Post-Game Talk: 2021 NHL Stanley Cup Finals: Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Montréal Canadiens

[Peacefool]

I'm not too worried about their skilled guys like Suzuki and Caufield. Josh Anderson, on the other hand, could give us some trouble. Have to punish their smaller forwards, hopefully our D brings the physical game especially in front of the net.

A huge reason MTL has had success is their top 4 d, especially Weber/Edmundson/Chiarot giving opposing forwards absolute hell the closer they get to Price. Interested to see how Point and Kucherov hold up against the big boys.

Islanders have some physical forwards but outside of Mayfield, nobody was really a presence on D in that area. Montreal is almost the opposite, not much outside of Anderson at forward but the defense will rough you up. We'll have to pay a price but I like the way we match up aginst them.

I hope that we won't be playing by perimeter,if we won't be able to go closer to net,like we did some games against Florence and Car,just threw puck from blue line hoping for rebound. I hope we will still try to push the net

 

[Peacefool]

Who have watched Montreal games. Can you describe them. How did they get to finals,playstyle strenghts weaknesess,what should we expect? Because I never watched a game and dont know what to wait from them except of that they deserved their spot in FInals,and that it will be tough games against them

 

[LightningStrikes]

We'll have to pay a price but I like the way we match up aginst them.

Are you suggesting we continue our cheating traditions and bribe Price?

 

[Habs_46]

I only watched their first round series but one thing that stood out to me was that in games 5 and 6 the Habs had 2/3 goal leads in the 3rd and let the Leafs come back to tie it(and then the Habs won in OT). I'm sure they've tightened things up a lot since then but if that's a weakness of theirs the Lightning could definitely take advantage of it.

(Just don't think about our own Game 6 last round)

Habs fan here Big weakness , if they lead by two goals or one goal in third period they completely stop skating forward and only concentrate on defence.

 

[Flat Ronnie]

Habs fan here Big weakness , if they lead by two goals or one goal in third period they completely stop skating forward and only concentrate on defence.

This sounds familiar...

 

[Hansem1979]

Hi guys, wish you a great series. We are definitely facing our toughest opponents in the Bolts who have the offense of Toronto, the defense of Vegas and a goalie on par with ours.

both our teams are plagued with very evident injuries ( Hedman, Kucherov, Weber, Gallagher are all obviously playing injured )

TB easily wins the talent battle. If the habs want to win, they will have to outwork TB through the 3rd and 4th line.

If that can reassure you, the cap situation is not on the mind of most habs fans I discussed with. We are more worried with Chris Lee reffing one of our game hahaha.

Heart says Habs in 7, but if I am betting my house I am going with lightning in 6

let’s hope we have a great Stanley Cup final !

 

[Felonious Python]

 

[Major4Boarding]

EE said it best on NHL Network Radio yesterday .

The only team that can beat the Tampa Bay Lightning is, the Tampa Bay Lightning.

 

[LTIR Trickery]

Oof.

 

[berlin]

Who have watched Montreal games. Can you describe them. How did they get to finals,playstyle strenghts weaknesess,what should we expect? Because I never watched a game and dont know what to wait from them except of that they deserved their spot in FInals,and that it will be tough games against them

Two things stood out to me when watching them. They have speed and work hard, they are tenacious on the puck.

 

[Hockey4Life91]

LOL Exactly this.

MTL: "We're gonna shut you down!"

TB: "Fine. We're gonna shut you out."

Exactly.

 

[DFC]

Who have watched Montreal games. Can you describe them. How did they get to finals,playstyle strenghts weaknesess,what should we expect? Because I never watched a game and dont know what to wait from them except of that they deserved their spot in FInals,and that it will be tough games against them

Sort of like they Islanders but their forwards are fast. And not quite as good defensively, IMO, but Cary Price makes big saves look easy.

 

[Hockey4Life91]

We're not a team that typically tries to impose ourselves physically, but I think we will in this series for sure.

I unequivocally disagree, respectfully. Perhaps it depends on your definition of "imposing ... physically." But if you take into consideration forechecking, hounding the puck and finishing checks, I think we have imposed ourselves physically in pretty much every series since 2015, with the exception of Chicago (2015 - ran out of gas), Pit (2016 - outskilled), Washington (2018 - truly bigger and outclassed in that department), Columbus (2019 - injured and outclassed in that department). Frankly, our ability to impose ourselves physically is why we have had playoff success since 2015. New Jersey (2018), Boston (2018, 2020) and NYI (2016, 2020) come to mind as series where it was incredibly clear that this was a huge factor in our success. We have won in the playoffs for seven years, largely because of our ability to forecheck and play team defense, while relying on great goaltending - not run and gun.

 

[DaBolts]

Do they know how much we had to cheat, er, pay Chris Lee to give him that?

 

[Hockey4Life91]

Who have watched Montreal games. Can you describe them. How did they get to finals,playstyle strenghts weaknesess,what should we expect? Because I never watched a game and dont know what to wait from them except of that they deserved their spot in FInals,and that it will be tough games against them

2014-2015 Tampa Bay Lightning. Fast. Young smaller dynamic forwards. Huge tree trunk defensemen. Elite goaltending. Relentless forecheck and penalty kill. Relies on the counter attack.

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

So the Habs might lack true superstar player(s) but they’re a four line team. Their 4th line is the hottest in the league. Very balanced forwards group we should not underestimate and which arguably was the downfall of their opponents so far. They’re also 3-0 (or 4-0?) in OTs this postseason while we’re 0-2. They took the underdog role and turned it into a Cinderella run.

Their team stats are very similar to ours: Their PK is strong (better than ours even at 93% vs. 83%), they allow more shots than they take, they’re below 50% on faceoffs and their goaltending is exceptional. Both teams have not used their backup so far.

Our PP on the other hand has been absolutely deadly. With almost 38% success rate, more than one out of three PPs results in a goal for us. Their PP is at 21%. And we have clear cut key players in Kuch and Point - who can create something out of nothing seemingly at will - and at least statistically Killer, Stamkos and Hedman at around a point per game, which they don’t have.

All this against different opponents so this needs to be taken with a grain of salt of course.

Let's hope we get a damn power play lmao

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

TB in 4 should be a walk in the park!

don't be that guy

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

Hi guys, wish you a great series. We are definitely facing our toughest opponents in the Bolts who have the offense of Toronto, the defense of Vegas and a goalie on par with ours.

both our teams are plagued with very evident injuries ( Hedman, Kucherov, Weber, Gallagher are all obviously playing injured )

TB easily wins the talent battle. If the habs want to win, they will have to outwork TB through the 3rd and 4th line.

If that can reassure you, the cap situation is not on the mind of most habs fans I discussed with. We are more worried with Chris Lee reffing one of our game hahaha.

Heart says Habs in 7, but if I am betting my house I am going with lightning in 6

let’s hope we have a great Stanley Cup final !

We have much better D than Vegas, Just saying.

Good luck!

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

think Joseph and ABB are excited for the series against Montreal?

 

[The Gongshow]

I've got some bad news everyone...the dog that picked us to win the cup last year picked Montreal

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

Who have watched Montreal games. Can you describe them. How did they get to finals,playstyle strenghts weaknesess,what should we expect? Because I never watched a game and dont know what to wait from them except of that they deserved their spot in FInals,and that it will be tough games against them

Their biggest strengths are: Carey Price and a Solid BIG top 4 D that box you out and keep you to the outside. (Petry is pretty damn good)

Up front they are a 4 line team that seems to have the "puck luck" on their side.

They play pesky and hard (like we do) and they have some young kids that will be players.

The biggest thing is they seem to be scoring a lot on odd man rushes the other way. They seem to struggle with generating any Ozone possession time. figure this out and we should be good.


All in all the Habs are a good team but to get to an 11-2 record in their past 13 games they have had a lot of puck luck as well as top opposition players being injured.

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

Two things stood out to me when watching them. They have speed and work hard, they are tenacious on the puck.

Biggest thing is scoring on the rush. They Don't hold the puck long.


I don't think they've played a blue line like ours yet ( best in the league)

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

2014-2015 Tampa Bay Lightning. Fast. Young smaller dynamic forwards. Huge tree trunk defensemen. Elite goaltending. Relentless forecheck and penalty kill. Relies on the counter attack.

yup they only score on the rush

 

[BoltSTH]

Yeah. Sometimes I think we intentionally start the after-the-whistle stuff in order to get emotionally involved. I think there will be a lot of face-washing.

Remember the VL4 - Iginla fight in 2004, when the Flames were dominating, IMO turning point of series. After that the commitment level of the Bolts increased dramatically. One reason VL4 is my favorite Bolt ever.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]