Tampa Bay Lightning: Four Keys to Winning the Stanley Cup Over the Montreal Canadiens

The NHL was founded in 1917. One of the original teams when the league first started was the Montreal Canadiens. In the over 100 years that the Habs have played in the NHL, they have won 24 Stanley Cup championships. The last time that happened was in 1993.

That just happened to be the inaugural year of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the NHL. In the 28 years that the Bolts have been in the league, the team has won two Stanley Cup titles, with the last one being in 2020.

The Bolts are trying to do what has been rare in the NHL in recent history. That is win back-to-back Stanley Cups under head coach Jon Cooper. To do that, they are going to have to try and defeat the most surprising team in the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs…the Canadiens, who are coached by Dominique Ducharme.

It’s going to take a collective effort for the Bolts to be able to hoist Lord Stanley for the second year in a row, but I’m going to list four keys for the Lightning to do just that as they face the Habs.

The Goalie Battle Between Andrei Vasilevskiy and Carey Price

The Tampa Bay Lightning have averaged 3.22 goals per game in the 2021 postseason. The Montreal Canadiens on the other hand, have averaged just 1.87 goals per game, which is the second lowest of any team that made it out of the first round. The advantage in this series should probably go to goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Bolts who has a great 2021 postseason, but goalie Carey Price of the Habs has also been really good this postseason.

Vasilevskiy has allowed just 1.99 goals per game and has a save percentage of 93.6. In addition to that, Vasy has four shutouts this postseason. The top three scoring threats of the Habs are left winger Tyler Toffoli, center Nick Suzuki and rookie right winger Cole Caufield. Plus Vasilevskiy can’t forget about veterans like left winger Corey Perry and center Eric Staal.

Price has also been very good, as he has allowed just 2.02 goals per game and saving 93.4 percent of attempted shots. That being said, the Bolts will bring a lot of firepower vs. Price, with the likes of right winger Nikita Kucherov, center Brayden Point, left winger Alex Killorn, center Steven Stamkos and defenseman Victor Hedman.

Produce on the Power Play

The Bolts have the best power play in the NHL. In the 2021 postseason, the Lightning have converted 37.7 percent of their power play chances. The first power play unit of the Lightning includes Hedman, Killorn, Point, Stamkos and Kucherov. The point total of that group in the postseason has been outstanding. In fact, that group is in the top five in postseason points in the NHL. Kucherov has 27 points. Point has 20 points (which included a nine-game goal scoring streak), Killorn has 17 points, as does Stamkos. And Hedman has 16 points.

The Canadiens have been unreal in the playoffs this year with their penalty kill unit. The Habs have stopped power plays at a 93.5 percent clip. Believe it or not, the Canadiens haven’t allowed a power play goal in 13 straight postseason games, an NHL record. The Habs usually utilize defenseman Shea Weber, center Jesperi Kotkaniemi, right winger Brendan Gallagher, right winger Josh Anderson and defenseman Jeff Petry on their No. 1 penalty kill unit.

Something has to give here.

Score on the Top Defensive Line of the Habs

One of the more amazing stats of the 2021 postseason is the job the line of Artturi Lehkonen, Phillip Danault and Gallagher of the Habs have done against the top-scoring lines of their opponents. Against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the group allowed just one goal overall against the top-scoring line of the Leafs. They did the same thing versus the top-scoring line of the Winnipeg Jets. And then they did the same thing against the Vegas Golden Knights and their top-scoring line. That means that the line of Lehkonen, Danault and Gallagher have given up just three goals overall in three rounds against the top-scoring lines of their opponents. That is truly remarkable.

If they can do the same against Kucherov, Point and Ondrej Palat, the odds are very strong that they will win the Stanley Cup. But that will be very difficult to accomplish based on what the terrific trio have done for the Bolts this postseason, as the three have a combined 23 goals in the 2021 playoffs thus far.

The Battle of the Badgers

One of the reasons that the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the New York Islanders 1-0 in Game 7 to advance to the Stanley Cup final was due to the play of defenseman Ryan McDonagh. The former Wisconsin Badger was blocking shots left and right. Plus, when the Bolts scored their only goal of the game short-handed, it was McDonagh who got the puck up the ice to Killorn who then passed it to Anthony Cirelli, who as he skated towards the corner, passed it to a wide open Yanni Gourde, who had just come off the bench during a change by the Islanders to score what turned out to be a the game-winning goal. Bottom line, McDonagh has just been outstanding for the Bolts this postseason, as he is at a +11 currently and has averaged 22:49 minutes per game.

Another former Badger has also been outstanding this postseason. I’m talking about Caufield of the Habs, who leads all NHL rookies with nine points this postseason. As a matter of fact, Caufield (the 2021 Hoby Baker Award winner) had a goal in both Game 5 and Game 6, as the Habs eliminated the Vegas Golden Knights in six games to get to the Stanley Cup Final.

I expect both McDonagh and Caufield to play well, but I give the nod to the former Badger captain McDonagh due to his experience.