Tampa Bay Lightning Head To Montreal For Game 1

The Tampa Bay Lightning embark on the next stage in their playoff journey tonight as they head into the Bell Centre to take on the Montreal Canadiens in Game 1.

The Tampa Bay Lightning accomplished what all the skeptics thought was going to be impossible; they won back to back games against the Detroit Red Wings in order to advance to the next round of the 2014-15 Stanley Cup Playoffs and take on a familiar face from last season.

Tonight, the next stage in their playoffs journey begins as the Tampa Bay Lightning make their way to the Bell Centre in Montreal to go one-on-one with Max Pacioretty and the Montreal Canadiens.

As most of you are painfully aware, there is a lot of history and maybe even a little bad blood between these two teams. The Tampa Bay Lightning was ushered, quite unceremoniously, by the Montreal Canadiens just four games last season. Fortunately for the Tampa Bay Lightning, a lot of things have changed between now and then.

One of the biggest changes is that Tampa Bay Lightning Head Coach Jon Cooper has been able to cultivate one of the most dangerous offenses in the National Hockey League. There are truly no words that accurately describe the impact the Triplets have had on the Tampa Bay Lightning this season.

Also, another big change in between the two post season meetings is that we now have a healthy Ben Bishop to guard the pipes for the Tampa Bay Lightning. There have been times in the post season that Bishop has stumbled, but the same can be said about any of the top tier netminders in the league.

The two things that matter the most is how you get back up after your fall and whether or not you are able to come up big when it really matters. Thankfully, when it really mattered, Ben Bishop has been there and put a stop to the opposing team’s onslaught.

There is one slight issue that the Lightning are going to have to get a handle on early in the series if they want to be successful and move on to the Eastern Conference Finals against either former Lightning captain Martin St. Louis and the New York Rangers or captain Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals.

Unlike the Tampa Bay Lightning has with Tyler Johnson, the Montreal Canadiens don’t have a clear goal scorer that has shown himself in the post season. Rather, their scoring has been spread out among a number of players. This means that the Lightning defense is going to have to be that much more disciplined.

There are two words that when put together in the hockey dictionary that could either be defined by victory or defeat in this series. Those two words are special teams.

We would all love it if the Lightning would be able to stay out of the box during this series, but let’s be real…that’s not going to happen; especially against a team like the Canadiens. This means that the Penalty Kill Squad is going to have to remain on the top of their game and continue to slam the door on their opponents.

This brings us to the two words that no one wants to hear right now, the Power Play. The Tampa Bay Lightning missed out on so very many opportunities during Round 1 against the Detroit Red Wings. The Lightning had thirty (yes…thirty) chances with the man advantage last Round. They were only able to capitalize on two of them. Can you imagine how that series would have looked if they had been able to capitalize on even half?

We said it at the onset of the last Round and we’ll say it again now. It’s plain and simple, the Power Play must improve. If they do, it could in fact be one of the most defining moments of the series.

Speaking of defining moments, the one person we did not see a lot of action from in the last Round is Lightning captain Steven Stamkos. We’re not sure what has been preventing him from making his presence known on the scoreboard; however, knowing Stamkos the way we do, once he is able to flip that switch he is going to be an unstoppable force. Let’s hope the light turns on early in this Round.

There is no denying that there is some bad blood between these two teams; not only on the ice but in the stands as well. On the bright side, this is going to make for a much more intense and hard-hitting series. We don’t know about you, but we can’t wait for the puck to drop and all the action to kick off.

Thankfully, we won’t have to sit and anxiously wait much longer now. We’re just a few short hours away from all the action at the Bell Centre. Still looking for a way to catch tonight’s game? Here is a quick look at all the information you’ll need to make sure you don’t miss a moment.

The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. Are you guys in the Bolts Nation ready to Be The Thunder?

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