Montreal Canadiens: A Stanley Cup Final Rematch Like No Other

The Montreal Canadiens will face off against the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight in what will be a rematch of the most recent Stanley Cup Final.

The Canadiens made a surprising run to the Cup Final last summer but met their match and lost to the Lightning in five closely contested games. The Habs offence just hit a wall and his name was Andrei Vasilevskiy. He held them to just eight goals in five games, including zero in the series finale.

Ross Colton scored the Stanley Cup winning goal after a nifty setup by David Savard who, of course, now plays for the Canadiens.

But this rematch is like no other before. First of all, both teams are from the Eastern Conference. Thanks to the odd setup of last season’s Canadian Division which featured teams from the Eastern Conference and Western Conference, the Stanley Cup semifinals featured the Habs against the Vegas Golden Knights and the New York Islanders against the Lightning.

The Habs and Bolts moved on to face off in an all-eastern time zone Stanley Cup Final.

The rematch is also like no other because… the Habs look like a completely different team anyway.

Of the 19 players who took part in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final for the Canadiens, not many are around to face the Lightning tonight. Just look at the breakdown:

Gone via free agency: Phillip Danault, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Eric Staal, Corey Perry

Currently injured: Shea Weber, Josh Anderson, Tyler Toffoli, Jeff Petry, Paul Byron, Joel Edmundson, Carey Price

On the Covid list: Brendan Gallagher

If you’ve been counting, that is 12 of the 19 players that played the final game of the Stanley Cup Final. That leaves just seven players: Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Ben Chiarot, Alexander Romanov, Joel Armia, Jake Evans and Brett Kulak to actually face the team that knocked them out of the playoffs last July.

The two teams have essentially gone in opposite directions this season as well. The Lightning are 15-5-4 and once again among the top teams in the league. The Canadiens might be lucky to get to 15 wins by the end of the season with all of the injuries and likely trades coming in the near future.

While the game tonight against the Lightning is a reminder of how recently the Canadiens were in the Stanley Cup Final, it is also a reminder of how far the team has fallen compared the Lightning in a very short time.