The Montreal Canadiens were on the edge of removal in the Stanley Cup Final on Monday against the Tampa Bay Lightning as they blew two leads in Game 4 and were burdened with a four-minute charge kill heading into overtime.Daunting for a lot of groups. Perfectly on brand for the Canadiens.”Nothing has actually been easy for all of us year. It wasnt going to begin this series,” veteran forward Brendan Gallagher said. “Weve kind of accepted the truth that its never going to be simple here.”Josh Anderson scored the game-winner less than four minutes into overtime– his 2nd goal of the night– as the Canadiens avoided ending up being the first string in 23 years to get swept in a Stanley Cup Final in a 3-2 win over the Lightning at the Bell Centre in Montreal. The success extended the series to Wednesdays Game 5 in Tampa, Florida. The Lightning, on the other hand, fell to 0-4 in overtime this postseason.2 Related”We didnt want to end it tonight in front of our fans,” Anderson said. “We anticipated to go to Tampa tomorrow. I believe everybody in that locker room did. [We] packed our bags this afternoon. Simply had that feeling that we were going to win tonight and provide ourselves an opportunity. Well go there, take care of organization and come home in front of our fans. Were in an excellent position now.”The Habs didnt appear to be well-positioned late, as captain Shea Webers high stick clipped Ondrej Palat with 61 seconds staying in regulation, which drew blood. That put Tampa Bay on a four-minute power play, which extended into overtime.But the Canadiens entered Game 4 having actually enabled just five power play goals in 53 opportunities (90.6% success rate) this postseason. They eliminated off all five Lightning power plays in regulation of Game 4.”Our penalty kill has actually been outstanding all playoffs,” Anderson said. “So we came back to the space and, we just thought in each other. We werent down, all favorable things in the room. We simply needed to carry out. I believed we did an extraordinary job.”Anderson likewise credited goaltender Carey Price for “being a wall back there,” stopping 32 shots. It marked Prices first profession win in the Stanley Cup Final in his 91st career postseason contest– which is connected for the second-most postseason games played by a goalie at the time of his very first Final win. This was the Price that Montreal was expecting; the 33-year-old was uncharacteristically shaky through the first three games of this series, enabling 13 goals on 79 shots (.835 save percentage), including a miserable.833 save percentage on low threat shots, according to Natural Stat Trick.After Game 3, Price said he could “certainly play better. Its simply not good enough up until now.” That triggered a reporter to ask Montreal coach Dominique Ducharme the unimaginable throughout the two-day pause between video games: Would he consider benching Price for backup Jake Allen?Ducharme was defiant, and on Monday restated his self-confidence in the 14-year pro. The coach stated he didnt need to state anything to Price to help re-instill self-confidence.”Nothing. Just a tap on the pads,” Ducharme stated. “Priceys got experience, hes a competitor. We desired to be better in front of him. He said what he said and he responded to the bell tonight.”Its been quite the roller-coaster season for the Canadiens. Coach Claude Julien was fired in February and replaced by Ducharme– though the Habs were down to their interim, interim coach for the start of the Stanley Cup Final, as Ducharme quarantined for 14 days following positive COVID-19 tests in the semifinal series. The Habs also experienced a COVID-19 pause throughout the season and had the most affordable winning portion of any of the 16 teams to certify for the playoffs.Montreal also fell back 3-1 in its first-round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs however clawed back to win it.”For me, its not unexpected,” Ducharme stated. “Weve been through a lot. Weve talked about it. Thats another difficulty that we have. Tonight we played hard; it was not perfect. We still feel we can be better. Well do that in Tampa. We will not go easy, thats for sure.”Ducharme made several bold lineup decisions in Game 4, all centered on discovering more speed. He bumped Anderson up to a line with Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki and scratched Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who has 5 objectives this postseason, in favor of Jake Evans. Ducharme placed defensemen Brett Kulak and Alexander Romanov back into the lineup– which likewise settled as Romanov scored the third-period objective that broke a 1-1 tie.The 21-year-old Romanov, an NHL rookie who signed with Montreal this season from the Kontinental Hockey League, had just played in two championship game prior to Monday– as soon as in the Winnipeg second-round series and once against Vegas in the semifinals. Before his goal, Romanov had only tallied one point since Feb. 25. Gallaghers initial point wasnt understated: the Canadiens havent made it simple on their own in this series. They didnt hold a lead at any point in this series up until Anderson scored with 4:21 left in the very first duration– a streak of 195:39 minutes either tied or trailing.Andersons objective offered the Habs a shock after another sluggish start on house ice. The Canadiens didnt get a shot on net in the first eight minutes of the very first duration, and Tampa Bay had a 25-8 lead in shot attempts by the very first intermission. The Lightning tied the rating in the second period, thanks to an objective from Barclay Goodrow. The objective followed a common theme for Tampa Bay in this series, as it came straight after Ryan McDonagh required a Jeff Petry turnover.When Pat Maroon scored for a 2-2 tie late in the 3rd duration, he was established by colleague Mathieu Joseph, who also required a turnover. It marked the 11th objective Tampa Bay has actually scored in this series within 10 seconds of a turnover, according to information from Sportlogiq.Had the Lightning won on Tuesday, it would have put them in uncommon business. The Canadiens have actually appeared in a record 35 Stanley Cup Finals, however just one checking out group (the 1989 Calgary Flames) clinched the Cup on Montreals house ice.Prior to the game, there was a minute of silence for Mattis Kivlenieks, the 24-year-old Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender who died on Sunday after suffering injuries from a July Fourth fireworks mishap.

The success extended the series to Wednesdays Game 5 in Tampa, Florida. That put Tampa Bay on a four-minute power play, which extended into overtime.But the Canadiens went into Game 4 having allowed simply five power play goals in 53 chances (90.6% success rate) this postseason. It marked Prices very first profession win in the Stanley Cup Final in his 91st profession postseason contest– which is tied for the second-most postseason games played by a goalie at the time of his first Final win. This was the Price that Montreal was anticipating; the 33-year-old was uncharacteristically unsteady through the very first three games of this series, enabling 13 objectives on 79 shots (.835 save percentage), consisting of a disappointing.833 save portion on low risk shots, according to Natural Stat Trick.After Game 3, Price said he could “certainly play much better. Ducharme placed defensemen Brett Kulak and Alexander Romanov back into the lineup– which also paid off as Romanov scored the third-period goal that broke a 1-1 tie.The 21-year-old Romanov, an NHL rookie who signed with Montreal this season from the Kontinental Hockey League, had actually only played in 2 playoff video games prior to Monday– once in the Winnipeg second-round series and when versus Vegas in the semifinals.