Montreal Canadiens v. Tampa Bay Lightning – Game 2
Tampa Leads Series 1-0
Game Recap:
Heading into Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final, the Montreal Canadiens look to bounce back and even the series at one game a piece against the Tampa Bay Lightning before having the series head up to Montreal. In the first period the Habs would have a much better jump to their game as they would apply better pressure against the Bolts. However, the Habs would get themselves into early penalty trouble, but would do a great job of shutting down the Bolts top guys. Then later in the period the Habs would gain a 4 minute powerplay when Ryan McDonagh would get hit with a double minor for high sticking. While the Habs couldn’t take advantage of the 4 on 3 advantage, they will get to start the second period with some carryover time on the powerplay as this game stayed scoreless through 20 minutes of play.
Going into the second period the Canadiens would get a couple chances on their remaining powerplay time, but would be unable to capitalize on to take the lead. After a rather quiet back and forth that would see the Habs control the play most of the time, it would be a knuckler from Anthony Cirelli that would get past Carey Price to give the Bolts the 1-0 lead. Then later in the period the Habs would keep up the pressure and with Mikhail Sergachev in the box for interference Nick Suzuki would let go a bouncing backhander from the point and past Andrei Vasilevskiy to tie the game at one. Late in the period the Habs would go to the box, but they would keep Tampa’s powerplay off of the board. However, with .3 seconds left in the period Blake Coleman would make a mind blowing diving deflection to give the Bolts the 2-1 lead to end the second period.
In the third period both teams would get quality chances, but late in the period Joel Edmunson would make a costly mistake with the puck behind the Habs net and Ondrej Palat would capitalize on the mistake to score and give the Lightning the 3-1 victory. Tampa now holds a 2-0 series lead over the Canadiens as the series will now move to Montreal for Game 3 on Friday night.
Lineups:
Montreal Canadiens:
Artturi Lehkonen — Phillip Danault — Brendan Gallagher
Tyler Toffoli — Nick Suzuki — Cole Caufield
Paul Byron — Jesperi Kotkaniemi — Josh Anderson
Joel Armia — Eric Staal — Corey Perry
Ben Chiarot — Shea Weber
Joel Edmundson — Jeff Petry
Erik Gustafsson — Jon Merrill
Carey Price
Jake Allen
Scratched: Jake Evans, Cale Fleury, Alexander Romanov, Lukas Vejdemo, Laurent Dauphin, Jesse Ylonen, Alex Belzile, Xavier Ouellet, Otto Leskinen, Michael Frolik, Brett Kulak, Tomas Tatar, Cayden Primeau, Charlie Lindgren, Michael McNiven
Injured: None
Tampa Bay Lightning:
Tyler Johnson — Brayden Point — Nikita Kucherov
Ondrej Palat — Anthony Cirelli — Steven Stamkos
Barclay Goodrow — Yanni Gourde — Blake Coleman
Pat Maroon — Ross Colton — Mathieu Joseph
Victor Hedman — Jan Rutta
Ryan McDonagh — Erik Cernak
Mikhail Sergachev — David Savard
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Curtis McElhinney
Scratched: Luke Schenn, Alex Barre-Boulet, Boris Katchouk, Taylor Raddysh, Gemel Smith, Mitchell Stephens, Daniel Walcott, Fredrik Claesson, Cal Foote, Ben Thomas, Christopher Gibson, Spencer Martin
Injured: Alex Killorn (undisclosed)
First Period:
MON Penalty – 5:29 – Jeff Petry 2 minutes for Tripping
MON Penalty – 9:57 – Paul Byron 2 minutes for Slashing
MON Penalty – 17:27 – Paul Byron 2 minutes for Slashing
TB Penalty – 17:27 – Erik Cernak 2 minutes for Cross Checking
TB Penalty – 17:32 – Ryan McDonagh double minor for High Sticking
| End of First | MON – 0 | TB – 0 |
| Shots | 13 | 6 |
| Faceoff Wins | 8 | 7 |
| Hits | 13 | 11 |
| Powerplay | 0/2 | 0/2 |
Second Period:
TB Goal – 6:40 – Anthony Cirelli (5) from Tyler Johnson (2) and Jan Rutta (1)
TB Penalty – 10:03 – Mikhail Sergachev 2 minutes for Interference
MON PPG – 10:36 – Nick Suzuki (6) from unassisted
MON Penalty – 16:38 – Joel Armia 2 minutes for High Sticking
TB Goal – 19:59 – Blake Coleman (2) from Barclay Goodrow (3) and Ryan McDonagh (6)
| End of Second | MON – 1 | TB – 2 |
| Shots | 29 | 13 |
| Faceoff Wins | 21 | 18 |
| Hits | 24 | 28 |
| Powerplay | 1/3 | 0/3 |
Third Period:
TB Goal – 15:42 – Ondrej Palat (5) from unassisted
| End of Third | MON – 1 | TB – 3 |
| Shots | 43 | 23 |
| Faceoff Wins | 30 | 27 |
| Hits | 36 | 40 |
| Powerplay | 1/3 | 0/3 |
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