Lightning routs Canadiens in Game 1, asserting itself in the Stanley Cup finals

By Samantha Pell,

TAMPA — The roar from the Tampa Bay Lightning’s hometown crowd at Amalie Arena came in waves.

First, the packed sea of blue erupted early, as it watched Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy make save after key save. Then, the deafening yells intensified as Tampa Bay’s dangerous offense showed off its prowess late. The defending Stanley Cup champions took care of business Monday night, earning a 5-1 win against the Montreal Canadiens in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals.

The Canadiens are the Cinderella darlings of these Stanley Cup playoffs, and they will get another crack at the Lightning in Game 2 on Wednesday before the series shifts to Montreal. But they were unable to keep pace in the opener.

“We believe that if we do the right things that we’re going to get rewarded for it,” Lightning captain Steven Stamkos said, “and we have so far to get to this point. . . . When we’re on top of our game, we’re a tough team to beat.”

The Lightning blitzed goaltender Carey Price, who has led the Canadiens during this unexpected run to their first finals since 1993. Price finished with just 22 saves on 27 shots, surrendering five goals after he allowed two or fewer in eight of his previous nine games.

[Underdog Canadiens to face defending champion Lightning in Stanley Cup finals]

Tampa Bay made it clear that it wouldn’t take the upstart Canadiens lightly. Coach Jon Cooper had said Monday morning how challenging it would be to face Montreal, saying the Canadiens, who finished with the fewest points among the 16 teams in the postseason, were “built for the playoffs.”

“I think they’re exactly where they thought they would be,” Cooper said. “It’s just, they didn’t go the same route, so it looks different because, you know, they look like the Cinderella team. But I don’t believe that for a second. Nobody does in our room.”

The Lightning, then, put the pressure on Price and the Canadiens from the start. Defenseman Erik Cernak opened the scoring with a redirected goal off a slick pass from Ondrej Palat at 6:19 of the first period. Cernak’s first career postseason goal put the Canadiens in a 1-0 hole for only the fifth time in 18 games this postseason.

“We know he’s a really good goalie, one of the best in the NHL,” Cernak said of Price. “So when he sees the puck from the distance, we know he can catch the puck, so we always have to be in front of him and take his eyes away and try to make some traffic in front of him.”

Yanni Gourde made it 2-0 at 5:47 of the second period, deflecting Blake Coleman’s shot with his skate and redirecting it past Price.

The Canadiens’ only goal of the night cut Tampa Bay’s lead to 2-1 with 2:20 left in the period. Defenseman Ben Chiarot’s point shot deflected off two Lightning players before pinballing past Vasilevskiy for Chiarot’s first career postseason goal.

But the Lightning quickly regained control in the third and eventually pulled away. Nikita Kucherov gave Tampa Bay a 3-1 cushion only two minutes into the period after his shot was knocked in by Chiarot. Kucherov scored again 11:25 into the period before Stamkos sealed it with a power-play goal — his eighth goal of the postseason — with 1:10 left.

[The Montreal Canadiens were sans espoir. Then the playoffs began.]

Entering the series, the matchup was billed as a goaltending battle between Price and Vasilevskiy. The goaltenders have been the backbones of their clubs in the postseason.

Vasilevskiy, the 2018-19 Vezina Trophy winner, entered the finals with a 1.99 goals against average, a .936 save percentage and four shutouts in 18 playoff games.

Price, who won the Vezina and Hart trophies in 2014-15, is playing in the finals for the first time in his 14-year NHL career. He entered Game 1 with a 12-5 postseason record, a .934 save percentage and a 2.02 goals against average.

While Price tried to keep the underdog Canadiens in it, Tampa Bay’s dangerous offense was too much. The Lightning countered Montreal’s surprising physicality — the Canadiens delivered 58 hits to the Lightning’s 57 — with speed and precision on both ends of the ice. The physical play intensified late, and Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher was forced to leave the game after he was bloodied going headfirst into the ice during a scrum with Mikhail Sergachev.

Even after Game 1 got away from them, the Canadiens tried to stay positive heading into Game 2.

“We’re in a really good position here,” Montreal forward Josh Anderson said. “We’re in the finals, and I think that there’s a lot of confidence in our dressing room, so we’re going to take the positives out of tonight’s game and obviously clean up some areas. . . . We’ve got to go and steal one on the road and go back home 1-1.”

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Source: WP