The Montreal Canadiens were victorious on Thursday, winning by a score of 6-2, against the home team, the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Montreal center Max Pacioretty showed up big for the Canadiens on Thursday, with a career playoff high of three points, comprising of a goal coming shorthanded in the middle of the first period, and two assists in each of the first two periods.
The Lightning came into the third period down 5-1 to the Canadiens. They gave themselves a glimmer of hope with a tap in goal from Ondrej Palat past Canadiens goalkeeper Carey Price just 17 seconds into the period, but to no avail, when Canadiens winger Brandon Prust scored his first goal of this years playoffs just four minutes later.
If the Canadiens are to challenge in this series, this win was the most difficult. Coming off three straight losses, including the first two of the series at home. To come into an away game and have such a stellar performance will give the team momentum heading into Game 5 at home, which if they win, they could hold momentum into Game 6 back in Tampa Bay.
“Good thing we don’t have much time to think about it,” defenseman P.K. Subban of the Canadiens told NHL.com on Wednesday, “so we got to come back tomorrow ready to keep our season alive.”
Although Montreal has held possession quite well in this series, as they did against the Ottawa Senators, they have had difficulties scoring. This was not the case on Thursday, obviously.
“Since I’ve been a Montreal Canadien, one thing we’ve always done is find ways to win games,” Brendan Gallagher of Montreal said after Wednesday’s tough 2-1 loss to the Montreal Gazette. “It just seems like right now we’re finding ways to lose the games. We’re playing good hockey, we’re doing everything you ask, we’re just coming out on the wrong side of things.”
The keys to victory for Montreal are rebounding, which they did none of in the first three games of the series, keeping a presence in front of the net, scoring the first goal, and Carey Price returning to his usual level of play. All of these keys were exemplified by the Canadiens on Thursday.
The city of Montreal has had a tough past year. Just after the season began, in October, there was an ISIS affiliated terror attack. According to the Inquisitr, the attacker did this “In the name of Allah.”
This unthinkable series comeback could be what brings Montreal back to the forefront of the hockey world, not having lifted a Stanley Cup trophy since 1993.
Game 5 takes place on Saturday, May 9 at 7 p.m. ET in Montreal. The game is obviously still a must-win for the Canadiens. The matchup will be broadcasted on NBCSN.
[Image Source: Mike Carlson/Getty Images]