Canadiens vs. Lightning Stanley Cup Final Game 4: Game thread, rosters, lines, and how to watch

2021 Stanley Cup Final Game 4

Montreal Canadiens vs. Tampa Bay Lightning
TBL leads 3-0

How to watch

Start time: 8:00 PM EDT / 5:00 PM PDT
In Canada: CBC, Sportsnet (English), TVA Sports (French)
In the U.S.: NBC
Streaming: NHL.tv/NHL Live, Sportsnet Now

Facing a must-win situation, Dominique Ducharme has gone deep into his list of reserves for Game 4. In come defencemen Brett Kulak and Alexander Romanov (the latter for just his third post-season game), and Jake Evans at forward. Out go Jon Merrill and Erik Gustafsson, two players who played very limited minutes with just as limited roles, and also Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who is now in the press box once again, despite being tied for second in playoff goals on the team.

We will see the return of a familiar Paul Byron – Evans – Artturi Lehkonen trio, which was ultimately what spilled Kotkaniemi from the formation. Ducharme will hope they can be as effective as they were at the end of the regular season and use a high-tempo cycle game to create some offence.

The Canadiens need goals, and they also need Carey Price to hold them in it long enough to make them stand up. The Lightning are proving to be just as tough as advertised, and anything less than perfect execution from the new Habs alignment will have the Stanley Cup presented to the opposing team on Bell Centre ice tonight.

Montreal Canadiens projected lineup

Forwards

Defencemen

Goaltenders

Scratches

F: Alex Belzile, Laurent Dauphin, Michael Frolik, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Tomas Tatar, Lukas Vejdemo, Jesse Ylönen
D: Cale Fleury, Erik Gustafsson, Jon Merrill, Xavier Ouellet,
G: Charlie Lindgren, Michael McNiven, Cayden Primeau

Injured/Ill

F: Jonathan Drouin (leave of absence)

Tampa Bay Lightning projected lineup

Forwards

Defencemen

Goaltenders