MONTREAL — Jon Cooper called it a battle between two of the league’s top teams.
The first instalment between his Tampa Bay Lightning and the Montreal Canadiens looked like a potential preview of what could be the third meeting in four post-seasons for the two clubs.
If his prophecy comes true, hold on to your hats.
These teams run four lines deep, they feature prolific defencemen, two of the NHL’s best goaltenders, and games between them are typically played at a breakneck pace.
If you want an indication of how much respect both teams have for one another, look no further than the comments made by both their captains Thursday.
Lightning captain Steven Stamkos had no reservation about calling the Canadiens a contender before his team lost 3-1 at the Bell Centre.
Montreal captain Max Pacioretty responded by calling Tampa Bay a unique team.
“I’m sure that when they have success they tend to catch teams trying to do what they do, and not many teams have the skill, especially up front, to make the plays that they make,” said Pacioretty.
Who would argue with that? Forwards like Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov, Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat, and Alex Killorn who scored his team-leading sixth goal in Thursday’s contest, have made the Lightning a must-watch.
With a Stanley Cup Final appearance in 2015 and a seven-game loss to the Cup-winning Pittsburgh Penguins in last year’s Eastern Conference Final, the Lightning have emerged as a juggernaut.
General manager Steve Yzerman managed to keep the band together with shrewd off-season signings of Stamkos, Kucherov and defenceman Victor Hedman, and they played themselves to a 5-1-0 start to the 2016-17 campaign before dropping Thursday’s game to Montreal.
It’s no wonder Canadiens forward Alex Galchenyuk said that if his team is going to live up to the billing of its 7-0-1 start, it’s going to have to measure up to the standard set by Tampa Bay.
“They’re definitely the fastest and the most skilled,” said Galchenyuk.
Linemate Brendan Gallagher conceded that the key to his team’s 3-2 win over the New York Islanders Wednesday night was not looking ahead to the challenge of facing the Lightning Thursday.
It took a full-team effort for the Canadiens to overcome a 1-0 deficit after 40 minutes.
“We do it through rolling four lines,” said Pacioretty, who scored the winner with just over nine minutes remaining in the third period. “Tonight, we didn’t have all the energy in the world and we weren’t perfect, but it was a good example of how a team should play and stand together.”
The Canadiens stifled the Lightning through the first period, limiting them to four shots on net. They didn’t wilt in the second, when Killorn scored the game’s first goal and his teammates poured on the pressure to outshoot Montreal 13-8 in the frame.
And after Canadiens goaltender Carey Price came up with a big save — one of 30 he made on the night — to preserve his team’s perfect record on the penalty kill at home, Galchenyuk’s power-play goal six minutes into the third period gave them a second wind.
It took everything Montreal had to lock this one down. Coach Michel Therrien was in full blender mode, shaking up his lines like he was making a Long Island iced tea. And it wasn’t until fourth-liner Torrey Mitchell scored an empty-net goal with 44 seconds remaining that the players on their bench could relax.
The Canadiens will have 26 games to play before traveling to Tampa Bay for another measuring-stick game on Dec. 28. Two April matchups between the divisional foes could very well determine how things shake out in the Atlantic.
As Stamkos said Thursday morning, a lot can happen between now and then. But the prospect of another playoff series between these teams is an exciting one to consider — even as the season’s opening month draws to a close.
