The Tampa Bay Lightning and Montreal Canadiens take to the ice tonight in Game 4 of their First Round NHL Playoffs series. The game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. start time and it will be televised nationally on the NHL Network. Currently the odds for the game have Montreal favored at home to end the series.
Montreal has the change to sweep the Tampa Bay Lightning off the ice tonight in Game 4. Tampa Bay was not a great road team this season and now their backs are against the wall, on the road, in a must-win situation. Montreal went 23-13-5 both on the road and at home this season. But they only need to get a single home win tonight to be the first team to advance to the second round of the playoffs.
Tampa Bay has a lot of talent, but they haven't been able to keep up with the Canadiens on the scoreboard. Montreal won a close overtime session in the opener before blowing out the Lightning in the second game and getting a one-goal win in the last game these teams played. Rene Bourque leads the team with three goals to this point and he's not even on the top line for Montreal, who is getting great contributions from the entire team.
Montreal isn't a high-scoring team but is averaging four goals a game in the opening three games so far this series. Their top line, which features David Sesharnais, Thomas Vanek and Max Pacioretty has 29 shots so far in the series but has only score twice. If they can get it going tonight, the Lightning are surely to be in some trouble.
Tampa hasn't gotten great goaltending so far in the post season. Anders Lindback hasn't been playing the way the Lightning need and when they brought in Kristers Gudlevskis in a backup situation, he was even worse.
Carey Price, on the other hand, has been a rock for the Canadiens. He's got a 2.12 goals against average so far and is saving better than 91 percent of the shots he has faced so far this series. Steven Stamkos has two goals so far but is going to have to light the lamp tonight if Tampa Bay has a chance.
Montreal has been struggling on the power play, which makes their 3-0 series lead even more impressive. They've scored just once in their 11 chances so far this post season and if they advance, they'll certainly have to improve on those numbers. But for tonight's game, the pressure is all on the Lightning to score.
We expect Tampa Bay to come out on fire, playing well because they have no tomorrow if they lose. There are going to be goals scored tonight.
Free Pick: Tampa Bay 5, Canadiens 3
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