Tampa Bay Eliminates Montreal; Advances to Eastern Finals

Last season, the Montreal Canadiens eliminated the Tampa Bay Lightning in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs four games to one. This season, Tampa Bay got even, beating Montreal 4-1 May 14th, eliminating the Canadiens in six games to advance to the NHL Eastern Conference finals.

Tampa Bay took a 3-0 lead in the series, but Montreal scratched back and staved off elimination two games in a row. But that 3-0 hole proved to be too deep for the Canadiens to crawl out of. Montreal’s power play was nearly non existent (just 1 goal in 16 power plays) while the Lightning were seven of 20. Steven Stamkos broke out of his goal scoring slump with three goals in the series after scoring none in Tampa Bay’s first round seven game series with the Detroit Red Wings.