The Habs aren't done yet.
The Montreal Canadiens avoided a series sweep last game when they beat the Tampa Bay Lightning in game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Going into that game, it seemed like all hope was lost. Tampa, who had dominated the series up until that point, had all the momentum riding with them. Price seemed like he lost his touch, and Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy seemed unbeatable. Although the Canadiens' success has been incredible, getting swept in the Stanley Cup finals was not the way that this team wanted to end their season, and they made that very clear.
Prior to the game, when asked about the possibility of Tampa raising the cup in Montreal, Habs D-man Jeff Petry’s response was quick: “We don’t want to see the Lightning win the Cup, period”.
This attitude was shown on the ice, as the Habs took the game with a 3-2 overtime win. Josh Anderson was the hero, with two goals including the overtime winner. Carey Price was also on his A-game, stopping 32 of 34 shots. Price was quick to call himself out following their game 3 loss, saying that he needs to play better, and he did just that last game.
Being down 3-1 doesn’t seem like something to be very happy about, as Montreal still needs three wins to hoist the cup, whereas Tampa only needs one. Thankfully, Montreal has been in this exact situation before, being down 3-1 against the Toronto Maple Leafs in round 1. All it took was one game to completely change the momentum in that series.
A key factor for the Habs' success will be how well the young guys perform. Bringing in Alex Romanov was the right thing to do, and should have been done earlier. Romanov made his presence known, scoring the Habs’ second goal of the night. Aside from scoring, Romanov brings a physical side to the game that is needed to beat Tampa.
It will be hard, but if any team can pull a comeback, it’s the Habs. A lot of people have closed the book on this team, claiming that Tampa is too strong, but if we’ve learnt something from these playoffs, it’s that anything can happen.
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