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Montreal Canadiens vs Tampa Bay Lightning Game 3 Preview

By Elias Laradi |
Jun 30, 2021; Tampa, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy (88) makes a save against Montreal Canadiens right wing Brendan Gallagher (11) during the third period in game two of the 2021 Stanley Cup Final at Amalie Arena. Mandatory Credit: Douglas DeFelice-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 30, 2021; Tampa, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy (88) makes a save against Montreal Canadiens right wing Brendan Gallagher (11) during the third period in game two of the 2021 Stanley Cup Final at Amalie Arena. Mandatory Credit: Douglas DeFelice-USA TODAY Sports

The Montreal Canadiens knew it wasn’t going to be easy going up against the defending champs in the Tampa Bay Lightning and Game 3 will look to avoid being one loss away from being eliminated in the first Stanley Cup final game to be played on Montreal ice for the first time since 1993.

Stats are against them as only five teams in this situation have come back to win the series and teams that are up 2-0 win 90% of the time but the Habs still believe they have what it takes to come back and win this series.

There have been several key factors in the first two games and things that Montreal will need to improve on if they want any chance of dethroning the Stanley Cup champs, involving turnovers, high danger scoring chances, and special teams.

In game one both of Tampa goals were off bad turnovers and the Canadiens gave up its first powerplay goal after killing off 30 straight penalties so staying out of the box will be key to keeping this series alive.

In the previous series, the Canadiens were able to shut down the likes of Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty mostly using the matchup of Philp Danault but in the first two games that matchups haven’t gone as planned and Tampa top players like Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov have feasted on it.

Another factor is the physical battle between these two teams and we have seen instances of some intense battles and we all remember what happened to Brendan Gallagher in game one when he wrestled to the ice and his face was covered in blood.

The Canadiens will also have once again 3500 fans in the building and unfortunately, their request to have 10,500 fans was denied by the Quebec public health authorities which Dominque Ducharme called disappointing at his pre-game press conference.

That is also another thing that we will look out for as Ducharme makes his return behind the bench after spending 14 days in quarantine thanks to his positive covid test so it will be interesting to see if the Canadiens get a boost from it.

Game 3 goes from the Bell Centre at 8:00 pm and can be seen on CBC, Sportsnet, and in the French region on TVA Sport, also on radio TSN 690 will have the English feed while 98.5 will have the french feed.

Go Habs Go

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