Here are my three takeaways from Montreal’s 2-1 Game 7 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
1- Captain Clutch
Nick Suzuki delivered when it mattered most, Game 7. The Canadiens captain had been held off the score sheet at 5-on-5, and it was one of the biggest talking points heading into the final game of the series. But as mentioned before, if you give star players enough time, they eventually deliver and Suzuki did just that.
The first goal of any game is massive, and even more so in a tight Game 7. After the way Andrei Vasilevskiy played in Game 6, it looked like it might be nearly impossible to beat him clean. Kaiden Guhle got a shot through that Suzuki expertly deflected, and it caught a bounce off J.J. Moser’s shin pad on the way in.
It doesn’t matter how it goes in. We saw plenty of examples over the last two games of pucks that somehow stayed out. Nobody is going to remember Suzuki’s quiet stretch earlier in the series after scoring a goal like that in an elimination game.
2- Simply Dobes
There’s no way to sugarcoat it, the Canadiens stole Game 7. A big reason why was Jakub Dobes. He was Montreal’s best player, and they needed him to be.
The only goal he allowed was a perfect deflection on the power play by Dominic James. Outside of that, he was outstanding. The ice was tilted in the second period, with Tampa controlling play while Montreal failed to register a single shot on goal. During that stretch, it felt like Dobes made save after save just to keep them alive.
One of the biggest questions coming into the series was whether Dobes could match a future Hall of Famer like Vasilevskiy. In this game, he absolutely did.
Montreal also got a few breaks. Alex Newhook banked in the game-winner off Vasilevskiy’s pants, and there were a couple of icings that didn’t go the full length of the ice one hitting a broken stick, another stopping inexplicably. Sometimes, that’s what it takes.
3- Montreal beat a great team and neutralized great players
Maybe they were a little fortunate to win Game 7 on the road, but Montreal earned their spot in Round 2. With this playoff format, a very good team was going home, and it ended up being Tampa Bay.
While Montreal’s top players took some criticism for their production, they did an equally strong job shutting down Tampa’s stars. Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point were held to one goal each, and Anthony Cirelli didn’t score and had only two points. More importantly, they were quiet in Game 7.
Meanwhile, Suzuki was on the ice for both Montreal goals, both at even strength. That’s the difference.
Hockey fans got a terrific series between two evenly matched teams. Every game was decided by one goal, with constant swings in momentum and emotion.
Now we’ll see what Montreal has in store for Round 2 against the Buffalo Sabres…but that was awesome.
