Lightning crushes the Canadiens and the Ducks blank the Flames. Recaps in your NHL Canadian Corner.
Steven Stamkos scores his first goal of the 2015 playoffs as the Lightning thump the Canadiens 6-2.
THE TAMPA TRIBUNE/MONTREAL GAZETTE: Steven Stamkos scored his first goal of the playoffs and collected two assists to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 6-2 beatdown of the Montreal Canadiens to take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven series. The Bolts went four-for-eight on the power play. Habs forward Brandon Prust, assessed 31 PIMs in this game, accused referee Brad Watson of provoking him.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: It’s the same story we saw throughout the regular season. The Canadiens have no answer for the Lightning’s speed and offensive depth. That leads to undisciplined play and costly penalties, which only makes their situation worse. As this series shifts to Tampa Bay for Games Three and Four this Wednesday and Thursday, it’s not enough for the Canadiens to win Game Three. They must win both games in Tampa Bay to have a shot at winning this series. If they lose Game Three, this series will be pretty much over as I don’t believe the Canadiens can overcome a 3-0 series deficit. As for Prust, his remarks could land him in hot water with the league. He could face a fine, suspension or both.
LOS ANGELES TIMES/CALGARY HERALD: Despite a solid performance by Calgary Flames goalie Karri Ramos (31 saves) and a better effort from his teammates, the Anaheim Ducks still marched to a 3-0 victory to take a 2-0 series lead. Ducks netminder Frederik Anderson made 30 stops for his first playoff shutout, Hampus Lindholm tallied his first postseason goal while Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf each collected two assists. The Ducks have yet to lose a game in this year’s playoffs.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Flames are known as the Cardiac Kids for their ability to rally back from deficits, but I doubt they can counter the Ducks’ depth and experience. While the Flames will try to draw energy from their fans in Calgary for Games Three and Four, it may not be enough. Like the Canadiens, the Flames must win Games Three and Four to have a realistic shot at winning this series.
Sooo their gaa is now just over 2 and the Habs are .500, top 6 and the special teams has to get their act together, not going to go thru the playoffs winning 16 games 2 -1 even with great goaltending. Not against teams like Tampa Bay, Washington or the Rangers, let alone the teams in the west. When Torrey Mitchell is your top forward your in trouble.
The worst thing about the Habs is their stick work. They slash, hack and crosscheck all over the ice. Prust went from spearing Ottawa’s Anderson to this. Perhaps if montreal sticks to playing hockey and use their sticks for the intended purpose of their design they may claw their way back in this series. But seriously despite playing pretty well in that game they tossed it all away with acts of stupidity. Then go crying about the refs.
Ehh I guess first period was good but after that?…it just seems like the third and 4th lines get a bit of momentum going then the top 2 lines sputter, Corey Perry has the same ammount of points as the habs top 6 combined. Who knows not like Stamkos was tearing things up before last night, they could still turn it around, but I agree with Lyle that game on Weds is not only a must win they need to do it convincingly to get some confidence going in to game 4.
So Prust according to reports is not suspended. For such an egregious violition of the rules regarding commenting on officiating I find it rather surprising.
Does this mean Watson is guilty of the accusations directed towards him?
Doubtful the NHL would divulge if the official was out of line. The only way one might be adle to tell would be to see if Watson is not assigned to games in the future.
lets be honest the series should be tied habs really outplayed tb in the first game if not for an offside the was called onside in ot! and jeff I like how you say the habs are whining to the ref when your gm was trying to get pk suspended while stone was still playing and faking an injury! as far as prust spearing Anderson you should really watch that play again and watch Anderson hack prust in the ribs to start the whole play
Prust was probably right but then again so was Burrows and he’s still paying the price even though Auger is long gone. the time has come for some accountability from the on ice officials they make some brutal calls and never have to answer for them or the ones they miss. perhaps the way to go is to mic up the refs 100% of the time so there is a record of what they say that can be referred to instead of this he said, he said mess.