The Tampa Bay Lightning needs only one win on the road against host the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday to clinch the Eastern Conference Second Round. The Lightning is leading the best-of-seven series 3-1 against the Canadiens and is 5-for-5 this year in Montreal making their task tomorrow a familiar territory.
The Canadiens survived elimination when they defeated the Lightning 6-2 on Thursday at the Amalie Arena to get another shot at the series. Saturday's game is important for Montreal as they edge closer with the visiting team and hopefully win the Eastern Conference Second Round.
"I think it's definitely in our advantage going back to the Bell Centre," said Montreal defenseman Jeff Petry Friday. "The focus is one more game here and just take it one game at a time. We've just got to win one game and that was our focus [Thursday], and that's got to be our focus moving forward."
He expressed confidence that his team would be able to sustain its momentum last Game 4 as he was able to pass the defense of Lightning goalie Ben Bishop that won them the game and ended Montreal's eight-game losing streak against Tampa Bay.
He continued, "I don't think it was hard to stay positive or anything like that. We know we were getting our chances in the first three games and we weren't getting some puck luck, and [Thursday] night I don't think we changed our style of play or anything like that, I think we continued to stay the course and it paid off for us."
The Montreal needs to win the last three remaining games in the best-of-seven to keep its Stanley Cup hopes alive. It lost Game 3 in a heart-breaking game after Tampa Bay center Tyler Johnson scored a game-winning goal with less than two seconds remaining.
At least four teams were able to bounce back after trailing 3-0 in the best-of-seven series in the Stanley Cup Playoff history. Montreal hopes it could be the fifth team to do so.
But Tampa Bay is prepared to frustrate any attempt by its rival to make that comeback.
Tampa Bay forward Ryan Callahan commented, "That's definitely the hardest win to get. The other team's very desperate; their season's on the line and it's key to match that desperation and make sure you come ready to play."
He said his team would depend on their speed and transition game to deflect Montreal and win the playoff.
Callahan said, "I think there are some things we can clean up in the defensive zone, but I think we're at our best when we're playing fast and we're moving the puck up ice and we're attacking the other team. And I don't think there's been enough of that the last couple of games here and we've got to get back to it."
On Saturday, the odds are against the Canadiens as Tampa Bay won all its five games in Montreal this year and outscored them in their own turf 18-8 in Bell Centre, said Fox News. The visiting team from Florida scored eight of the 11 games in Games 1 and 2 of the series.
Lightning vs. Canadiens NHL playoffs game 5 will begin at 4 p.m. PST/7 p.m. ET on May 9, 2014. The (3-1) Tampa Bay will be visiting the (1-3) Montreal at the Bell Centre in Canada. Information on how to watch the Lightning vs. Canadiens game on live stream free can be found below.
Live Stream
The Lightning vs. Canadiens game will be available on TV/Broadband/Mobile through NHL GameCenter Live, a subscription service offering streaming video of live out-of-market, regular season games, and on-demand replays.
Game broadcasts that are available to watch on television in your local market and nationally televised games are available to watch live or within 48 hours of game completion. The list of channel providers for NHL Network in USA and Canada can be found here.
Lightning vs. Canadiens game will be televised nationally on NBC Sports and TSN (Canada), and locally on Fox Sports SouthWest and PT. Online live stream free can be watched at NBCSports.com/LiveExtra.
