{"id":634942,"date":"2026-04-28T21:20:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T21:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/634942\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T21:20:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T21:20:10","slug":"six-things-to-watch-as-canadiens-lightning-series-becomes-best-of-three","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/634942\/","title":{"rendered":"Six things to watch as Canadiens-Lightning series becomes best-of-three"},"content":{"rendered":"

MONTREAL \u2014 The Montreal Canadiens<\/a> and Tampa Bay Lightning<\/a> are all square as their playoff series returns to the Sunshine State for Game 5 on Wednesday<\/p>\n

Tampa Bay rallied for a 3-2 comeback Sunday night in Montreal, tying the first-round matchup at two games apiece after the first three meetings needed overtime.<\/p>\n

Here are six things to watch for as the series becomes a best-of-three:<\/p>\n

SLIM MARGINS<\/p>\n

You\u2019d be hard-pressed to find a more evenly matched series after both teams finished the regular season with 106 points. The Canadiens and Lightning were minutes away from becoming just the third matchup in NHL history to open with four straight overtime games before Brandon Hagel<\/a> scored the Game 4 winner with 4:53 remaining in regulation.<\/p>\n

The teams are tied with 11 goals apiece, and the Lightning hold a slim 94-93 edge in shots on goal through four games. Each side has also taken 34 penalties. Montreal owns an advantage in the faceoff dot (54.9 per cent) and on special teams, with its power play running at 26.3 per cent compared to Tampa Bay\u2019s 20.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could be down or we could be up 3-1,\u201d Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki<\/a> told reporters in Brossard, Que., on Tuesday. \u201cIt\u2019s been tight every single game.\u201d<\/p>\n

TOP SIX TROUBLES<\/p>\n

The Canadiens have kept pace despite getting no 5-on-5 production from their top players. The top line of Suzuki, Cole Caufield<\/a> and Juraj Slafkovsky has yet to record an even-strength point in the series after combining for 161 in the regular season. They\u2019ve also been on the wrong side of their matchup, surrendering four goals while on the ice, including Hagel\u2019s Game 4 winner.<\/p>\n

The second line of Ivan Demidov<\/a>, Oliver Kapanen<\/a> and Alex Newhook<\/a> hasn\u2019t fared any better, also held off the scoresheet at 5-on-5 while generating little offensively. Could coach Martin St. Louis have changes in store? Slafkovsky spent a significant chunk of the season on the second line, building a strong chemistry with Demidov. Kapanen, meanwhile, played a team-low 7:32 on Sunday.<\/p>\n

KUCHEROV UNLOCKED?<\/p>\n

Faced with a similar issue, Lightning coach Jon Cooper moved red-hot Hagel onto the top line with muted stars Nikita Kucherov<\/a> and Brayden Point<\/a> in search of a spark in Game 4. Kucherov, a Hart Trophy candidate after a 130-point season, made a heads-up play on the winner, firing a deceptive one-timer from the half wall with Hagel planted at the top of the crease. He also set up Hagel\u2019s power-play equalizer early in the third period.<\/p>\n

TURNING POINT?<\/p>\n

The Lightning trailed 2-0 in Game 4 when depth defenceman Max Crozier<\/a> delivered a devastating centre-ice hit on Slafkovsky late in the second to turn the tide. Jake Guentzel<\/a> then scored with 54 seconds left in the period before Hagel\u2019s double in the third. A clear turning point in the game, the Canadiens were determined not to let it become the marquee moment of the series.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you let that moment define the series, you\u2019re putting yourself in a bad spot,\u201d St. Louis said. \u201cDon\u2019t let moments like that define it. Rewrite it.\u201d<\/p>\n

GOALIE BATTLE<\/p>\n

Much like the series itself, it\u2019s youth versus experience in the crease and so far there\u2019s little separating the two netminders. Rookie goalie Jakub Dobes<\/a> has a .883 save percentage and 2.60 goals-against average for Montreal, compared to .882 and 2.58 for future Hall of Famer Andrei Vasilevskiy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

DOBSON SKATES<\/p>\n

Canadiens defenceman Noah Dobson<\/a> is back skating, seen passing with partner Mike Matheson<\/a> and even shooting the puck Tuesday morning before practice. Dobson has travelled with the team these playoffs but has yet to play after blocking a shot with his left hand on April 11. The right-shot blueliner registered 12 goals and 35 assists in 80 games while averaging the third-highest ice time on the team this season<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 28, 2026.<\/p>\n

Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MONTREAL \u2014 The Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning are all square as their playoff series returns to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":634943,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[49,48,2338,82],"class_list":["post-634942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-montreal","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/634943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}