"I know it's pretty bad that the Habs are down 0-3 this series and the likelihood of even catching up is very low, but in the midst of all the whining, has it not been obvious to you that the Habs were clearly the better team in Game 1 and Game 3? It's not like we are getting manhandled. The luck just hasn't been there for us whatsoever.
It reminds me of the Ottawa series a couple of years ago."
Game one saw Tampa coming off a grueling seven game series against a surprisingly stronger Detroit. They had no rest, barely any practice and had to fly into Montreal from Tampa the very next day. Meanwhile, Montreal limped through the remainder of a six game series, had three days off and no travel time.
The fact we could only score one goal, to me, says we were outright embarrassed. Losing happens, but one goal?
Game three was more Tampa not bothering to exert much energy than us outplaying them. They know bloody well they can just defend a lead because we'll never score more than one goal on average. Cooper's basically resting his team for the next round because they've already won.