Montreal Canadiens: Five Takeaways Following Game 2 of Stanley Cup Finals

The Montreal Canadiens threw everything at Andrei Vasilevskiy and the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 2, but it still was not enough to come away with a win. The Lightning defeated the Canadiens 3-1 to take both games at home and a 2-0 series lead.

Montreal outshot Tampa Bay 43-23, but it was Blake Coleman’s goal with less than one second on the clock in the second period that would be the deciding goal. With that being said, here are the five takeaways from Game 2, with the negatives outweighing the positives 3-2.

1. Huge Missed Opportunity- Negative

The Canadiens had a golden opportunity to strike first in the final few minutes of the first period when the Lightning took a double-minor high sticking penalty while on a 4-on-4. This resulted in  1:55 of 4-on-3 powerplay ice time for Montreal to capitalize and score the important first goal of the game.

For some reason though, Montreal sent out a line of Nick Suzuki, Tyler Toffoli with Shea Weber, and Eric Gustafsson. The Canadiens set up on the PP was for two one-timer shots in Weber and Gustafsson, which is worthy of a head shake because with so much ice you would expect Cole Caufield out there. 4-on-3 powerplays are super rare, but they had no one in front of Vasilevskiy, so any shot that was taken was seen no problem by the Lightning goalie.

That is why a guy like Corey Perry is so useful in a situation like that. He is a big body who not only is a great option to screen the goalie, but he’s there to knock in any rebounds. Montreal had very few chances on this golden opportunity. Had the Canadiens scored and went into the locker room up 1-0, it could have really had a change in the outcome.

2. Nick Suzuki Emerging As A Star- Positive

There was no question who the star of the game was for the Canadiens. Nick Suzuki finished with nine shots to go along with the lone goal for the Canadiens. Suzuki was the best player on the ice and even when he did not have the puck he showed his defensive prowess breaking up a near breakaway for Nikita Kucherov.

Suzuki has now scored six goals these playoffs, bringing up his total to 10 before hitting the age 22. Which puts him in some pretty good company.

Following game one in which he was a -3, Suzuki responded with one of his most dominant performances all postseason. Unfortunately, it did not result in a team win, but if there was one positive that stood out it was Suzuki.

There is no question that he has “captain material” written all over him. He is not the most vocal of players, but he lets his play do all the talking and you can see resemblances between him and Patrice Bergeron. They both play a great 200-foot game and their hockey IQ is off the charts. There is no question that Montreal has a keeper in number 14.

3. Small Mistakes Prove Costly – Negative

For the second straight game, the Canadiens allowed three goals off turnovers. The first goal scored by Anthony Cirelli was a seeing-eye shot from the blue line that beat Carey Price. However, the Canadiens had two good chances to get the puck out before that shot, and they failed to clear the zone both times.

The second goal was ultimately the game-winner and back-breaker came with less than a second remaining in the second period. With just under 10 seconds, Phillip Danault tried to get the red line and dump it but he was hit by Blake Coleman who would later make an incredible diving effort to beat Price. However, right before the Barclay Goodrow pass, Ben Chiarot tried to step up at the blue line and make a play. Goodrow went around Chiarot and then made an excellent pass on a mini 2-on-1. I do not understand Chiarot’s play here. Knowing there were only a few seconds left on the clock there was no reason for him to step up and Goodrow and it cost the team greatly.

Then the last goal was just a lazy play by both Joel Edmundson and Price. I’m not saying that had the third goal not gone in the Habs would have come back. But, they would have had a legitimate chance at pulling Price with a minute or so left and rolled the dice. However, Ondrej Palat was the benefactor of a poor pass by Edmundson behind the net, and Price’s late reaction led to the third and final Tampa Bay goal.

These self-inflicted mistakes have costed them greatly in both games and because of that they are down 2-0 to the Lightning and facing a must-win on Friday.

4. Special Teams – Positive

It is tough to take any positives from a loss in the Stanley Cup Finals, however, the Canadiens did win the special teams battle. They looked strong on the penalty kill, negating all three Lightning opportunities. Joel Armia and Artturi Lehkonen deserve a ton of credit for their effort on those three kills.

Even though they wasted a huge opportunity on the 4-on-3 they did score a powerplay goal. Even though it was not the nicest of goals, you will take whatever you can in the finals.

The Canadiens need to take this loss with a grain of salt and move on. They did a lot of good things, especially on special teams, and have to try and build off the positives for Game 3 in Montreal on Friday.

5. Struggling To Beat Vasilevskiy- Negative

The other night the NHL announced that Marc-Andre Fleury was the Vezina Trophy winner for the league’s top goalie. It was well deserved for Fleury who had a tremendous season. However, if there is any question as to who the best goalie in the league is it has been answered this playoff run.

With all due respect to Fleury who was replaced twice in the series against the Habs, these are the two best goalies in the world. Carey Price is 33-year-old while Andrei Vasilvskiy is just 26. However, it’s Vasilvskiy who is outplaying Price in the first two games. The Lightning goalie was barraged with a ton of shots, stopping 42 out of the 43 that came his way. He did not win the Conn Smythe Trophy last year when he won the Cup, that honour went to Victor Hedman. Should they win again, he probably won’t win because it will probably go to Kucerhov.

However, the Lightning is not here unless Vasilevskiy plays as he has been. Carolina Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour said of Vasilevskiy that he is the best goalie he’s ever seen. I mentioned in my SCF Game 1 takeaways that they needed to cause more traffic in front of him to beat him. The sad thing is that they did that, and they still managed just one goal.

The Canadiens only lost this game because they were stopped by an all-world goaltender. Now it’s a matter of just not shooting at him but finding any weakness and exploiting it. Getting into the dirty areas is not good enough. They need to review the tapes of all the goals that Vasilevskiy has let in during the playoffs and use that to find ways of beating him.