2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs – Eastern Conference QFs
Game 2: Montreal Canadiens (A3) @ Tampa Bay Lightning (A2)
MTL leads series 1-0
Start time: 7:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM PDT
In Canada: CBC, Sportsnet (English), TVA Sports (French)
In the United States: ESPN2
In the Lightning region: The Spot
Streaming: ESPN+, Sportsnet+
The Montreal Canadiens didn’t have much luck with broken sticks during the regular season. Their fortunes didn’t suddenly change when the post-season began on Sunday, as first Jake Evans’s stick broke while killing a penalty to allow a one-timer from Darren Raddysh that he had been doing well to prevent, then a one-handed tap from Zachary Bolduc snapped the top eight inches off the stick of J.J. Moser, setting up the second power-play goal for the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Canadiens otherwise locked things down fairly tightly versus the host team in Game 1. They allowed just one high-danger chance in the 43:08 of five-on-five time in the game; the goal that came 29 seconds after the Raddysh’s slapshot. The Habs were the far superior team in the final two periods despite getting outscored in the middle frame, and they deserved to take the win in Game 1.
The most encouraging aspect was that Montreal’s own power play came to life after a slow end to the season. Not only did that allow the Habs outscore Tampa Bay in the special teams department, it will act as a deterrent to the aggressive style the Lightning have tried to use versus Montreal in the three meetings over the past few weeks. Unable to really punish those tactics in the final two meetings in the regular season, going a combined one-for-10 in those contests, the power play came through in a big way with three goals on Sunday. In his post-game availability, Jon Cooper used the word “stupidity” to describe his team’s discipline issues, stressing the need to adjust for Game 2, and forcing a team to think about how it approaches each physical interaction will only be good news for the Canadiens.
Tale of the Tape
| Canadiens | Statistics | Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| 62.7% | Expected-goal share | 37.3% |
| 4.00 | Goals per game | 3.00 |
| 3.00 | Goals against per game | 4.00 |
| 60.0% | PP% | 40.0% |
| 60.0% | PK% | 40.0% |
| Juraj Slafkovský (3) | Most goals | Brandon Hagel (2) |
| Suzuki/Caufield (2) | Most assists | Jake Guentzel (3) |
| Juraj Slafkovský (3) | Most points | Jake Guentzel (3) |
A big factor in the power play’s success was Nick Suzuki’s work in the faceoff dot. He had been above 50% overall during the regular season and improved from the start of the year, but on the power play his efficiency was just 49.7%. On Sunday night, he won six of the eight faceoffs he took, giving the team possession in the offensive zone without needing to execute an entry.
There isn’t a great deal that needs to be changed on Montreal’s side of things, so it’s unlikely any lineup changes are in store for tonight. The only real question mark going in was Alexandre Texier and how effective he could be in the playoffs, and he ended up as one of the top forwards by expected-goal share at 64.4%. The leader in that category was Zachary Bolduc at a whopping 91.6% as he and the third line handled their matchup versus Tampa Bay’s depth easily. He carried the play he was showing at the end of the regular season directly into the playoffs, and could become a source of secondary offence as the Lightning have to deploy their best defenders versus the Suzuki trio.
Of all the players who gave the Lightning fits on Sunday, Lane Hutson may have been the cause of the most frustration. They thought they could run at him and neutralize his game; he ended up playing a game-high 29:00, over 18 minutes of that at five-on-five, and helped to create four of Montreal’s eight high-danger chances. The only blemish on his report card was a misplayed puck that banked off the side of the net to set up the Lightning’s second goal. He enjoyed a 7-3 edge is scoring chances while he was on the ice, and maintained his point-per-game playoff average with an assist on Slafkovský’s overtime winner.
The Canadiens were already confident going into the series given how they finished the season and after beating the Lightning a couple of times leading up to the playoffs. Now with a 1-0 lead, they should be feeling even better about their chances. Home-ice advantage is already theirs, just needing to win their games at the Bell Centre to secure the series, but they would add another 10 decibels to their on-ice welcome if they can replicate Sunday’s performance and head back to Montreal with two wins on the board.
