Final
Lightning strike down Habs, move to Eastern finals
May 13, 2015 - 4:29 AM Tampa, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - Nikita Kucherov picked up a pair of goals with one assist, and Tampa Bay became the third team to reach the NHL's final four with a 4-1 victory over Montreal in Game 6 of this Eastern Conference semifinal.Ondrej Palat added a score and a helper, with Steven Stamkos posting the other marker for the Lightning, who will head to the Eastern finals for the first time since dropping a seven-game series to Boston four years ago.
Ben Bishop backed up his offense with an 18-save effort.
The Bolts join Chicago and Anaheim from the Western Conference, and their next opponent will be decided on Wednesday following Game 7 of the Capitals- Rangers set.
They did it after dropping the previous two potential elimination games having raced out to a 3-0 series edge.
"I just remember thinking after Game 5 and everybody is telling us that the pressure is on us, weve dropped two games," Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. "But I knew that as we went on in Game 5 and the way we played in that third period, I felt our game was changing. The look in our players' eyes after that game, the calm went over me. I just knew the guys were ready to roll."
Max Pacioretty provided the sole offense for the Canadiens, who had reached the Eastern finals last spring before losing to the Rangers. Carey Price yielded three goals on 27 shots in the season-ending setback.
Pacioretty and P.A. Parenteau were turned away in quick succession on a Canadiens power play with under two minutes to go before the second intermission, and the host Lightning -- already up by two goals at that point -- put the game away on a subsequent power play.
Devante Smith-Pelly was booked for holding with 1:22 remaining in the stanza, then Kucherov slipped a pass in tight to Palat above the right circle and he beat Price to the far side for a 3-0 score only 18 seconds later.
Pacioretty broke up Bishop's shutout bid inside of five minutes remaining by flipping home a Brendan Gallagher pass atop the crease, but Kucherov hit the empty net with 2:01 remaining to seal the outcome.
"I felt that physically and mentally we were drained. It's disappointing but I guess those things happen," said Canadiens head coach Michel Therrien.
Price made 12 saves and Bishop made six in the opening period, but the latter came up with the best of the frame.
The lanky Maine product Bishop slid from left to right across his crease to rob Habs forward Tomas Plekanec with the glove as Palat fell over Gallagher inside seven minutes left in the first.
The Bolts hit the scoreboard just over two minutes later, when a Plekanec turnover deep in his end resulted in Kucherov deflecting a Palat shot over Price's glove from the right post.
Stamkos doubled the hosts' edge at 5:12 of the second, picking up his own blocked shot and scoring from between the circles after Alex Killorn freed the puck in the neutral zone and carried up the left wing.
"This was our Game 7. We just kept looking back at the way we played, especially in the later half of the Game 7 against Detroit and we wanted that same mentality," Stamkos noted. "We didnt give them much, even in the third, we clogged it up pretty good and that was as good of a defensive effort as we've had all year."
Game Notes
Stamkos and defenseman Victor Hedman are the only two players remaining from Tampa's last trip to the Stanley Cup semifinals, when the club lost a one-goal decision in Game 7 to the eventual champion Bruins ... Kucherov finished the series with six goals, while no other player on either team scored more than twice for the duration ... The Lightning still have not lost three straight games at any point during the season ... Bolts forward Ryan Callahan will be out indefinitely following an emergency appendectomy he underwent Monday ... The Canadiens had been down 0-3 in a best-of-seven set 11 times, but this year marked the first time they were able to win two straight to force Game 6.
- MONTREAL: 1
TAMPA BAY: 4
Final
May 12 10:17 PM - MONTREAL: 1
TAMPA BAY: 4
End of Regulation
May 12 10:17 PM - #1 Gators Fan Bolts v. Rangers in the E.C.F. unless the Caps can do something about the Rangers' rally... Game 7 played in N.Y.C.
Canadiens 0, Lightning 3 3rd - 9:52May 12 9:57 PM - #1 Gators Fan ...Poor Habs. To come this far, test the Rangers for the P.T, and than to fall in the first few games, then rebound and respond, ready to look fresh and beat the Lightning in Tampa... guess this season, for them, was just not to be.
Canadiens 0, Lightning 3 3rd - 10:50May 12 9:55 PM - MONTREAL: 0
TAMPA BAY: 3
End of 2nd
May 12 9:21 PM - MONTREAL: 0
TAMPA BAY: 1
End of 1st
May 12 8:25 PM - MONTREAL: 0
TAMPA BAY: 0
1st Period - 20:00
May 12 7:46 PM
Related News
- It’s not an ending, it’s a new beginning Mar 30
- Eyes On The Prize is on the move Mar 30
- Kirby Dach out at least one week with an upper-body injury Mar 30
- Washington Capitals at Tampa Bay Lightning Preview and Game Day Thread Mar 30
- Lightning Round: peering over at the rampant wild card race Mar 30
- Habs vs. Panthers Game preview Mar 30
- Links: Jordan Harris learns there’s less protection in the NHL Mar 30
- Rating The Tank: Fly away edition Mar 29
- Lightning Round: can the Bolts catch Toronto? Mar 29
- Heineman and Teasdale score twice in Rocket win Mar 29
- Links: A Matter of Time Mar 29
- Tampa Bay Lightning Recap: Bolts get clean win over Carolina Mar 28