A Winning Habit
Fansided

What the Montreal Canadiens can learn from the Tampa Bay Lightning

By Omar L

COLUMBUS, OH - APRIL 16: Artemi Panarin #9 of the Columbus Blue Jackets hugs goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy #88 of the Tampa Bay Lightning following Game Four of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs on April 16, 2019 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Columbus defeated Tampa Bay 7-3 to win the series 4-0. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/NHLI via Getty Images)
COLUMBUS, OH - APRIL 16: Artemi Panarin #9 of the Columbus Blue Jackets hugs goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy #88 of the Tampa Bay Lightning following Game Four of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs on April 16, 2019 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Columbus defeated Tampa Bay 7-3 to win the series 4-0. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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Montreal Canadiens
MONTREAL, QC – APRIL 2: Montreal Canadiens Columbus Blue Jackets Tampa Bay Lightning (Photo by Francois Lacasse/NHLI via Getty Images) /

The Tampa Bay Lightning lasted four games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs losing to the Columbus Blue Jackets, and the Montreal Canadiens can take a great lesson from it.

Expectations can be a very dangerous thing. On the other hand, a lack of expectations can turn not even the greatest performance into a redeeming story. But when you have expectations like the Tampa Bay Lightning did, the only way to take the narrative is in the pits of pessimism and frustration, an area the Montreal Canadiens are all too familiar with.

During the 2013-14 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Montreal Canadiens made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals. They got through Tampa in five (irony) and the Boston Bruins in seven to lose to the New York Rangers in six. Things would’ve been different if Carey Price was still around as he had a .919 save percentage heading into Game One of the ECF, but we all know what happened there.

Though that’s still not the peak of the Habs expectations, the season after for the 2014-15 campaign however was. That was the year Price snapped and stopped what seemed to be every puck that came his way.

He had a .933 save percentage, 1.96 goals against average (which yes is a looked over stat nowadays but considering the Montreal Canadiens weren’t necessarily a defensive juggernaut back then, you can take this as being pretty impressive), and carried the team to a 103-point season.

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