biggest gaffe which directly led to a goal. However, several times, Montreal tried to be too cute instead of moving up the ice. Tampa Bay’s defense can be spread thin but the Canadiens showed little East-West tendency. When they did, in the second period, there were results.

Scoring Summary Table
1st Period
06:19	TBL		Erik Cernak (1)	Ondrej Palat, Brayden Point
2nd Period
05:47	TBL		Yanni Gourde (6)	Blake Coleman, Barclay Goodrow
17:40	MTL		Ben Chiarot (1)	Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Shea Weber
3rd Period
02:00	TBL		Nikita Kucherov (6)	Mikhail Sergachev
11:25	TBL		Nikita Kucherov (7)	Brayden Point
18:50	TBL	PP	Steven Stamkos (8)	Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point

Provided by Hockey-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/29/2021.

For a game that had 45 combined shots, it felt like there was more. It may have been the feisty nature of Game 1, there were 115 total hits between the two teams.

The biggest question is can Montreal funnel Tampa Bay’s forwards to the perimeter as the Lightning defense jump into the play? If they can, the Canadiens can set up the transitional offense. The problem is that happened too little on Monday night.

Montreal must force Tampa Bay into traffic jams basically. If the Lightning is allowed to skate freely and create lanes to the net, this will be a short series. The better question could be can Montreal do this for an entire game? That is an answer which is not known.

Unlike Vegas, Tampa Bay creates with all four lines and has finishers on each forward line. Montreal must better account for those numbers in order for Game 2 to be different.