Canadiens vs Lightning Round 2, Game 6 Preview

One way or the other, the Montreal Canadiens are playing their last game in Tampa Bay this season when the Lightning host Game 6 Tuesday night. The game starts at 7:30 and airs on CBC and TVA Sports.

Match Up

The Habs are down 3-2 in their second round series with a must-win Game 6 to play on the road. As bad as that sounds, it’s still a lot better than where they were after Game 3. The Canadiens have out-shot the Lightning in all five games so far this series but that’s only paid off in the last two.

What to Watch

Canadiens: Both Devante Smith-Pelly and P.A. Parenteau scored their first goals of the playoffs in Saturday’s 2-1 win. That only leaves Jacob De La Rose as the last Canadiens forward that hasn’t scored yet in these playoffs.



Lightning: Steven Stamkos scored his second goal of the series in Saturday’s game, a bad sign for the Habs although they’ve done a good job containing the league’s second best scorer of the season. They’ve also held Tyler Johnson, the leading goal scorer this far in the playoffs, to just two goals in five games. For the Habs to have any chance at coming back in this series they’ll need to keep those two contained in Game 6.

What’s at Stake

The Canadiens are still in a do-or-die situation, but the stakes are high for the Lightning as well in Game 6. A win for Tampa ends the series and the Canadiens’ Stanley Cup hopes, but a win for the Habs forces Game 7 back in Montreal and shifts the balance of power back to the Canadiens.

Who’s Out

Alexei Emelin was briefly knocked out of Saturday’s game but should be able to play on Tuesday. Aside from that the Habs are healthy.

According to Erik Erlendsson of the Tampa Tribune, Ryan Callahan underwent an emergency appendectomy and is out indefinitely:

BREAKING: story on #tblightning Callahan out indefinitely after emergency appendectomy https://t.co/x16NwzJxh3 via @tbocom — Erik Erlendsson (@erlendssonTBO) May 12, 2015

What Else

As far as the Canadiens go, the magic number so far in the playoffs has been: 2.

In 11 Habs games since the playoffs started, the first team to score the second goal has gone on to win. That held true through five games against the Senators – the other ended 1-0 – and it’s held true through the first five games between the Habs and Lightning.