“Whatever we’ve got left, you’re going to get our best .” To get the series win, New York will have to do what no other team has done over the past two years: hand Tampa consecutive postseason losses.
The Lightning are one win away from making the Stanley Cup Final for the third time in seven years.
The formula for Montreal has become simple: score early, maintain it with the forecheck, and clog the neutral zone the best it can.
“We weren’t playing very well, so maybe we deserved it,” defenseman Brayden McNabb said afterward.
Vegas coach Peter DeBoer decided to go with Marc-Andre Fleury in goal after benching him for Game 4 because of what the coach perceived to be fatigue.
The 21-year-old was the centerpiece for Montreal in the Max Pacioretty trade, and he’s emerging as a force in this series.
Pacioretty became just the third Golden Knights forward — and first of the usual top-six forwards — to score in the last five games.
Part of the issue with Stone earlier in this series was attributed to his usual center, Chandler Stephenson, missing games.
It was an off night by everybody, everyone is in that boat, not just Mark Stone.