The Montreal Canadiens took a 2-1 lead in their series against the Tampa Bay Lightning, thanks in large part to a fantastic bounce-back game from Kirby Dach.
With the series tied 1-1, the Montreal Canadiens were hosting the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday night at the Bell Centre. After coming some seven minutes away from taking a 2-0 lead in the series on Tuesday night, the Habs looked deflated in overtime and couldn’t even muster one shot on net after the Bolts survived Scott Sabourin’s brain cramp.
Despite Kirby Dach’s pair of gaffes on Tuesday night, Martin St-Louis elected not to make any changes to his lineup, despite the storm it caused in town. There was a lot of talk in town about what the coach would decide to do, but after he came out in a Zoom availability to defend his player, it became clear it was unlikely. St-Louis is not one to be swayed by popular opinion, either. Why would you care what someone thinks if you’d never ask them for advice?
As expected, the opening montage was something to behold, with the late great Ken Dryden narrating the opening before it moved on to a compilation of highlights from the season, including Pierre Houde’s marvelous call of Cole Caufield’s 50th goal. Unsurprisingly, it sent the Bell Center into a frenzy, and when Yvan Cournoyer appeared on the Jumbotron with the torch, the building erupted.
A Brand New Dach
After being treated as public enemy number one by fans all week, Dach flew out of the gates. Even though he didn’t have a shot on net in the first, he showed combativity, went through traffic and didn’t hesitate to take the hit when necessary. The newly formed fourth line, comprising Dach, Zachary Bolduc and Alexandre Texier, scored the first goal less than five minutes into the game.
Dach was also called for a trip a bit later on, but there really wasn’t much to it. One would have thought that if they were going to call that, they’d call a corresponding embellishment, but it didn’t happen.
The Albertan wasn’t done, though. In the second frame, he scored to bring everyone back to square one after a great shift. He was set up all alone in front of the net and was stopped by Vasilevskiy, but seconds later, after battling to get the puck back, he beat him.
There’s no question that this was a great game for Dach, but he needs to do this when he doesn’t have anything to be forgiven about, not just when he got badly burned. The Dach who played on Friday is the one the Canadiens thought they were getting from the Chicago Blackhawks. It will be interesting to see if he can sustain that level of effort.
After the game, Dach declined to say what Martin St-Louis had said to him about Tuesday night’s game, but he still spoke about his coach:
I think Marty is a phenomenal coach and a great person. He’s able to level with you on a personal level and kind of understand what you, as a player, are going through. I think he’s also able to find how to get the best out of every one of us.
As for the coach himself, he explained his decision to stick with Dach and not scratch him after Tuesday by saying he’s never going to give up on someone who hasn’t given up on themselves, calling Dach a great hockey player.
A Strange Second Frame
For the first half of the second frame, it looked like the Canadiens were handling a live grenade in their own zone. Unsurprisingly, it blew up in their faces when Jake Evans committed a turnover as he was exiting his zone. Hagel was allowed to walk in Montreal’s territory and take a shot that beat Jakub Dobes. It’s more than likely one that the Czech netminder would like to have back, but there’s no do-overs in hockey.
Still, after Ivan Demidov was sent to the box for a high stick, which Tampa couldn’t capitalize on, Dach tied the score, and the Bolts appeared shaken up, so much so that they took three penalties in a row, allowing the Canadiens three chances to take the lead. However, they did some good work on the penalty kill, giving the Canadiens no time to plan in the offensive zone or even to shoot much. After 40 minutes, Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki didn’t have a single shot, while Juraj Slafkovsky only had one. Jon Cooper was doing a very good job at juggling in his lines to keep Cirelli on Suzuki despite not having the last change. He kept pulling guys off the ice to send Cirelli in whenever needed, and while St-Louis did see what he was doing, he decided not to be drawn into that, opting not to mess with his team’s rhythm.
First Line Troubles
If there’s one thing that has worked all year for the Canadiens, it’s their first line, but now, when it matters most and against a matchup master, they are struggling not only to score but even to get shots on goal. Still, on the bright side of things, the Canadiens are up 2-1 without their top line making much of an impact at even strength. Asked if it was a bit of a worry for him to be down 2-1 in the series, despite having shut down the opposition’s top line, Cooper explained:
I don’t know, we could be down 2-1, and they could be lighting it up, so we’ve got to take some positives out of what’s gone on. Sitting up here right now, choked because we just lost the game, but I think both teams would tell you that the series is far from over.
It was a particularly challenging night for Caufield; the sniper only managed one shot on goal and seemed to be fighting the puck all night long. Even his passes weren’t up to his usual standard. When he managed to take off on a breakaway, alone against Andrei Vasilevskiy, the Bell Centre crowd buzzed with excitement, but he ended up fanning on the shot. The Habs have three clear-cut breakaways on the night, that one, Demidov’s and Anderson’s, but failed to score on any of them.
Had the Canadiens lost the game, they would have only themselves to blame for so many missed opportunities, not just on those sequences, but also on the power play, where they were unsuccessful on five-man advantages.
Thankfully for them, though, Lane Hutson called the game early in the overtime period, scoring on a slapshot while Kirby Dach’s line was once again on the ice. The blueliner recognized the opportunities with plenty of big bodies in front of Tampa’s netminder. He elected to give it a shot, and the puck found its way in the back of the net. Funnily enough, before the overtime period, he had joked in the room that he was going to put the game away, and that he did.
Montreal will have an optional skate tomorrow morning before playing game four on Sunday night at the Bell Centre.
Follow Karine on X @KarineHains Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social and Threads @karinehains.
Bookmark The Hockey News Canadiens' page for all the news and happenings around the Canadiens.
Join the discussion by signing up to the Canadiens' roundtable on The Hockey News.
Subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here.