Kucherov leads TB past Habs in 2 OT
Ben Bishop and the Tampa Bay Lightning have a 1-0 series lead. (USATSI)
Every night during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Eye On Hockey writers Adam Gretz and Chris Peters will bring you up to speed everything you need to know about all of the action around the NHL. Here’s what you need to know about Canadiens vs. Lightning Game 1.
Montreal Canadiens vs. Tampa Bay Lightning, Game 1
Lightning 2, Canadiens 1 | Lightning leads series 1-0 | Game 2 Sunday
Game 1 in a nutshell: Even thought it was another low-scoring Eastern Conference game it had a little bit of everything. Big saves, great individual plays, a nearly costly goaltending blunder and even a little bit of controversy when Nikita Kucherov‘s potential game winning goal in the first overtime was waved off. Fortunately for him and the Lightning, he scored one that counted in the next overtime. And even that came with some controversy when replays showed the Lightning may have been offside entering the zone. That is a lot of action for a game with only three goals.
Turning point: As is always the case in a one-goal game you can point to so many moments that it is almost impossible to pick one. The Canadiens came out flying in the first 10 minutes of the game and had several great scoring chances. They hit the post twice. They had a shot that appeared to be going in the net until Ben Bishop was able to get his pad on it at the last minute. It’s a game of inches, and those early missed opportunities can come back to bite you. They had another near miss early in the second overtime period when Dale Weise had a great look from the slot but fired the puck wide of the night. You also have to give the Lightning credit for the way they responded following the no-goal call in overtime as well as some big saves from Bishop in overtime.
Three things we learned
1. Give Bishop a lot of credit. He gave up a stinker of a goal at the worst possible time in the third period to send the game to overtime, but other than that he was sensational in this game. He made some big saves in overtime and made the save of the night late in the second period (more on that in a minute) to keep the game scoreless. If he can give them even adequate play in net the Lightning are going to be an extremely difficult team to beat.
2. The Lightning are incredibly deep. They currently have zero goals this postseason from their two highest paid forwards (Steven Stamkos and Ryan Callahan) and they are still in the second round and have a 1-0 series lead after one game on the road. Tyler Johnson, who scored again on Friday night, and Kucherov have been the big stars this postseason for the Lightning. That is what you need to win in the playoffs. Players that are capable of scoring when your big guys are not.
3. It came in a losing effort, but Max Pacioretty proved again why he is one of the best players in the NHL … even if he doesn’t get anywhere near enough attention for it. Sure, his goal was a bit of a lucky break but he was a game-changer every single time he was on the ice.
Video of the game: One of the best saves of the night — and one of the biggest — came from Bishop late in the second period when he made this tremendous glove save on Tomas Plekanec to keep the game scoreless at the time. The Canadiens ran that two-on-one to perfection and it still wasn’t good enough to beat Bishop.
From Tampa with Glove #StanleyCup https://t.co/zxDfmtYcFW
— NHL (@NHL) May 2, 2015
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