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Through four games, there have been 11 goals for Tampa Bay and 11 goals for Montreal. There was nothing to choose between the Lightning and Canadiens heading into a pivotal Game 5 with two wins a piece.
The Canadiens made their first lineup change, with Oliver Kapanen getting replaced by Brendan Gallagher. The change worked — he provided a spark, and Montreal won a 3-2 thriller.
Wilde Horses
The Canadiens’ power play had been humming along nicely, but the first line hadn’t scored a goal five-on-five in the first four games, so Head Coach Martin St. Louis tried some changes. He wanted to get his second line going. It had been the only one that had not been in the series in any way.
On the first line, he moved Josh Anderson to the wing, so that he could move Juraj Slafkovsky on to the second line where he had succeeded earlier in the year.
The red hot line of Alexandre Texier, Kirby Dach, and Zachary Bolduc stayed together, and the final line had Oliver Kapanen sit for Gallagher.
It worked early, like it was written by a ghost still lurking at the Montreal Forum. The first shift for Gallagher in the series, he scored. Alex Newhook took it to the net with speed, then followed up his own shot. Gallagher came in late like a bull in Pamplona to fire the puck into a gaping net.
Gallagher showed that the playoffs is also about the determination to get to the net where the goals are scored, whatever the obstacle. Everyone who has ever watched Gallagher for 14 years knew, if given a chance, he would leave body parts on the ice if that’s what it took.
The Canadiens’ second goal continued to write the redemption arc of Kirby Dach. When he was the goat on the Tampa Bay winner in game two, it wouldn’t have been a big surprise at that exact moment if he got an offer to stay with the club in the summer.
Since then, he’s been perhaps the team’s second-best forward behind the always strong and consistent Nick Suzuki. Dach has been centring the best line of the four this series for Montreal. Dach’s tally on Wednesday night was all him as he took it to the goal hard, then went stick to skate deftly as he carried it across the net to put it upstairs.
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The Dach line has six of the team’s last eight goals — a remarkable bonus that few were expecting. In the third period, it was Lane Hutson with a long outlet pass to Texier, who ripped it upstairs for a go-ahead marker early in the third period.
The top line is eating minutes against the Lightning’s top line without scoring, and that’s been a minus, but the depth of the Canadiens has been a plus. It takes a village. Part of that village is the bottom pair of Arber Xhekaj and Jayden Struble being so strong while the Lightning have been juggling, looking for consistency, with Charle-Edouard D’Astous out with a concussion.
The changes from the head coach certainly worked in an analytics fashion. The Suzuki line with Anderson on it registered its best numbers with an Expected Goals of 59. Slafkovsky on the second line also sparked that group to its best numbers, as the Slovak with Ivan Demidov and Jake Evans posted a 93 Expected Goals share.
With absolutely no fanfare, Evans has had a strong series. He’s simply been steady, and on the correct side of the puck not costing his team negatives while having some good offensive zone time. He’s one of the centres who has dominated in the faceoff circle. The Canadiens won 66 per cent of the draws in Game 5.
Wilde Goats
Everything is magnified in the postseason. Errors that may not get pointed out in the regular season become game breakers in the playoffs. On the 2-2 goal, when Mike Matheson took his shot from the right side, he couldn’t miss high and wide to the far side. The puck bounced off the glass to where he was supposed to be. He should know there is weakness on the blue line, where he is not.
It seems small, but the shot wide to the wrong place led to Tampa on the counterattack on a two-on-one and Jake Guentzel scored. Both goals were on odd-man rushes. Generally, this is how to lose a hockey game, or rely on your goalie a lot more than you should be.
Thankfully, for Matheson, it did not cost the Canadiens in the end.
Wilde Cards
The Laval Rocket finally started their playoffs on Wednesday night, drawing the Toronto Marlies after losing their last four games to them this season. There was more on the line for the Marlies in the last three of those games, but it was still concerning that they seemed to have developed a pattern to beat the Rocket.
In the opener of the best-of-five at Place Bell, the Rocket won 3-1 on goals by Florian Xhekaj , Joshua Roy, and Samuel Blais. Game two is Friday night at Place Bell.
The Rocket are waiting for Bryce Pickford to arrive after his playoff run. The Medicine Hat Tigers are taking on the Prince Albert Raiders in the Eastern Conference finals. In game three, on Tuesday night, the Tigers won a 2-1 contest in overtime over the Raiders to take a 2-1 series lead.
Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you on after each Canadiens game.
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