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Montreal takes stranglehold with dominant game 2 performance |
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One small blemish, with the seconds ticking away on a near perfect performance for the Canadiens, will hardly lend the Lightning the kind of confidence they need to overcome the dire straits they find themselves in en route to Montreal.
Teddy Purcell capped a 6-on-4 powerplay with a perfect shot, beating Carey Price blocker side with less than three minutes remaining in the game, after Lars Eller was called for a hooking penalty. Perfection is what was needed to beat Price, as he proved unbeatable from the early barrage he faced in the game's opening salvo to the waning moments of game 2, as the Canadiens swagger home with the stranglehold they sought.
There hasn't been much for Tampa to hang their hat on in this series. The Canadiens have exerted control from the beginning, and with Price predictably finding his best after a wayward game 1 performance, that aspect reinforced by another dominant performance by the team in front of him presents a true dilemma for a Tampa team that's faced and overcome tremendous adversity this year.
Once the Habs took their 2-0 lead to the third period, they trapped the Lightning into oblivion, and there was seemingly no adjustment made. Smooth transition off a very bad turnover gave Brendan Gallagher the game's third goal, making it all but a formality that the Canadiens would return home with a 2-0 series lead.
Jon Cooper opted to pull Anders Lindback at that point in the game, despite Lindback offering a much better performance than he had in game one. Any mystique Kristers Gudlevskis had in this series went swiftly out the door when Rene Bourque extended the scoring to 4-0, beating him cleanly off the post off a wraparound.
Cooper now faces an interesting choice: Start Gudlevskis in the lion's den in Montreal, or turn back to Lindback, who's managed to get his feet wet, and did somewhat improve on his first performance?
As for Ben Bishop, it's hard to imagine him suiting up when he hasn't faced a shot in practice since getting injured in the penultimate week of the season. And if he does find his way back, there's hardly a chance he can be the guy he's been all season; the guy they'll need him to be.
You'd have expected this to be a close series between two evenly matched teams, and there's no question it could get closer if the Habs drop off at all from the level they were at in the first two, but there was no expectation that Michel Therrien would be out-coaching Cooper to this degree.
There are many, many adjustments for Tampa to make, and precious little time to make them.
Cooper made mention after the game about how his team has fared well at the Bell Centre, and that in his short experience in the NHL, he feels they feed off the atmosphere in Montreal. He's about to get a dose of atmosphere like nothing he's experienced so far.
Tomorrow, 7:00pm, the Canadiens open up their building with a 2-0 series lead. A lot of people have pointed to the recent past to suggest losses to the Bruins and Carolina from this position are some kind of harbinger of what's to come. Let's face facts, this team is vastly different from those other two. Depth, goaltending, and circumstances are extremely different.
Don't expect any lineup changes--at least not on Montreal's side.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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