{"id":638098,"date":"2026-04-30T07:24:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T07:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/638098\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T07:24:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T07:24:12","slug":"from-tsn-690-three-takeaways-from-game-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/638098\/","title":{"rendered":"From TSN 690 \u2013 Three Takeaways from Game 5"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here are my three takeaways from Wednesday\u2019s 3-2 Montreal Canadiens<\/a> win over the Tampa Bay Lightning<\/a> in Game 5.<\/p>\n

1- Gallagher gets Habs going<\/p>\n

Sometimes the story writes itself, and the most predictable thing about Wednesday\u2019s game was that Brendan Gallagher<\/a> was going to score. Time and time again, Martin St. Louis has pushed the right buttons, and inserting Montreal\u2019s most experienced playoff player into the lineup for the first time since the final game of the season paid off immediately.<\/p>\n

On his first shift, on his first shot, Gallagher cleaned up the garbage in front of the net, something he\u2019s made a career out of. The longtime Canadien may be on the back nine of his career, but that doesn\u2019t mean he can\u2019t still be valuable to a young team.<\/p>\n

He may not have the same pace or speed he once did, but you know exactly what you\u2019re going to get. He\u2019s tenacious, difficult to play against, and gives absolutely everything he has. It\u2019s hard not to feel good seeing him rewarded with a big goal.<\/p>\n

2- Matheson misplays<\/p>\n

Mike Matheson<\/a> had a shift similar to the one Kirby Dach<\/a> had in overtime in Game 3, where multiple mistakes led to a goal against. The final error was an attempted shot that simply can\u2019t miss the net, something every player is taught at a young age.<\/p>\n

The chances of beating Andrei Vasilevskiy<\/a> clean from that spot were already slim, and missing the net turns it into an automatic breakout the other way. Not only that, but the Canadiens had the lead and were in control, with Tampa\u2019s top players on the ice. That\u2019s a moment where the clich\u00e9 applies, get pucks deep and manage the situation.<\/p>\n

Instead, Jake Guentzel<\/a>, who leads the series in points, beats Jakub Dobes<\/a> five-hole and gives the Lightning life heading into the third period yet again. Matheson has been logging heavy minutes, and it\u2019s starting to show. He\u2019s incredibly valuable to this blue line, but no one will benefit more from the return of Noah Dobson<\/a> than him.<\/p>\n

3- Lane Hutson has been Montreal\u2019s best player<\/p>\n

Tampa Bay\u2019s top players have delivered. Montreal\u2019s have been quieter, with the exception of Lane Hutson<\/a>, who has clearly been their best player through five games.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s been excellent defensively, an area of his game that often gets overlooked, and it\u2019s fair to say Tampa\u2019s top players don\u2019t find him easy to play against. But his biggest impact comes offensively, especially in key moments.<\/p>\n

In Game 3, it was the overtime winner with a booming slap shot. Tonight, it was a perfectly executed stretch pass, using his eyes as deception to spring Alexandre Texier<\/a> in full flight, who slips it past Vasilevskiy for the winner.<\/p>\n

Hutson\u2019s size will always be a talking point, and until he proves it over a long playoff run, people will question whether he can hold up. But so far, he\u2019s answered every challenge. There\u2019s no reason to think that will stop now.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s now on a five-game point streak, and what\u2019s most impressive is that he\u2019s doing in the playoffs exactly what he did in the regular season, in games that are much harder to play.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here are my three takeaways from Wednesday\u2019s 3-2 Montreal Canadiens win over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":638099,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[712,238136,43,81619,139415,78846,44,95645,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-638098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-apple-news","tag-brendan-gallagher-sports-hockey-player-player-nhl-api-8475848","tag-headlines","tag-lane-hutson-sports-hockey-player-player-nhl-api-8483457","tag-mike-matheson-sports-hockey-player-player-nhl-api-8476875","tag-montreal-canadiens-sports-hockey-team-team-nhl-api-8","tag-news","tag-tampa-bay-lightning-sports-hockey-team-team-nhl-api-14","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638098","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=638098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/638099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}