Canadiens' Brendan Gallagher's Home Was Robbed While in Tampa for Stanley Cup Final
Jul 9, 2021
Montreal Canadiens player Brendan Gallagher during an NHL hockey game, Thursday, March 11, 2021, in Calgary, Canada. (AP Photo/Larry MacDougal)
Even though appearing in the Stanley Cup Final is normally a joyous time for an NHL player, Montreal Canadiens winger Brendan Gallagher had a very difficult stretch in Florida.
In addition to his Canadiens losing the series against the Tampa Bay Lightning after a 1-0 loss in Game 5 on Wednesday night, Gallagher revealed on TikTok that his home was robbed while he was away:
The Canadiens traveled to Tampa following their 3-2 overtime win in Game 4 on Monday. David Lazar of the New York Post noted that Montreal traveled to Florida for Game 5 at some point on Tuesday.
It's unclear when the robbery occurred or what was taken.
This season marked the Canadiens' first trip to the Stanley Cup Final since 1993. They advanced past the first round of the playoffs since the 2014-15 season.
Gallagher appeared in 57 games for the Habs between the regular season and playoffs. The alternate captain finished fourth on the team with 14 goals during the regular season.
In 22 playoff games, the right wing had six points on two goals and four assists. The 29-year-old has spent his entire nine-year career with the Canadiens. The Edmonton native was a fifth-round pick by the organization in the 2010 draft.
Lightning's Nikita Kucherov Rips Canadiens Fans: 'Their Final Was Last Series'
Jul 8, 2021
TAMPA, FL - JULY 7: Nikita Kucherov #86 of the Tampa Bay Lightning hoists the Stanley Cup overhead after the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Montreal Canadiens in Game Five to win the best of seven game series 4-1 during the Stanley Cup Final of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Amalie Arena on July 7, 2021 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Scott Audette/NHLI via Getty Images)
Tampa Bay Lightning superstar Nikita
Kucherov took aim at Montreal Canadiens supporters during a Bud
Light-fueled press conference following the Bolts' Game 5 win
Wednesday night to clinch their second straight Stanley Cup
championship.
"The fans in Montreal acted like
they won the Stanley Cup last game," Kucherov said about the celebration after the Habs' Game 4 win. "Are you
kidding me? Are you kidding me? Their final was last series"
"The fans in Montreal acted like they won the Stanley Cup last game. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? Their final was last round."
Kucherov was nothing short of
spectacular throughout the Lightning's title run. He tallied 32
points (eight goals and 24 assists) in 23 playoff games, including 19
power-play points as the team converted 32.4 percent of its
opportunities on the man advantage.
His availability for the postseason was
a point of contention all year, though.
The 28-year-old Russian winger
underwent hip surgery in December after Tampa's Stanley Cup triumph
last season, which allowed the franchise to place him on long-term
injured reserve and avoid his $9.5 million cap hit to remain under
the salary cap for the 2020-21 campaign.
Cap rules don't apply for the playoffs,
however, so the Lightning were able to activate him before the
opening round without any violations or being forced to bench any key
players to create cap space.
In June, Tampa Bay general manager
Julien BriseBois said the NHL reviewed the situation and cleared the
Bolts of any wrongdoing.
"I know [the NHL] investigated the
Nikita Kucherov one, and we have to be able to justify the surgery,
the rehab time, the return to play clearance to make sure that
everything was done according to the rules and according to the
circumstances, and those were the cards we were dealt," BriseBois
told reporters.
The Lightning face a similar problem
heading into the offseason—they're already a projected
$3.5 million over the 2021-22 salary cap with only 17 of the
necessary 20 players, per CapFriendly—so how they navigate the
situation will be watched closely over the summer once again.
Meanwhile, it's hard to blame Canadiens
fans for their hearty celebration after Game 4. They made a highly
unexpected run to the NHL's championship series and beat the
star-studded reigning champions in overtime on home ice. That's
reason enough to go wild despite the fact they were still staring down a 3-1 series
deficit at the time.
Kucherov's comments will surely stick
in the minds of the Habs and their supporters heading into next
season and beyond, though. He'll be public enemy No. 1 every time he enters the
Bell Centre from this point forward.
Lightning Win 2nd Straight Stanley Cup Title With Game 5 Win vs. Canadiens
Jul 8, 2021
Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Ross Colton (79) scores on Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price (31) during the second period in Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup finals, Wednesday, July 7, 2021, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan Ebenhack)
The Tampa Bay Lightning are back-to-back Stanley Cup Final champions after beating the visiting Montreal Canadiens 1-0 in Game 5 on Wednesday at Amalie Arena.
Lightning center Ross Colton's goal at 13:27 of the second period was all Tampa Bay needed to secure the 4-1 series win in the best-of-seven matchup. David Savard and Ryan McDonagh contributed the assists.
Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves en route to his fifth shutout this postseason. He made a pair of saves in the final minute as the Canadiens pressed Tampa Bay's end with an extra attacker after pulling goaltender Carey Price.
The Lightning became just the second team this century to win back-to-back Cups. The Pittsburgh Penguins also did so in 2016 and 2017.
Notable Performances
Lightning C Ross Colton: 1 G
Lightning RW Nikita Kucherov: 5 SOG
Lightning G Andrei Vasilevskiy: 22 SV
Canadiens RW Josh Anderson: 3 SOG
Vasilevskiy Leads the Way in Series-Clinching Win...Again
The Lightning are on top of the hockey world once again, and Vasilevskiy made sure of it with another spotless effort.
Not only did Vasilevskiy earn his fifth 2021 postseason shutout on Wednesday, but he also earned his fifth straight shutout in series-clinching games.
It's a remarkable accomplishment for the well-deserved Conn Smythe Trophy winner.
Andrei Vasilevskiy was a force to be reckoned with through the 2021 #StanleyCup Playoffs and is the winner of the 2021 Conn Smythe Trophy.
He only allowed eight goals during the Stanley Cup Final, and he ended with five of the 12 total shutouts by goaltenders this postseason, per Dimitri Filipovic of The Hockey PDOcast.
Chris Fallica of College Gameday broke down his performances in three notable games:
Andrei Vasilevskiy this postseason
G6 vs CAR - 29 saves in 2-0 road win. Game was 1-0 for 26:50 from 2nd to mid 3rd
G7 vs NYI - made a 1-0 lead stand up for 38:11 in a 1-0 win to reach Cup Final
G5 vs MTL - made a 1-0 lead stand up for 27:33 in a 1-0 game to win Stanley Cup
Mathematician Micah Blake McCurdy also showcased just how good Vasilevskiy was in the playoffs:
Vasilevskiy for the playoffs all up: 35 GA on 53.2 xG, for +18.2 goals saved more than an nhl average goalie over the course of 22 games. pic.twitter.com/SuHFUcW1gL
— Micah Blake McCurdy (@IneffectiveMath) July 8, 2021
And Kevin Neghandi of ESPN pointed out that the Lightning netminder was 14-0 following losses in the playoffs over the last two years.
Vasilevskiy was not tested too often in Game 5 as he faced just 22 shots, but he made some huge saves along the way, perhaps none more important than this stop on right wing Josh Anderson:
— NBC Sports Hockey (@NBCSportsHockey) July 8, 2021
He also held strong in the end of the game as Montreal maintained pressure in Tampa Bay's end, but nothing came of it as the Canadiens were kept off the board.
Ross Colton Is the Latest Unsung Lightning Hero
The Lightning have received key contributions from their entire lineup this postseason, but seeing the lone goal emerge Sunday from some new unsung heroes was still a bit surprising.
Colton, Savard and McDonagh combined to score 24 regular-season points. For context, eight Lightning players scored more than that amount by themselves.
That trio also had 16 total points in the playoffs before Game 5. Of note, five Lightning players had 17 or more playoff points prior to Wednesday.
And yet those aforementioned three players were the only ones to score any points at all in Game 5.
The Lightning have tremendous star power, with names like Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point and Victor Hedman routinely delivering for the back-to-back champions.
However, the team runs deep, and the Lightning's excellent depth has proven to be their opponents' downfall at times. Pete Blackburn of Bally Sports noted that the Lightning's top players weren't hitting the goalsheet of late, but it didn't particularly matter.
Last five goal-scorers of the Lightning's Stanley Cup run...
Colton, a rookie who tied the Canadiens' Cole Caufield for the most goals by a first-year player in this season's playoffs (four), was one of only two players on the roster without a Cup before Wednesday. Per ESPN's Emily Kaplan, that duo consists of Colton and Savard.
Colton also made some notable history along the way:
Hockey writer Chris Peters noted that Colton didn't exactly have a easy and direct route to the pros either:
Ross Colton, the latest of Tampa Bay's "yeah, we found this guy," drafted in his last year of draft eligibility out of Cedar Rapids in the USHL. Played two years at Vermont, got into Tampa's pro player factory in Syracuse and rounded out just in time to score Stanley Cup clincher
But the Lightning's strength is in their tremendous depth up and down the roster. Players like Colton have made the difference in this postseason, and now Tampa Bay is celebrating its second straight Stanley Cup.
Josh Anderson’s OT Goal Lifts Canadiens Past Lightning in Game 4 of Stanley Cup Final
Jul 6, 2021
Montreal Canadiens right wing Josh Anderson (17) skates on the ice during the second period of Game 2 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup finals series against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Wednesday, June 30, 2021, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
The Montreal Canadiens stayed alive in their Stanley Cup Final series against the Tampa Bay Lightning by defeating the visitors 3-2 in overtime on Monday in Bell Centre.
Canadiens right wing Josh Anderson scored two goals, including the game-winner at 3:57 of overtime. Montreal completed a four-minute penalty kill following a Shea Weber high-sticking penalty just 58 seconds earlier.
Tampa Bay outshot Montreal 34-21 and hit three goalposts on the night, including one from Nikita Kucherov with 2:27 remaining in the third and the score tied at two.
Tampa Bay, which defeated the Dallas Stars in last year's Stanley Cup, leads Montreal three games to one in the best-of-seven matchup following its Game 4 loss.
Notable Performances
Canadiens RW Josh Anderson: 2 G, 3 SOG
Canadiens D Alexander Romanov: 1 G
Canadiens RW Cole Caufield: 2 A
Canadiens G Carey Price: 32 SV
Lightning RW Barclay Goodrow: 1 G, 2 SOG
Lightning LW Pat Maroon: 1 G, 3 SOG
Canadiens Claw Their Way to Game 4 Win
Only four teams have overcome 3-0 series deficits in NHL playoff history, and just one (the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs) has done so in the Stanley Cup Final.
It'll be a tall order for Montreal to do that even after winning Game 4, but the Canadiens' tremendous grit and perseverance—combined with Carey Price's brick-wall goaltending— kept the season alive Monday.
Anderson and Price were the heroes for the Habs as they continued their pursuit of the team's first Stanley Cup since 1993.
Anderson was in the right place at the right time to open the scoring thanks to some work from Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield:
Lightning right wing Barclay Goodrow tied the game at one in the second period, but rookie defenseman Alexander Romanov responded in the third with his first postseason tally.
StatsCentre noted that Romanov made history along the way, despite playing in just his third career playoff game:
Playing just his 3rd game of these playoffs, Alexander Romanov's 2-1 tally tonight has joined him with Serge Savard (2 in 1968) & Guy Lapointe (1971) as the only @CanadiensMTL rookie defencemen to score a SC Final goal. At 21 years & 180 days old, he's also the youngest to do so pic.twitter.com/ZaauC0w07J
The Lightning had a golden opportunity to go home as back-to-back Stanley Cup winners when Canadiens defenseman Shea Weber was called for high-sticking on Lightning left wing Ondrej Palat.
Tampa Bay had four shots on goal in the overtime period with a man advantage, but Price saved all of them to preserve the tie.
It was a phenomenal effort from Price, who kept his team in the game all night despite a flurry of Lightning shots.
Pierre LeBrun of TSN credited the Canadiens for their effort with their backs against the wall:
The four-minute PK followed by a Josh Anderson OT goal. What a sequence. No way they wanted the season to end with their captain in the box. The Habs give their fans a Stanley Cup final moment. The Canadiens able to dip into their 2021 playoff magic at least one more time.
With that, the Canadiens stayed alive. They may have faced a dire situation, but don't tell that to Anderson, who expected Montreal to come through and force a Game 5:
"We expected to go to Tampa tomorrow. We packed our bags this afternoon. We just had that feeling that we were going to win tonight."
It'll be a long road to Game 7, but all that matters now is the Canadiens survived, advanced and moved onto Tampa.
Unlucky Lightning Fall Despite Solid Effort
The Lightning had 13 more shots than the Canadiens and hit three goalposts on a night where they were the better team than Montreal everywhere but the scoreboard.
Significant credit goes to the Canadiens for their resolve down 3-0 in the series, most specifically on the penalty kill and the game-winning goal.
But Tampa Bay left numerous opportunities at the doorstep.
For starters, the Lightning went 0-of-5 on the power play. They played 10 minutes with the extra man thanks to four minor penalties and a double minor, but were unable to pull through.
It was a surprising result for a Tampa Bay team that had converted on 33.8 percent of its power-play chances this postseason.
No chance was greater than the Weber double minor, which gave Tampa Bay 2:59 with an extra man at the start of overtime. Nothing ever came of it, though.
Ultimately, the killer was the Lightning's third goalpost of the night, which happened just prior to the Weber penalty. Kucherov put himself in excellent position for the game-winner, but his shot clanked off the post and harmlessly fluttered away.
Lightning head coach Jon Cooper talked about that one postgame, per Bryan Burns of the team's official website.
Jon Cooper said he doesn't react much on the bench but had a jump in his step on Kucherov's back-post shot late in regulation. Said #Bolts had chances, they just didn't go in. "You can't pick your adversity, you hit a little bit of it and you have to fight your way through it."
As Cooper noted, the Lightning did have their chances, and they converted on two of them. Goodrow's goal came at 17:20 of the second period off a turnover in the Canadiens' own zone:
— NBC Sports Hockey (@NBCSportsHockey) July 6, 2021
In the third, Pat Maroon came through in the clutch after Tyler Johnson skated into the Habs' end and sliced a pass to the forward, who took care of the rest at 13:48 of the third period:
— NBC Sports Hockey (@NBCSportsHockey) July 6, 2021
Momentum was squarely on the Lightning's side for the remainder of regulation and into overtime, but that game-winning goal did not arrive.
Ultimately, the Lightning are still up 3-1 in this series and head back home to Amalie Arena for Game 5. They've been tremendous for much of the Cup, even if this game didn't go their way.
What's Next?
Tampa Bay will host Montreal for Game 5 on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET.
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor Wants Lightning to Lose to Canadiens to Win, Celebrate in TB
Jul 5, 2021
Tampa Bay Lightning center Anthony Cirelli (71) controls a puck during the first period of Game 2 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup finals series against the Montreal Canadiens, Wednesday, June 30, 2021, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
The Tampa Bay Lightning are one win away from their second straight Stanley Cup triumph with a 3-0 series lead over the Montreal Canadiens heading into Monday night's Game 4.
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor is not-so-secretly hoping for a Game 5, albeit for good reason. With Game 4 set for Montreal and the series due to return to Tampa for a potential Game 5, Castor says she wants the Lightning to get a chance to celebrate in front of the home crowd.
"What we would like is for the Lightning to take it a little bit easy, to give the Canadiens just the smallest break, allow them to win one at home, and then bring it back to the Amalie Arena for the final and the winning of the Stanley Cup," Castor said Sunday. "We don't want to get ahead of ourselves. But they are playing some amazing, amazing hockey."
The Lightning were forced to celebrate their 2020 Cup victory without fanfare because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The NHL held the Stanley Cup Final in Montreal as part of a bubble arrangement.
Family and friends of players/staff were not permitted to cross the Canadian border for Games 3 and 4 in Montreal, so the team would be facing a similar situation to last year if they were to win Monday night.
Lightning Family Members Denied Exemption to Travel to Canada for Stanley Cup Final
Jul 3, 2021
MONTREAL, QC - JULY 02: Tampa Bay Lightning defenceman Jan Rutta (44) celebrates his goal with his teammates during the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Final game 3 between the Tampa Bay Lightning versus the Montreal Canadiens on July 02, 2021, at Bell Centre in Montreal, QC (Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
If the Tampa Bay Lightning secure their second straight Stanley Cup title in Game 4 on Monday night, the team's celebration won't include family members.
Per ESPN's Emily Kaplan, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the Canadian government didn't grant exemptions for Lightning family members to attend the game against the Montreal Canadiens.
Last month, the Canadian government approved the NHL's request for a travel exemption that allowed teams to travel between Canada and the U.S. for the final two rounds of the postseason without having to quarantine.
The league agreed that teams entering the country would undergo daily coronavirus testing and live in a modified bubble in which they had no contact with the public.
Per the Canadian government's website, anyone traveling into the country, "regardless of citizenship," is required to quarantine for 14 days even if they don't have any COVID-19 symptoms.
Kaplan noted that Lightning players, coaches and staff "have only been able to travel between their hotel and the arena" since arriving in Montreal prior to Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final.
Canadiens interim head coach Dominique Ducharme returned to the bench for Friday's 6-3 loss. He had missed the team's previous six games after testing positive for COVID-19.
The Lightning will look to close out the Stanley Cup Final in Game 4 at the Bell Centre. They would become the first team to repeat as champions since the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2015-16 and 2016-17.
Victor Hedman, Lightning Beat Canadiens in Game 3 to Take Commanding 3-0 Series Lead
Jul 3, 2021
TAMPA, FLORIDA - JUNE 30: Tyler Johnson #9 of the Tampa Bay Lightning plays against Shea Weber #6 of the Montreal Canadiens during the second period of Game Two of the 2021 Stanley Cup Final at Amalie Arena on June 30, 2021 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Florence Labelle/NHLI via Getty Images)
A change of venue didn't seem to slow down the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday as the Bolts defeated the Montreal Canadiens 6-3 at Bell Centre in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final. That gives the defending champions a massive 3-0 series lead and puts them one win away from becoming the first team to win the Cup in back-to-back years since the Pittsburgh Penguins did it in 2016 and 2017.
Only four teams in NHL history have come back to win a series after trailing 3-0 with the Los Angeles Kings the last to do so in 2014 during the first round. It's only happened once in the Stanley Cup Final back when the Toronto Maple Leafs stunned the Detroit Red Wings in 1942.
Montreal has now been outscored 14-5 in the series despite peppering Tampa goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy for 74 shots over the last two games. Even with Lightning forward Alex Killorn (lower body) out for a second straight game, the Bolts hardly lacked offense with goals by five different players.
Notable Performers
Victor Hedman, D, Tampa Bay Lightning: 1 Goal, 1 Assist, 2 Blocks
Andrei Vasilevskiy, G, Tampa Bay Lightning: 32 Saves, 3 Goals Allowed
Nick Suzuki, C, Montreal Canadiens: 1 Goal, 2 SOG, 2 Blocks
Carey Price, G, Montreal Canadiens: 24 Saves, 5 Goals Allowed
The Canadiens committed the hockey sin of allowing a goal in the first or final two minutes of a period when Blake Coleman scored a one-handed goal with a less than a second remaining in the middle frame of Game 2.
Friday night proved that if even the Habs learned their lesson, they were powerless to stop themselves from repeating the error. Twice.
Tampa's Jan Ruuta broke the scoring open at 1:52 of the first period, spoiling the first Stanley Cup game on Canadian soil in a decade just moments after puck drop. The 1-0 lead didn't last long as Victor Hedman added a power-play goal against the league's best penalty kill barely two minutes later.
It was a rare special teams mistake for the Habs, allowing Anthony Cirelli to screen Montreal's Carey Price without any defender there to move him. It was also the first of many mistakes on the night.
The Canadiens gave up multiple odd-man rushes, putting more pressure on Price than necessary and giving way to a flurry of high-leverage scoring chances, the next most brutal of which came on Nikita Kucherov's goal just 1:40 into the second period.
Ondrej Palat ➡️ Nikita Kucherov
Make that another multi-point night for No. 86. #StanleyCup
#TBLightning 14-2 when scoring first in playoffs. Two point shots from d-men. Two quality screens on Carey Price. Victor Hedman said they planned to bring it + they certainly did
Again it was the Tampa offense creating an odd-man rush and immediately capitalizing. Again it was Montreal allowing a goal in the first two minutes. And again it was the Bolts refusing to let up, scoring a fourth goal two minutes after Kucherov's eighth of the postseason.
A combination of a relentless Tampa Bay club and a failure to limit mistakes has the Canadiens on the brink of elimination.
Vasilevskiy Strengthens Conn Smythe Case
The prevailing thought heading into the Cup Final was that Price had the best chance to win the Conn Smythe Award as playoff MVP. Price has long been considered one of the best goalies in the league and has Vezina and Jennings Trophies to prove it.
In 17 playoff games before the Final, Price allowed two or fewer goals in 12 of them. He's allowed 13 goals in three games against Tampa Bay so far.
#Habs Price on his play in this game and the series thus far: “I can definitely play better. It’s just not good enough so far.”
Instead, it's the goalie playing on the opposite end of the ice who's looking like the Conn Smythe front-runner through three games in the Final. Vasilevskiy has been as relentless in net as his team's offense with the puck.
The 6'3", 225-pound netminder has always been well regarded, but he's playing at his highest level yet. That starts with a sterling 1.89 goals allowed average and 93.9 save percentage in the postseason.
In the Cup Final alone, Vasilevskiy has turned aside 92 of 97 shots faced, but it's the timing of his saves that matter as much as the volume of them.
Vasilevskiy is putting on an absolute clinic.
The glove save through traffic was insane, then getting across and challenging Weber’s shot.
Tampa Bay has taken a 2-1 lead in each of the first three games of the series so far. The Lightning have scored the next goal in each of those instances. Vasilevskiy has given his team all the support it needs on the back end and then some.
He may head back to Florida with the Conn Smythe by his side if he's able to keep it up.
What's Next?
The two clubs will stay put in Montreal with Game 4 slated for Monday, July 5 at 8 p.m. on NBC.
Lighting Take 2-0 Series Lead Over Canadiens with 3-1 Game 2 Win
Jul 1, 2021
TAMPA, FLORIDA - JUNE 28: Carey Price #31 of the Montreal Canadiens defends against Ondrej Palat #18 of the Tampa Bay Lightning during Game One of the 2021 NHL Stanley Cup Finals against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on June 28, 2021 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
The Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning are two wins away from successfully defending their title.
Despite missing forward Alex Killorn (lower body), the Bolts easily won Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final over the Montreal Canadiens, 3-1. The victory continued a run of dominant play by the Lightning, who are 6-2 over their last eight playoff games while outscoring their opponents 27-11.
— NBC Sports Hockey (@NBCSportsHockey) July 1, 2021
Montreal goalie Carey Price made 20 saves in the loss as Tampa pelted him with 23 shots in Game 2 after he faced 27 shots in Game 1.
The series now moves to the Bell Centre as the Lightning become just the second American team to play north of the border this season. Tampa leads the best-of-seven series 2-0.
Notable Performers
Blake Coleman, C, Tampa Bay Lightning: 1 Goal, 3 SOG, 3 Hits
Andrei Vasilevskiy, G, Tampa Bay Lightning: 42 Saves, 1 Goal Allowed
Nick Suzuki, C, Montreal Canadiens: 1 Goal, 9 SOG, 2 Hits
Jeff Petry, D, Montreal Canadiens: 5 SOG, -2 Plus/Minus, 2 Hits
Blake Coleman's Backbreaker
Giving up a goal with less than two minutes remaining in a period is one of hockey's biggest momentum-changers. Giving up a goal with less than two seconds remaining is nearly unthinkable—both because of how rare buzzer-beaters are in the NHL and how many things have to go right, or wrong, for them to happen.
Tampa's Blake Coleman defied those odds Wednesday night, scoring what would ultimately serve as the game-winning goal in Game 2, and gave his team a 90 percent chance of repeating as Stanley Cup champions.
According to the NHL, teams that take a 2-0 series lead in the Stanley Cup Final hold an all-time record of 46-5, or a 90.2 winning percentage.
Yet the truly most incredible part of Coleman's goal isn't that he scored it one-handed while falling to the ice with time expiring. It's that he's scored like it before. Twice, actually. The first time came in an October 2019 tilt against the Winnipeg Jets when Coleman played for the New Jersey Devils, and the second came in the playoffs last year with Tampa Bay against the Boston Bruins.
So you're telling us we've seen this before from Blake Coleman.... 🤯 #StanleyCup
— Hockey Night in Canada (@hockeynight) July 1, 2021
This may have been his best version of it yet.
After a ghastly turnover in the neutral zone with less than 10 seconds remaining in the frame, the Bolts opened up a two-on-one with Barclay Goodrow flipping the puck to Coleman on his left wing, who then buried it behind a stunned Price.
The Habs outshot Tampa 16-6 in the second period before Coleman got his hand on the puck, using an unassisted tally from Nick Suzuki midway through the frame to knot things up at 1. Getting out of the period with a tie on the road would've been a victory in itself.
Instead, the Canadiens had nearly 20 minutes to sit in the locker room and replay the final 10 seconds of the period in their heads.
Habs Head Home Down, Not Out
This is certainly not the way the Canadiens expected to return home after two games.
Down 0-2 is tough enough. Down 0-2 after pelting the opposing goalie with 43 shots against an offense missing its second-best point-producer in Killorn might have long-term consequences.
— NBC Sports Hockey (@NBCSportsHockey) July 1, 2021
Montreal looked arguably as good Wednesday night as it had at any point this postseason. The Habs outshot Tampa 43-23, killed off all three Lightning power plays and were only credited with two giveaways to the Bolts' six. This was Montreal's statement game, and Tampa had no trouble erasing it.
While there are a few areas the Canadiens would like to clean up—going 1-of-3 on the man-advantage including a four-on-three is a good place to start—this wasn't a game where Montreal made many mistakes.
Even Coleman's goal was the product of him taking advantage of a fluky situation rather than a Habs error.
The biggest mistake committed by the Canadiens came on Ondrej Palat's goal late in the third period, when a blind pass from defenseman Joel Edmundson behind the net inadvertently put the puck on Palat's stick with Price looking the other way.
There wasn't much the Habs could do at that point. Barely four minutes remained in regulation and everything else they'd thrown at Tampa Bay had been easily brushed aside. After two games in the Stanley Cup Final, the Canadiens are still looking for a way to dent the reigning champs.
What's Next?
Games 3 and 4 head to Montreal's Bell Centre with Game 3 slated for Friday night at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.
Marc Bergevin Says He Wasn't Aware of Brad Aldrich Allegations While with Blackhawks
Jun 27, 2021
MONTREAL, QC - JANUARY 07: General manager of the Montreal Canadiens Marc Bergevin speaks with the media prior to the NHL game against the Minnesota Wild at the Bell Centre on January 7, 2019 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Minnesota Wild defeated the Montreal Canadiens 1-0. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc
Bergevin said Sunday he was "not aware" of sexual assault
allegations brought against Chicago Blackhawks video coach Brad
Aldrich by two players during the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs, when
Bergevin was the Hawks' director of player personnel.
Bergevin was asked about the situation
as his Habs prepare to play in the 2021 Stanley Cup Final against the
reigning champion Tampa Bay Lightning beginning Monday night.
"It came out recently, there was a
meeting that I heard that was done in Chicago, I was not part of any
meeting, and I was not part of any decision based on that,"
Bergevin told reporters. "And I was not aware of anything going
on at the time. So you can go on the record with that."
In April, one of the two players who
allege Aldrich sexually assaulted them filed a lawsuit against the NHL team seeking $150,000 in damages. The court filing stated Aldrich "threatened to injure [him] ... physically, financially and
emotionally if the plaintiff did not engage in sexual activity."
TSN's Rick Westhead reported June 17
there was a meeting between several members of the Blackhawks front
office and coaching staff in May 2010 after multiple players on the
roster alerted skills coach Paul Vincent of the allegations against
Aldrich.
That meeting featured Vincent, team president John McDonough, vice president of hockey operations Al
MacIsaac, general manager Stan Bowman and team sports psychologist
James Gary, per Westhead. Bergevin was not named in the report among those in attendance.
Vincent suggested the organization
should report the incidents to Chicago police, but his suggestion was rejected, and the team allowed Aldrich to remain on the coaching
staff for the remainder of the playoffs as the Hawks went on to win
that year's Stanley Cup title, according to the TSN report.
An unnamed player from the 2009-10
Blackhawks roster said the situation was not a secret.
Aldrich left the organization after the
2010 Stanley Cup run ended. He later spent time as a coach at
Houghton High School in Michigan and at Miami University in Ohio.
In 2014, he was sentenced to nine
months in jail and five years of probation after he pleaded guilty to
fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct with a student between 16 and
18. He also had to register as a sex offender in the state of Michigan.
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told
The Athletic there wasn't an active investigation into the situation within the league as of Friday.
"We have been in contact with the
Club regarding the matter but there is no ongoing investigation. We
do not have any further comment at this time," he said.
Bergevin, a 55-year-old former NHL
defenseman, left the Blackhawks in May 2012 to become general manager
of the Canadiens.
Dominique Ducharme Can Return to Canadiens for Stanley Cup Final Game 3
Jun 26, 2021
Montreal Canadiens head coach Dominique Ducharme, center, during an NHL hockey game, Thursday, March 11, 2021, in Calgary, Canada. (AP Photo/Larry MacDougal)
The Montreal Canadiens will get head coach Dominique Ducharme back for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final.
Ducharme told ESPN's Emily Kaplan on Saturday his mandatory 14-day isolation period after testing positive for COVID-19 will end in time for him to return to the team for the July 2 game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The NHL announced on June 18 that Ducharme, who had been partially vaccinated after receiving his second shot nine days earlier, tested positive for the virus.
No other players or coaches for the Canadiens returned a positive test.
Assistant Luke Richardson has been serving as head coach with Ducharme unavailable. The Canadiens clinched their first berth in the Stanley Cup Final since 1993 with a 3-2 win over the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Semifinals on June 24.
Ducharme was named interim head coach by the Canadiens on Feb. 24 when Claude Julien was fired after a 9-5-4 start to the season. The 48-year-old went 15-16-7 during the regular season, but the team's 59 points overall were good enough to finish fourth in the North Division.
Since falling behind 3-1 to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round, the Canadiens have won 11 of their last 13 playoff games.
Montreal will play the defending Stanley Cup champion Lightning in the Final. Ducharme will miss Games 1 (June 28) and 2 (June 30) in Tampa before returning to the bench for Game 3 at the Bell Centre on July 2.
