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Monday, July 5, 2021

Stanley Cup Final Game 4: Five things you should know - Montreal Gazette

Canadiens are in too deep a hole to make changes in goal and they'll continue to ride Carey Price.

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Here are five things you should know about Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Canadiens and the Lightning at the Bell Centre on Monday (8 p.m., CBC, SN, TVA Sports, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM)

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A must-win game for Canadiens: The Lightning has taken a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series, which means Montreal has to win this game to prolong the season. There was a suggestion Tampa Bay might be happy with a “gentleman’s sweep,” which means they would put up a token effort Monday and then delight their fans by finishing the series Wednesday at Amalie Arena. That’s not likely to happen because the Lightning is only too aware Montreal rallied from a 3-1 series deficit in the first round against Toronto.

Vasilevskiy has the edge: The Canadiens proved Andrei Vasilevskiy is human when they put three pucks behind him in Game 3, but it wasn’t enough as the Tampa Bay offence produced six goals. Vasilevskiy has a 1.94 goals-against average and leads the playoffs with as .938 save percentage. But he has saved his best hockey for the final. He has held the Canadiens to five goals on 97 shots for a save percentage of .948 and he has a 1.67 goals-against average against Montreal. If you count his regular-season performances, he has a 14-1-2 record against  the Canadiens.

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Struggling Price to start: It might have made sense to give backup goaltender Jake Allen a start in Game 2 or 3, but the Canadiens are in too deep a hole to make changes in goal. They’ll continue to ride Carey Price, whose performance in goal matched that of his teammates who have made life easy for the Lightning with ill-timed turnovers. Price has allowed 13 goals on 80 shots for a save percentage of .838 in the final series. He came into the finals with a 2.02 GAA and that number has ballooned to 2.36. He has a 6-6-1 playoff record against the Lightning with four of those victories coming in a 2014 sweep.

Changes in the works: Canadiens coach Dominique Ducharme said we’ll have to wait to see what lineup changes are in store for Game 4, but it’s likely Erik Gustafsson will be looking on from the press gallery after collecting no points and going minus-2 in this series. The Swede is a defensive liability, but he had found a spot on the power-play unit. That slot was filled by Jeff Petry as the Canadiens spent a lot of time on special teams in Sunday’s practice. Fans will be rooting for rookie Alexander Romanov to be in the lineup, but don’t be surprised if Brett Kulak returns.

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No match for Kucherov: The Canadiens pride themselves on being able to shut down high scorers like Auston Matthews, Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty, but Tampa’s Nikita Kucherov appears to be in a different league. The Canadiens did hold Kucherov off the scoresheet in Game 2, but he has scored three goals and added two assists in the other games. The 28-year-old Russian leads the playoffs in scoring for a second consecutive season with eight goals and 32 points. His output is more impressive because he missed the entire regular season following hip surgery.

phickey@postmedia.com

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  1. Canadiens fan Derek Parker (bottom left) and his nephew Brandon (above him) attended Game 3 of Stanley Cup Final at the Bell Centre along with friends Robert Porco (bottom right) and his son Justin. Parker got the four tickets in a lottery for Canadiens season-ticket holders at a cost of $900 each.

    Stu Cowan: Canadiens fans happy to see a Stanley Cup Final game live

  2. Tampa Bay Lightning defenceman Mikhail Sergachev knocks Canadiens' Artturi Lehkonen (62) to the ice and holds him out of harm's way as Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy looks for the puck during Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final in Montreal on Friday, July 2, 2021.

    Jack Todd: No need for scapegoats as Habs magic wears off

  3. The look on the face of Canadiens fan Peter Repasy said it all after Friday night’s 6-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 3 of Stanley Cup Final at the Bell Centre. Repasy watched the game with thousands of other fans at Montreal’s Quartier des spectacles.

    Stu Cowan: Odds are stacked against Canadiens winning 25th Stanley Cup

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