The Montreal Canadiens stayed alive in the Stanley Cup Final with a 3-2 win in overtime in Game 4, avoiding a sweep and sending the series with the Tampa Bay Lightning back to Florida for Game 5 on Wednesday night.
Miss any of the game? We’re here with the top takeaways.
Canadiens’ penalty kill comes through in overtime thriller.
Player of the game: Josh Anderson, F, Montreal Canadiens
Anderson opened and closed the scoring in Game 4, tallying the game-winner — his fifth goal of the playoffs — at 3:57 of overtime. The Canadiens scrambled their lines for the game, and may have found something special in Anderson’s trio with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield.
What worked for Montreal?
Playing for survival brought out the best in the Canadiens. They were dogged and physical, playing a game that was equal parts fast and brutal. They were, for the most part, solid in front of Carey Price. Did they make the kinds of mistakes that led to Lightning goals for the fourth straight game? Sure. But they also won the special teams battle, keeping the best power play in the postseason off the board in 10 minutes of man advantage. They bent at times in the game, but they didn’t break, and they live to play another day.
What didn’t work for Tampa Bay?
Too many missed opportunities to put the Canadiens away. Those powerless power plays. Shots that rang off the goal cage. Their top two lines kept off the score sheet, despite some great looks. There isn’t going to be a lot of panic here with the series still 3-1 in their favor. But they just threw their opponent a lifeline — an opponent that’s already rallied from one significant deficit in this postseason.
The goals
Montreal 1-0: Josh Anderson (Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield) | 15:39, first period
— Here’s Your Replay ⬇️ (@TheReplayGuy) July 6, 2021
Everything that hadn’t been going right for Montreal went right on this play. The Lightning were caught in a bad change, the kind of mistake they’d avoided this series. Canadiens coach Dominique Ducharme mixed up his lines to get more offense, and got the first point of the series out of Anderson thanks to another immaculate play by Suzuki. He waited out a sliding David Savard and found Anderson for the quick shot that beat Andrei Vasilevskiy for the critical first goal of the game and his fourth of the playoffs.
— Here’s Your Replay ⬇️ (@TheReplayGuy) July 6, 2021
What a sequence for McDonagh. He breaks up a Jeff Petry outlet pass to keep the puck in the Canadiens’ zone. He goes right to the net where Price kicked out a Coleman shot on goal. McDonagh outworked Petry for the rebound and sent a perfect backhand pass to Goodrow for an open-net goal, his second of the playoffs. Incredible work that gave the Lightning new life.
— Here’s Your Replay ⬇️ (@TheReplayGuy) July 6, 2021
Two more additions to the Canadiens’ lineup pay dividends. Evans, who hadn’t played since Game 1, passing the puck to Romanov, the rookie, sent a shot that beat Vasilevskiy thanks to a well-timed screen from Artturi Lehkonen. It was Romanov’s first career goal. He becomes the youngest defenseman in Canadiens history to score a goal in the Stanley Cup Final.
— Here’s Your Replay ⬇️ (@TheReplayGuy) July 6, 2021
The Lightning responded with a goal generated by their fourth line, and Montreal continued its series-long tradition of turning the puck over for Tampa Bay goals. This time it was Tyler Toffoli being unable to keep the puck in the attacking zone, allowing Joseph to skate out with the puck on a 2-on-1. Romanov made a rookie mistake in allowing the pass to get through, and Maroon tallied his second goal in the postseason to knot the game up.
Montreal 3-2: Josh Anderson (Cole Caufield) | 3:57, overtime
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0:37
Josh Anderson’s overtime goal gives the Canadiens a 3-2 win over the Lightning in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final.
After the Canadiens killed off the double-minor against Shea Weber, they found new life in the Stanley Cup Final on Anderson’s second goal of the night. Full marks to Anderson on this play, as his speedy skating down left wing set up the play, his one-handed pass to Caufield created a chance and his quick tap of the puck past Vasilevskiy before defenseman Jan Rutta could recover gave Montreal the win.
Quote of the night
“We understood the hole that we were in, but we just kind of talked about it. Find a way to win one game here, really simplify your mindset. It’s going to be the same thing next game. Put this one behind us as soon as we leave the rink and come with that same mentality and win one hockey game. We’ve kind of been through this already in the first round against Toronto. You really simplify that mindset, and hopefully you get to fight one more day.”
Montreal’s penalty kill had an incredible night, although on a few chances it also got a friendly bounce off a goal post. The turning point of the game was when Weber high-sticked Ondrej Palat, cutting him and giving Tampa Bay a four-minute power play at 18:59 of the third period. But Montreal disrupted and shut down that power play, with a couple key stops from Price, and then won the game moments later.
— Here’s Your Replay ⬇️ (@TheReplayGuy) July 6, 2021
It doesn’t get much closer than Nikita Kucherov here, redirecting the puck right off the iron with Price’s net wide open. That was one of three great chances that deflected off the post for the Lightning in Game 4. “We really turned up our game. We had chances to end that sucker in regulation,” said Lightning coach Jon Cooper.
— Here’s Your Replay ⬇️ (@TheReplayGuy) July 6, 2021
With due respect to Weber, who tried to end Brayden Point on a few of his hits in Game 4, this sonic boom in back of the net by Anderson on Victor Hedman — a rather large person — was most memorable.
— Here’s Your Replay ⬇️ (@TheReplayGuy) July 6, 2021
This is the benefit of having the sumo suit gimmick in the Stanley Cup Final. Instead of two people shuffling around the ice in their shoes, we have full on sumo wrestlers on skates during the intermission.
Stat of the night
Maybe we should have seen this coming. Vince Masi of ESPN Stats & Information notes that the Canadiens are the third straight team to win Game 4 when down 3-0 in the Stanley Cup Final since the last sweep in 1998. The Canadiens have also won Game 4 when down 3-0 in a series in seven of 12 instances.
The big question for Game 5: Is this the mayor of Tampa’s fault?
So Tampa Mayor Jane Castor is either going to look like a mastermind or someone who angered the Hockey Gods and ruined the Lightning’s good vibes. She said on Sunday that “what we would like is for the Lightning to take it a little bit easy, to give the Canadiens just the smallest break, allow them to win one at home, and then bring it back to the Amalie Arena for the Final and the winning of the Stanley Cup.”
Well, they allowed them to win one at home. If the Lightning don’t close this thing out in Game 5, this is going to be a legendary mush.
TORONTO – Reigning PWHL MVP and scoring champ Natalie Spooner will miss the start of the regular season for the Toronto Sceptres, general manager Gina Kingsbury announced Tuesday on the first day of training camp.
The 33-year-old Spooner had knee surgery on her left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) after she was checked into the boards by Minnesota’s Grace Zumwinkle in Game 3 of their best-of-five semifinal series on May 13.
She had a goal and an assist in three playoff games but did not finish the series. Toronto was up 2-1 in the semifinal at that time and eventually fell 3-2 in the series.
Spooner led the PWHL with 27 points in 24 games. Her 20 goals, including five game-winners, were nine more than the closest skater.
Kingsbury said there is no timeline, as the team wants the Toronto native at 100 per cent, but added that “she is doing really well” in her recovery.
The Sceptres open the PWHL season on Nov. 30 when they host the Boston Fleet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A top official of the Pakistan Cricket Board declined Friday to confirm media reports that India has decided against playing any games in host Pakistan during next year’s Champions Trophy.
“My view is if there’s any problems, they (India) should tell us in writing,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi told reporters in Lahore. “I’ll share that with the media as well as with the government as soon as I get such a letter.”
Indian media reported Friday that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has communicated its concerns to all the Champions Trophy stakeholders, including the PCB, over the Feb. 19-March 9 tournament and would not play in arch-rival Pakistan.
The Times of India said that “Dubai is a strong candidate to host the fixtures involving the Men in Blue” for the 50-over tournament.
Such a solution would see Pakistan having to travel to a neutral venue to play India in a group match, with another potential meeting later in the tournament if both teams advanced from their group. The final is scheduled for March 9 in Pakistan with the specific venue not yet decided.
“Our stance is clear,” Naqvi said. “They need to give us in writing any objections they may have. Until now, no discussion of the hybrid model has happened, nor are we prepared to accept one.”
Political tensions have stopped bilateral cricket between the two nations since 2008 and they have competed in only multi-nation tournaments, including ICC World Cups.
“Cricket should be free of politics,” Naqvi said. “Any sport should not be entangled with politics. Our preparations for the Champions Trophy will continue unabated, and this will be a successful event.”
The PCB has already spent millions of dollars on the upgrade of stadiums in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi which are due to host 15 Champions Trophy games. Naqvi hoped all the three stadiums will be ready over the next two months.
“Almost every country wants the Champions Trophy to be played here (in Pakistan),” Naqvi said. “I don’t think anyone should make this a political matter, and I don’t expect they will. I expect the tournament will be held at the home of the official hosts.”
Eight countries – Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Afghanistan – are due to compete in the tournament, the schedule of which is yet to be announced by the International Cricket Council.
“Normally the ICC announces the schedule of any major tournament 100 days before the event, and I hope they will announce it very soon,” Naqvi said.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Ottawa‘s Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand are through to the doubles final at the WTA Finals after a 7-6 (7), 6-1 victory over Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Australia’s Ellen Perez in semifinal action Friday.
Dabrowski and Routliffe won a hard-fought first set against serve when Routliffe’s quick reaction at the net to defend a Perez shot gave the duo set point, causing Perez to throw down her racket in frustration.
The second seeds then cruised through the second set, winning match point on serve when Melichar-Martinez couldn’t handle Routliffe’s shot.
The showdown was a rematch of last year’s semifinal, which Melichar-Martinez and Perez won in a super tiebreak.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will face the winner of a match between Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, and Hao-Ching Chan and Veronika Kudermetova in the final on Saturday.
Dabrowski is aiming to become the first Canadian to win a WTA Finals title.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
