(Tampa) There is no moral victory in hockey, or anywhere else, but the Canadiens’ loss on Tuesday night in Tampa looks a bit like this.
On the official game sheet, there were several names that were not there when this team was in the final in the same place. There were two players who were in their first game at the top level. There were a lot of players who normally wouldn’t have been here, but somewhere in the American League.
Despite everything, the Canadian was able to go to overtime, collect a point and lose by the mark of 5-4 against the Lightning.
Of course, the Tampa club have their own challenges – both goalies are subject to COVID-19 protocol, among others – but the Canadian had Corey Schueneman, Sami Niku, Kale Clague (he scored!) and Brett Kulaks.
In such circumstances, losing to Tampa by a single goal is not too embarrassing.
We were able to offer good competition throughout the evening. We came back from behind in the third period. We fought. That’s the kind of effort we wanted to give, that’s for sure.
Dominique Ducharme, head coach of the Canadiens
In this kind of season, where the boat sinks almost every day, it is important to be able to hang on to something, often to the potential of the youngest. Tuesday night’s game will have served at least that.
First with Rafaël Harvey-Pinard. Undoubtedly inspired by the successes of his sister, this young man is in the process of building his own successes. We had already noticed his penchant for going to the net, his side “little Gallagher”, if that is possible, and Tuesday night, it is precisely this quality which allowed him to obtain his first goal in the NHL.
PHOTO CHRIS O’MEARA, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sami Niku (15) and Rafaël Harvey-Pinard (49)
“I’m very happy with my goal, it’s an incredible feeling,” he admitted late in the evening. I would have liked to finish with the victory, I would have slept even better with a victory at the end of the match …
“In the first half there was stress, I was a little less confident with the puck. After the first period, the stress is just gone. It started to go better for me, for our trio in general too. We created a lot of scoring chances in the opposing zone, we put a lot of pressure on their defenders. In general, I’m still happy with our game. ”
Harvey-Pinard is one of those young people who should be able to stay a little longer, COVID-19 or not. With him, others also took advantage of this Tuesday night in Tampa to stand out, including Michael Pezzetta and Lukas Vejdemo, who scored the second goal of his career in the NHL.
Did the Canadian deserve better? Without a doubt. It’s not our kind of blaming the refs, which we won’t do here, but hey, sometimes there are bad decisions that are made, and often those bad decisions hurt bad teams. It is the wheel of bad luck that keeps spinning.
Should Brendan Gallagher’s goal have counted? Probably. But even worse, Steven Stamkos tripped Jake Evans in overtime, which led to a surplus in favor of the Lightning. In any serious league, that’s a penalty, but hey, there are times when the words NHL and “serious league” don’t go together very well.
It was one of those times.
“It’s sure to be disappointing to end the game like that,” noted David Savard. The young people got on board and they played extremely well. Everyone looked comfortable on the rink, it was fun to see. ”
It was fun to see, indeed. For fans of the Canadiens, that’s probably all that matters. Because that’s all that’s left.
In details
Good evening for Montembeault
PHOTO CHRIS O’MEARA, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Samuel Montembeault
In front of the Canadiens net Tuesday night, Samuel Montembeault was in charge of repelling the Lightning’s shots. The Quebec goaltender, who was making his first start since November 26, did the job very well, receiving 37 shots and having to make several very solid saves. At the end of the game, after Corey Perry’s equalizing goal with only 20 seconds to go, the Quebec goalkeeper was caught by the cameras uttering a curse that rhyme with Fernand Gignac. “He played extremely well tonight,” David Savard said of him. I think he was our best player on the ice. He made some big saves on the power play, on two breakaways as well. It’s really disappointing not being able to go for the win for him. ”
A first start this season for Lagacé
PHOTO CHRIS O’MEARA, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Maxime Lagacé (33) makes a save behind Ryan Poehling (25)
It’s not just with the Canadian where things fall like flies. It’s a bit the same with the Tampa Bay Lightning as well. Thus, the champions had to start the day on Tuesday without their two goalkeepers, who left on the COVID-19 protocol, and faced with this state of affairs, it was Quebec goalkeeper Maxime Lagacé who was called in as reinforcement. Lagacé was on his first NHL net start since May 8, when he was a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins. In the end, he collected his first win of the season facing 31 shots, and he delivered a performance that could, perhaps, reopen the doors to the NHL for him.
Byron coming soon, Smith-Pelly under contract
PHOTO BERNARD BRAULT, PRESS ARCHIVES
Paul byron
In the health department, and in all departments to be quite honest, there hasn’t often been good news for the Canadiens since the start of the season. But here’s one, all the same: Paul Byron is preparing his return. The small forward, who has yet to play this season with hip surgery, took part in Tuesday morning’s practice in Tampa, and his return to the game is not long in coming. “It’s a matter of time,” coach Dominique Ducharme explained of him. Finally, in the department of things that we did not think we had to write in 2021, but here we are anyway: striker Devante Smith-Pelly is back in the organization of the Canadiens. The one who had worn the club jersey in 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 said yes to a test contract with the Rocket, in the American League.
On the rise: Rafaël Harvey-Pinard
Hard to do better than that, with a first goal in his first NHL game. In addition to the goal, a good performance also overall.
Down: Brett Kulak
PHOTO BERNARD BRAULT, PRESS ARCHIVES
Brett Kulak
It was a very difficult evening for Kulak, for whom things went way too fast far too often.
The number
4
The number of shots made by David Savard, the maximum obtained by a CH player on Tuesday night.
They said
Everyone got on the boat and everyone pushed in the same direction… I liked the effort of our group, I think we worked hard. We never gave up.
David Savard
It’s a lot of emotions, it’s chills, it’s always fun to score a goal, but to score it in the NHL, it’s a pretty incredible feeling, it’s a mixture of emotions … What struck me was the speed of the game, the time to make decisions. The game is going fast, the guys are strong physically. The lesson: a match is never over, we saw it with a bad leap at the end.
Rafael Harvey-Pinard
I was really nervous at the start of the game, a little rusty too. It’s been almost a month since I had not had a start, even if I had not been involved in a game quite simply, also coming back from a holiday break… The more the game went, the better I was. Smelt. I made some good saves at the end of the second period and in the third to give myself confidence, and it was fine for the rest of the game.
Samuel Montembeault
Brendan Gallagher has clearly been pushed towards the goalkeeper [sur le but refusé]. It is certain that if it is not the number 11 which is behind its back, probably that it is a goal … Regarding the hanging [aux dépens de Jake Evans] in overtime, it is not much use to talk about it, the referees will not change their mind. It’s a close game. There have been decisions like that that are part of the game, that may not have been in our favor. You have to live with it.
Dominique ducharme