Canadiens riding pack mentality into tough playoff test vs. Lightning
Since the Canadiens started their rebuilding process more than four years ago, the goal was to become a team like the Tampa Bay Lightning.
A team whose goal isn’t just to make the playoffs, but also to be a legitimate Stanley Cup contender for several years in a row.
The Canadiens are ahead of schedule in their rebuild, making the playoffs for the second straight season with a 48-23-10 record heading into their final regular-season game Tuesday in Philadelphia against the Flyers (7 p.m., TSN2, RDS). The Canadiens are about to find out how they stack up against the experienced Lightning, with the teams set to square off in the first round of the playoffs that will start this weekend.
The Lightning has an average age of 30.1, while the Canadiens have an average age of 26.
The two teams were tied with 106 points heading into their final games — the Lightning (50-25-6) will play the New York Rangers in Tampa on Wednesday. The Buffalo Sabres (50-23-8) clinched first place in the Atlantic Division with a 5-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks Monday and will play Boston or Ottawa in the first round.
The Canadiens and Lightning will face each other in the first round, with home-ice advantage yet to be decided ahead of Tuesday night’s game. If the Canadiens and Lightning end up tied in points, Tampa has clinched the first tiebreaker, which is regulation-time wins.
The Lightning are in the playoffs for the ninth straight season and the 12th time in the last 13 years. During the last 13 years, they have won two Stanley Cups — in 2020 and 2021, when they beat the Canadiens in the final — and lost twice in the Cup final — in 2015 and ’22. The Lightning also lost twice in the conference final — in 2016 and ’18.
That’s impressive, and it’s a standard the Canadiens are looking to achieve.
“That’s the goal,” St. Louis said after the Canadiens beat the Lightning 2-1 last Thursday in the final regular-season matchup between the teams at the Bell Centre. “You want to keep growing, and I feel like there’s teams that kind of (raised) the bar a little bit, and I feel like we’ve gotten closer and closer to these teams. Where exactly are we compared to them? The standings might say something, but in reality, we’ve closed the separation.
“Are we above? Are we below? It doesn’t matter,” St. Louis added. “I’m not worried about the standings. It’s close.”
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Tampa Bay should be the favourite heading into the series, but what might bode well for the Canadiens is that the Lightning has lost in the first round of the playoffs in each of the last three years. The Canadiens lost to the Washington Capitals in five games in the first round last year, but their young players gained some valuable experience.
What also bodes well for the Canadiens is that they won the last two regular-season games against the Lightning, including a 4-1 victory in Tampa on March 31. The Lightning won the first two games — 6-1 at the Bell Centre on Dec. 9 and 5-4 in a shootout on Dec. 28 in Tampa. The Canadiens will be without injured defenceman Noah Dobson, which is a big blow.
The Canadiens will also face a big challenge against Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, who has a career 16-5-2 record against them and a career .918 save percentage in the playoffs. Jakub Dobes played three playoff games against the Capitals last season after Samuel Montembeault tore two groin muscles and lost two of them while posting an .881 save percentage.
Vasilevskiy could be the difference in the series.
If this playoff series is anything like last Thursday’s game, it will be fantastic for fans. It was like playoff hockey at its best. The teams combined for 122 penalty minutes through the first two periods, which was the most in any game this season after 40 minutes.
“That was physical, a lot of emotion, a lot of scrums,” Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki said after that game. “If we see them in the first round, I think there will be more of that to come, so it should be fun.”
Indeed.
“I think we’re just a hard team to play against when we’re on,” said Josh Anderson, who had 11 penalty minutes in that game, including a fight. “We knew that tonight was going to be a hard-fought battle. … I loved our pack mentality. Everybody was in there. Nobody was shy. That’s what we needed.”
St. Louis said he saw the best version of his team in that game. He added that his players were able to play a physical game and weren’t intimidated while not crossing the line and taking too many bad penalties.
They will need much more of the same if they want to beat the Lightning in the playoffs.
“I just feel it’s a pack,” St. Louis said about his team. “They’re just so together. They love each other. They got each other’s back. They celebrate everyone. It’s a very selfless group doing a lot of things that benefit the group, not necessarily the individual. It’s fun to watch.”
This series should be a lot of fun to watch.
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