GDT: 7/5/21 - 8:00PM EDT - Tampa Bay @ Montréal [SCF GAME 4]

[Fabiobest]

What coach is running our power play for crying out loud? Zettler, halpren or cooper ?

I guess Halpern.
Cause during the timeout in the OT, I saw Halpen talking with the players

 

[The Macho King]

Second unit has no idea what it's doing.

First unit - when they get set up it's scary as f***. But we had issues with entering the zone last night. Sucks but shit two posts - could have easily gone in last night.

Bad bounces last night. Happens. Win in 5, although a sweep would have been funny.

 

[habslive]

Nice to see the fanbase still has permanent PTSD, lol.

Montreal gets the luckiest win imaginable (including 3 posts hit) and they've "figured us out" lmao

I assure you no sane Habs fan (which I realize weeds out 95% of us) feels that way. However, Montreal dominated game 2 and Vasilevskiy stole one there. Why can't this just be Price stealing one back?

As a Habs fan, the frustrating part is that it's your 3rd line that's killing us, but that's the benefit of depth. Price will need to outduel Vasi the rest of the way. Against any other goalie, I'd say there's a decent chance. But it seems unlikely. On to game 5.

 

[Five Alarm Fire]

If that Kucherov tip-in was just a half inch to the left it would have been an iconic moment in Lightning history. Oh well.

 

[Discipline]

Awful powerplay gives me flashbacks to when Brad Lauer and Co were running the show.

0/5? Jesus. But I do give Montreal credit for their PK. Especially for killing that minor into OT.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

Definitely feels like some of our fan base

Not sure how much they cared about being the first team since the 98 Red Wings and the first of the salary cap era to sweep a finals over just winning the cup last night. I wanted that bad. Would have made this group really special. Gotta move on and refocus now. Still have to win another Cup

 

[JoVel]

What pisses me off the most about the PP is whenever anyone else but Kucherov or Point tries to carry the puck in. Never f***ing works. Stamkos or Cirelli shouldn't be allowed to touch the puck until they're set up well.

 

[The Macho King]

What pisses me off the most about the PP is whenever anyone else but Kucherov or Point tries to carry the puck in. Never f***ing works. Stamkos or Cirelli shouldn't be allowed to touch the puck until they're set up well.

Hopefully Killer is ready. Cirelli isn't working on that unit.

 

[Felonious Python]

 

[The Gongshow]

Its incredibly hard to sweep a team this late in the tourney. We hit 3 posts and didn't have much luck.

That said, I'm more nervous for Game 5 than I was for Game 7 against the isles for some reason.

Let's get it done boys. 14-0 after a loss, you know Vasy is gonna show up ready. Hopefully the team in front of him does as well.

 

[CupsOverCash]

In some ways, this group deserves that last dance at home, to celebrate amongst family friends and fans. The place will be rocking. They know it's a magnificent opportunity to close the last chapter of the triplets book, they won't miss it.

I think we wanted it last night but a loss when we have 3 game lead before is not the end of the world. I think they will be motivated for several reasons to end it Wednesday. We were close last game. Good for Montreal to weather that storm early and late because we were pressing hard and hitting posts here and there. I think they're pretty lucky they got the win last night and we aren't talking about the win today. That's hockey tho and I think if we put similar effort which I think we will be better this next game then we will be fine.

 

[The Gongshow]

Can we also blame the Ray's since they won last night? Seems to be a flip flop between the teams this run

 

[gn2007]

What pisses me off the most about the PP is whenever anyone else but Kucherov or Point tries to carry the puck in. Never f***ing works. Stamkos or Cirelli shouldn't be allowed to touch the puck until they're set up well.

Hedman can carry but he needs to stay back just in case the pk gets aggressive and want to try for the shorty on their side. I'm sure tomorrow game will be different but we need a FULL 60 min game!

 

[Felonious Python]

 

[OurlordAndSaviorKuch]

That was just depressing and maddening.

Completely dominated the game but still lost, Also Holy f*** is our PP gone straight to trash 0-6? Just not going to cut it.

Hopefully we can win it at home tomorow.

 

[CupsOverCash]

So we didn't sweep them. So sad. Let's just get them next game. At home no excuses. Just be better than them and we win. Pretty much the bottom line.

 

[bodi]

Everyone knows that we are 13-0 after a loss. But now we have 3 attempts at worst. If we don't win the Cup, we don't deserve it. Period.

 

[J T Money]

I’m expecting the Dallas special for game 5

 

[BoltsOfAnarchy]

Everyone knows that we are 13-0 after a loss. But now we have 3 attempts at worst. If we don't win the Cup, we don't deserve it. Period.

imagine losing this series in reverse sweep fashion.... and the total shellacking Jane Castor will receive for being such an arrogant blowhard...gotta love those politicians

i would expect a former Tampa PD Chief to have a little nuance & express herself a little more subtly. She sounded like a fool, not just what she said but how she said it. I hope she's nowhere near Amalie tomorrow night. imagine having to listen to the National Bozo Crew pan to her (in a suite most likely) & reference that stupid comment when Montreal has a 2 goal lead lmao. If that chick knew anything about hockey or respected the game, she'd of known to pipe down until it's over....congrats Jane on making yourself the story, & officially becoming a member of the Arrogant Politicians Club.

WAIT!.... it all makes sense now. She must be one of the frequent posters on these boards who likes to celebrate prematurely

 

[The Macho King]

Y'all know she had no impact on the game, right?

 

[Stammertime91]

Y'all know she had no impact on the game, right?

Lmao this. Who the f*** cares what she said.

 

[bodi]

Is she some kind of oracle or what?

 

[CupsOverCash]

Y'all know she had no impact on the game, right?

No bro we're done now because of what she said. Is there a sacrificial lamb somewhere?!?

 

[Discipline]

The boys listened to Jane. They did take it easy on the Power Play.

 

[DrMartinVanNostrand]

Everyone knows that we are 13-0 after a loss. But now we have 3 attempts at worst. If we don't win the Cup, we don't deserve it. Period.

I would just as quickly argue that a statistic like that is going to be snapped eventually, that being that good at not losing consecutive games is unsustainable even for the best teams around (just off the very top of my head, going back to 2010, every single Cup winner except for the '20 Lightning had at least one 2-game losing streak during their playoff run)*. I realize that the real aim is simply, well, avoid losing four in a row, but...if I can phrase this in a way that makes any sense...from a Habs perspective, it's not about winning four in a row, it's about winning one in a row four straight times. Tomorrow is maybe the biggest game, in a sense. Can you imagine the tone of this series if they can force this series back to Montréal? It would still be 3-2 us, but that would mean back-to-back losses, lost with the Cup in our building, and now home-ice advantage no longer matters because both teams would've broken the other's serve by this point. We're going to be in a real predicament if this series ends up back in Montréal.

Now, objectively, do I expect the Lightning to win tomorrow? Yes. Last team that was up 3-0 were the Kings, who lost Game 4 on the road but did manage to finish the series in Game 5 (in 2OT). Obviously we would've signed up for 3-1, and if it had come from losing Game 3 and winning Game 4, the mood would be entirely different. Patterns can mess with your head. 3-1 up after winning Game 4 means we're in an optimistic mood. 3-1 up after losing Game 4, maybe not quite as much of one. I just know I've seen 3-0 comebacks before on multiple occasions. There's some scarring in there from having seen it before. If the Lightning did suffer this kind of collapse, I really just might give up being a fan of all my teams once and for all. There would be no coming back from that. It would be our version of 28-3 Falcons late in the 3rd quarter.

That being said, again, I have full expectation they'll win tomorrow. My talk sounds alarmist - I sound alarmist by default - but when I really try to take a step back and look at things more clearly, I'm not yet finding myself urgently looking for the key to my panic room just yet.

*(edited to add) - actually, between 1998-2019, only the 2007 Ducks succeeded in never losing 2+ games in a row at any point. That's one team in 20 postseasons. Now the Lightning are trying to do it back-to-back postseasons. Hopefully they accomplish it, but talk about something hugely against the odds.