The Montreal Canadiens return home for Game 3 of their best-of-seven series against the Tampa Bay Lightning and have a chance to maintain the home-ice advantage they claimed in the opening game of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal.
Both of the games in Tampa went to overtime, with each team taking one. After the Canadiens won 4-3 on Sunday, the Lightning rebounded with a 3-2 win Tuesday.
Montreal led Tuesday’s game 2-1 before Nikita Kucherov tied the score with 7:27 remaining in regulation. J.J. Moser won it with his first goal of the postseason with 7:12 left in the first overtime.
Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis told reporters Thursday that Montreal was in command until the last 10 minutes of the third period.
“We controlled a lot of that game,” he said. “We just lost our way.”
After Juraj Slafkovsky scored a hat trick in the series-opening victory for Montreal, his teammates on the top line, Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki, added assists on Lane Hutson’s power-play goal in Game 2.
Through the first two games, Caufield and Suzuki have three assists each.
Caufield, who led the Canadiens with 51 goals in the regular season, told reporters that he expects more. He believes that’s possible, adding that while there may not be many opportunities, he and his line must be ready to pounce when they arise.
“We want more, and that’s what we’re going to do,” said Caufield, 25, who has improved on his goal totals in each of his five full seasons with the Habs. “We’re going to build off the energy of playing here and being excited for that. It’s a fun time of the year to play, and obviously it’s back to zero-zero.”
As the Lightning travel to Montreal, they are expected to have defensemen Charle-Edouard D’Astous and Victor Hedman be with the squad. However, it’s still uncertain whether D’Astous, who is out with an undisclosed injury, or Hedman, who has been on leave for a month, will return to the lineup.
Hedman, the team’s captain and 17-year veteran, played in a career-low 33 games this season with 16 of his 17 points coming on assists. The 35-year-old has been an effective offensive player for most of his career and played a key role on Tampa Bay’s power play.
His absence for most of this season has opened the door for Darren Raddysh to augment his role with the Lightning. In his third full season, the Toronto native, 30, posted personal highs with 22 goals and 48 assists. His 70 points equaled his total from the past two seasons.
The boost in offense did not necessarily come as a surprise to Lightning coach Jon Cooper, who told reporters Thursday that he remembered Raddysh once led the AHL in scoring around Christmas.
“He’s had that part to him,” the coach said about Raddysh, who scored a goal in Game 1. “He just had to find his niche.
“The spot opening up on the power play for him has helped, but that’s all playing time, confidence, having success, knowing what you can do. It took him a little bit of time to figure all that stuff out, and then it took a coach that finally clued in and played him more.”
