The Montreal Canadiens held an optional morning skate Sunday ahead of Game 2 of their Stanley Cup Playoff series with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Tomas Plekanec and P.K. Subban elected not to participate.
Game 1 was a tight checking affair that featured premiere goaltending on both ends.
It ended 2-1 in double overtime, when Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov beat Vezina and Hart Trophy candidate Carey Price glove side 2:06 into the final frame.
After not being able to outshoot the Lightning in any of their five regular season contests, the Canadiens managed to turn the tables in Game 1, outshooting Tampa 44-33.
“We were able to generate 29 scoring chances [Friday],” said Canadiens coach Michel Therrien after the morning skate, pointing to the fact as a positive to take into Sunday’s Game 2.
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“You never get mad at yourself for not scoring,” said Brendan Gallagher. “Obviously, individually you want to bear down but the most important thing is the opportunities are there. If you continue to get the opportunities—I’ve said it all year, even when I was going through slumps—when the opportunities are there it’s going to turn around and pucks will start to go in.”
But pucks haven’t been going in for Gallagher or for the Canadiens in these playoffs. Montreal’s diminutive sparkplug scored one goal in the first round against the Ottawa Senators, and he was kept off the scoreboard against the Lightning in Game 1 despite several quality scoring chances including one where he managed to get a puck partially over the goal line on a first-period power play.
The Canadiens have accumulated the least amount of goals of any of the remaining teams in the post-season. In spite of that, the team is only focused on scoring one more goal than the Lightning in Game 2 and Therrien wasn’t willing to qualify it as a must-win.
“It’s an important game, there’s no doubt about that,” said Michel Therrien. “Our philosophy hasn’t changed; we take one game at a time, and our focus is about tonight.”
Therrien confirmed no lineup changes will be made for Game 2, set for 6pm EST on CBC.
Lines:
Max Pacioretty-Tomas Plekanec-Brendan Gallagher
Alex Galchenyuk-David Desharnais-Dale Weise
Brandon Prust-Lars Eller-Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau
Jacob De La Rose-Torrey Mitchell-Devante Smith-Pelly
Andrei Markov-P.K. Subban
Alexei Emelin-Jeff Petry
Tom Gilbert-Greg Pateryn
Carey Price
Dustin Tokarski
