The Montreal Canadiens series versus the Tampa Bay Lightning has been wire-to-wire since the start. A first-round matchup that feels like the Eastern Conference Final. The largest lead any team has had in this series was the Canadiens' in Game 4, a game they ultimately ended up losing. The series is so close that both teams have the same goals scored, 14, which explains why four of the six games have gone to overtime. The story for the Canadiens in this series has been their depth, with the Kirby Dach, Zachary Bolduc, and Alexandre Texier line stepping up massively, but if the Canadiens do not want their season to end Sunday night, they will need their stars to have an impact.
Canadiens' stars unprecedented slump
On the surface, it looks like Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, and Juraj Slafkovsky have been productive in this series. The Canadiens trio has a combined 12 points so far in this series, but they have only one point while 5-on-5, which goes to Suzuki for a secondary assist in Game 5. According to MoneyPuck, when the trio was together 5-on-5, they were on the ice for four goals against, but generated 0 goals for.
Their drop off has been completely unexpected, especially considering that the line was in the fifth in the NHL during the regular season in goals for. The Canadiens ultimately chose to break up the trio before Game 5, moving Josh Anderson up to the first line and Slafkovsky down to the second line alongside Ivan Demidov and Jake Evans.
Could the Canadiens shuffle their lines again?
While Anderson has injected physicality and energy into the top line, that has not resulted in any better production. Anderson was instrumental in the Canadiens' early success in the series, scoring in the first two games, but since then has zero points and is a minus-1 while having six shots on goal. It will be interesting to see if head coach Martin St. Louis decides to shuffle his lines again going into Game 7.
Slafkovsky started the series on fire, scoring a hat-trick, including the overtime winner in Game 1, but has since been ice cold. He has not recorded a point since Game 1, which led to the shuffling of the Canadiens lines going into Game 5, but it has not materialized into any offensive production. The hope was likely that pairing Slafkovsky with Demidov would help both of them find their games, as we saw them have success together early in the season.
Maybe we see the return of the “Kid Line,” but that would mean someone would need to come out of the lineup for Oliver Kapanen, but the way Brendan Gallagher has been playing since returning to the lineup, that seems unlikely. Slafkovsky has already proven in this series that he possesses the ability to alter games on his own, and Montreal will need that version of him in Game 7.
St. Louis and the Canadiens have a lot to think about before the puck drops for Game 7, but the priority objective has to be figuring out the best way to get Montreal’s stars going. If there is anything certain, Game 7 will be like every other game so far this series. A tough back-and-forth game that will likely be decided by one goal, and Montreal will need their stars to be the difference.
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