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 02: Montreal Canadiens Columbus Blue Jackets Tampa Bay Lightning (Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

The Montreal Canadiens were second in the league only three points behind the President Trophy winning Rangers clinching the Atlantic Division. However, the farthest they got to was the second round losing to the Lightning (karma).

After a season of being down in the dumps standings-wise, the Habs came back with a new defenceman in Shea Weber to take the Atlantic Division once again with another 100-plus point year. It wasn’t as dominating as their 2014-15 run with other teams hitting the mark as well, but with Carey Price, the team was looking confident in their first-round series against the New York Rangers. And they lost.

But what does this have to do with the Lightning? Well if you haven’t noticed, Tampa came off from having the best regular season record in the current era of the NHL. They had a player in Nikita Kucherov who ran away with the Art Ross Trophy putting up 41 goals and 87 assists while the team itself lead the league in goals for (352) and goal differential (+103).

They dominated at the special teams game with the NHL’s top powerplay (28.2%) and penalty kill (85.0%) while Andrei Vasilevskiy improved on his performance from the season before going from a .920 save percentage to a .925. And they lost.

The Tampa Bay Lightning are out. The team who many pegged to win the Stanley Cup for the first time since 2004. The team who many thought would steamroll the Eastern Conference and easily deal with whoever had the “honour” of having to take them on in the final. The team who gave the Montreal Canadiens the most cathartic victory of the year given how monstrous they were as a unit. They’re gone, eliminated by the Columbus Blue Jackets, in four games.

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