Montreal advances to face Buffalo inRound 2 after edging Tampa Bay in a tightly contested seven-game series.
The Canadiens are moving on. Dispatching the Tampa Bay Lightning was no small feat—after seven games, the margin between these two teams was razor-thin. Montreal won the special teams battle, trading five power-play goals with Tampa Bay, while holding a slim 11-10 edge at even strength.
But goaltending proves decisive in playoff series, and Jakub Dobes outdueling Andrei Vasilevskiy was the ultimate difference maker. Dobes turned aside 28 shots in Game 7 to secure the victory.
The Difference Maker
When two teams are this close in quality, goaltending becomes the deciding factor. Tampa Bay controlled much of the puck throughout the series—especially in Game 7—but Dobes' 28 saves were enough to get the job done.
Next up: Montreal will need Dobes to outplay Alex Lyon and the Buffalo Sabres in the second round.
Top Line Needs to Step Up
To dispatch this Sabres team, Montreal urgently needs to get its top line going. It's been rare—perhaps exceptionally rare—that Montreal's young guns at the top of the lineup were held in check like they were against Tampa Bay.
The Canadiens' dynamic trio of Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, and Juraj Slafkovsky formed one of the league's deadliest lines all season long. That was not the case against Tampa Bay.
The Lightning deployed Anthony Cirelli, Brandon Hagel, and Nikita Kucherov against Montreal's best line—with J.J. Moser and Darren Raddysh supporting them—and had tremendous success. The Canadiens' top line finished four goals underwater in the series.
Depth Carries the Load
Without the trio of Alex Texier, Kirby Dach, and Zach Bolduc outscoring Tampa Bay 6-0 in their minutes, we might not be talking about Montreal advancing.
Credit goes to Montreal's depth for picking up the slack when the team needed it most. Part of winning in the postseason is not relying on the same few players to outperform every single night.
But the Canadiens will need more from their big guns if they want to upset the Sabres in round two.
Buffalo Presents New Challenge
Buffalo is a different sort of problem for Montreal. They may not have an elite five-man matchup unit like Tampa Bay, but they possess incredible depth and can roll three lines and three pairings confidently—just like they did against the Boston Bruins in the first round.
Buffalo boasts one of the league's deepest lineups, which will create problems for Montreal's depth players as well.
In short: Montreal survived the first round on elite goaltending and depth scoring. Advancing against a team like Buffalo will require their star trio to reclaim their dominance.
Data via Natural Stat Trick, NHL.com, Evolving Hockey, Hockey Reference