Team eager to test mettle vs. Bolts
Team says losing all five games in regular season is just history now
Throughout a campaign that saw the Canadiens win 50 games and take the Atlantic Division title, they’ve been dogged by a question: What if you face Tampa Bay in the playoffs?
The Lightning dominated the Canadiens at every turn this season, winning all five games they played against Montreal, including one in overtime. Now the question that’s lingered for months has become a reality. The doomsday scenario that so many fans and pundits feared is upon us, but the Habs say they’re happy to try to prove the naysayers wrong.
“If people feel that strongly about how badly we match up against them, then I hope we can prove that we can beat a team like this in the playoffs,” Max Pacioretty said after practice Thursday in Brossard. “It’s extra motivation. I sat here since we beat Ottawa answering questions like, ‘What if you play Tampa? You don’t match up well against Tampa.’ But the playoffs are a whole ’nother situation. We have to make it uncomfortable for them. … It’s a tough task, but it’s what we have to do.”
The Canadiens, as we’re so often reminded by head coach Michel Therrien, are a young squad and one that seems uncomfortable in any other role than underdog. Despite finishing first in their division, they played the us-against-the- world card as they faced Ottawa in the opening round of the playoffs. Now they’ll use this mindset to try to derail the National Hockey League’s most prolific offence.
“We’ve been the underdogs since the first pre-season game,” Therrien said, chuckling. “This is a group that’s been criticized a lot this year, but it’s a group that’s answered those critics. These guys persevere. I appreciate their work ethic. I appreciate that they’re gamers (and) that they find a way to win. We faced adversity in every game and we found a way to win 50 of them in the regular season. There’s nothing new here. It’s a great source of motivation.”
Lars Eller said the key to slowing down Tampa’s offence will be to stifle them in the neutral zone. Each time the Lightning beat the Canadiens this season, they seemed to explode across centre ice and score on the rush. Even when facing the Habs’ top defensive pairing, the Lightning found ways to split P.K. Subban and Andrei Markov with stretch passes into the Habs’ zone.
“You (shut them down) as early as possible. You do it before they get out of their zone,” Eller said. “You need forwards to backcheck hard for our (defencemen) to have a good gap and be right in their faces. It just means put the puck in the right area, be smart and skate.”
Eller’s teammates preached the team’s mantra: trust the system, play a structured game and keep Tampa’s best players at bay.
“We don’t want to run and gun, look for 5-4 games,” Brandon Prust said. “We’re looking for low-scoring games like we normally do. … We have to limit turnovers, take away (their) time and space in the neutral zone.”
But perhaps the Lightning’s offence won’t be the Canadiens’ biggest worry. With the exception of young centre Tyler Johnson — who scored six goals in seven games against the Detroit Red Wings in these playoffs — the Lightning’s best forwards struggled in the first round. Steven Stamkos, who netted 43 goals during the regular season, went scoreless against Detroit.
Goalie Ben Bishop, on the other hand, looked sharp on Wednesday, shutting out Detroit in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal. Bishop is 10-1-2 against the Canadiens all-time, posting a stellar 1.53 goals-against average during that span.
“We have to will our way through their big defencemen, get to the net hard and take (Bishop’s) eyes away,” said Prust, who seemed reinvigorated during the Ottawa series.
The Canadiens spent most of Thursday’s practice working their power play, which went just one for 20 against the Senators. Much like Ottawa, the Lightning has an aggressive penalty kill and will probably key in on Subban at the point.
“Sometimes it’s just a bounce: you get one bounce and everybody takes a deep breath and our power play is clicking again,” Subban said. “We’ve played these guys a lot over the past two years. They know our tendencies. We know theirs. What’s going to make the difference this year is maybe throwing something different at them.
“We all have to look at ourselves in the mirror and wonder if we’re playing our best hockey right now. I don’t think there’s anybody in here that can say they’ve played their absolute best yet in the playoffs. We still have a lot left to give.”
During the man-advantage drills Thursday, Therrien split Subban and Markov, opting to pair Subban with Jeff Petry instead. Meanwhile, Eller took shifts on the power play’s second unit.
“The key will be getting power plays to begin with,” Eller said. “I like to think every single guy is willing to take that hit that’s necessary, to take that punch in the face after the whistle and don’t hit back. Every aspect of our game has to be top notch: discipline, efficiency, getting in front of their net, all those things.
“When we’re playing against teams that we have a history with, we find a way to play our best hockey.”
But perhaps the Lightning’s offence won’t be the biggest worry — their best forwards struggled in the first round.