The Tampa Bay Lightning had a 1-0 lead in the series against the Montreal Canadiens going into game 2 on Sunday at the Belle Centre and boy oh boy did they unleash a flurry. Stamkos scored his first goal of the playoffs, Ben Bishop made a number of great saves including deflecting Torrey Mitchell’s attempt at a shorthanded goal late in the 1st period, and the team finished the game with four power-play goals to quell an 0-for-23 power-play drought.
During a conference call Monday, Coach Jon Cooper expounded on the start to this series: “I wasn’t sure how we were going to come out of game one. Is it better to have rest or jump back into it? As it turned out, it was best to keep playing … it is good to rest the body and rest the mind and I’m glad we’ve got this extra day in between.” The team had a much-needed day off today and will be right back at it at their 11 a.m. practice tomorrow morning.
It’s too early to say that the Canadiens are done, but this kind of beating on home ice is a disastrous start to the second round of playoffs. They have a lot of work to do if they think they stand a chance against the Lightning.
This article appears in Apr 30 – May 6, 2015.
