The Montreal Canadiens defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 in additional time in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final Monday night because of Josh Anderson’s game-winner.
Anderson was the bookend in Monday night’s crucial victory, putting the Habs on the load up first and finishing off the game with a jumping objective only four minutes into additional time.
“We understood the hole that we were in, but we just kind of talked about it: Find a way to win one game here,” Canadiens assistant captain Brendan Gallagher said after the game. “(Anderson) stepped up and scored a couple of big goals for us. It’s going to be the same thing next game.”
Montreal at first battled to discover their balance right off the bat in the first period, overseeing just a single shot on goal in the first eight minutes yet Anderson immediately changed the speed of the game in the wake of covering the puck toward the rear of the net off a pass from Nick Suzuki 15:39 in.
Anderson’s goal marked the first run through Montreal has scored first in the series.
Goaltender Carey Price additionally shined in the principal period stopping 11 goals, enhancing his performance in Game 3 where he permitted five objectives in 29 shots.
The subsequent period started with a 4-on-4 after Patrick Maroon and Joel Edmundson were both evaluated unsportsmanlike direct minors in the wake of getting into it toward the finish of the first.
The Canadiens kept their energy going to begin the subsequent period, keeping pressure in Tampa’s zone. The Habs got a few opportunities on the powerplay and improved occupation of killing off Tampa’s powerplay partially through the period.
The Canadiens worked effectively of restricting the Lightning’s odds in the zone yet star defenseman Ryan McDonagh immediately changed that with a course book no-look pass to Barclay Goodrow in the space to set things straight 1-1 preceding the third period.
Things were heating up in the third time frame with the two groups feeling the pressure. Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy saw the most action of the game in the third yet was beat by defenseman Alexander Romanov who nailed one in from the highlight keep the Habs bursting at the seams with slightly more than eight mins in.
It was looking grim for Tampa Bay however an exorbitant turnover in the nonpartisan zone permitted Mathieu Joseph to set up Maroon who beat a loosened up Price, binds it up 2-2 with only six minutes left in regulation.
Shea Weber had another exorbitant slip-up for the Canadiens subsequent to getting evaluated a twofold minor for high-staying directly off the faceoff with only 61 seconds left in guideline.
Montreal would begin additional time a man down for just shy of three minutes however the Habs effectively killed off another strategic maneuver. Back at even strength, Anderson drove the puck into Tampa’s zone and passed to Cole Caufield before the net. Vasilevskiy would make a save yet Anderson got the bounce back and dove at the net to score his second objective of the evening.
“Sometimes you play pretty good and it’s a break here, a break there that just doesn’t go your way. You just go to keep working through it,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “No hanging our heads but I liked a lot of things we did tonight.”
Montreal tried not to turn into the main group to get cleared in the Stanley Cup Finals since 1989 when the Detriot Red Wings crushed the Washington Capitals 4-0 to win the Cup for the second year straight.
Tampa Bay will play Game 5 at home on Wednesday and is hoping to join the tip top gathering of NHL groups to win consecutive Stanley Cups. The Lightning would turn into the ninth group to do as such and simply the subsequent group to do it in the salary-cap era, which started in 2005.
The Canadiens should win the following three matches to dominate the franchise’s 25th Stanley Cup. The only team to at any point win the Cup in the wake of getting going the series 0-3 was the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs.
