Canadiens Highlights: Young Habs Find A Way To Win

The first-year player performed with aplomb, all things considered.

The Other Shoe Drops

Dobes deserved full marks for holding the fort, but the Lightning eventually broke through, a situation that was fairly predictable considering they were the only team that seemed interested in taking shots in the second period.

In fact, it was the first time in Canadiens postseason history that they failed to register a single shot in a period, far from the ideal time to start setting that type of franchise record.

Adversity On The Menu

With everything on the line, the game came down to the final 20 minutes of the series, overtime notwithstanding.

It was a key test of whether the Canadiens were truly built differently — a team that thrived only after facing adversity — or a franchise that repeatedly fumbled series leads and failed to perform when it mattered most.

In a desperate bid to generate any semblance of offence, head coach Martin St-Louis threw his lines into the blender, placing Ivan Demidov alongside Suzuki and Slafkovsky on the top line.

The change did lead to a considerable uptick in offensive-zone pressure from the Habs, but it did not necessarily yield an abundance of shots.

To give you an idea of how few and far between the shots on net were, Suzuki’s shot five minutes into the third period was actually Montreal’s first since he scored in the first period, over 25 minutes of play.

Do You Believe In Statistically Improbable Results?

With the Canadiens finally starting to regain some of the momentum, speedy forward Alex Newhook put his hand-eye coordination to good use, swatting a puck out of midair before banking it off Andrei Vasilevskiy.

It was a fantastic feat of skill from Newhook, a heartbreaking scenario for the Lightning, and yet another excellent play while facing adversity from the Habs. Oh, and it was also enough to secure the underdog series win versus Tampa Bay.

All Montreal Canadiens statistics are 5v5 unless otherwise noted, via Natural Stat Trick.

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