(Reuters) – Newcomers Montreal Canadiens will look to end Canada’s 28-year-old Stanley Cup drought when they take on defending champions Tampa Bay Lightning in the NHL’s best-of-seven championship series starting Monday.
Montreal, one of four clubs from ice hockey-mad Canada that reached the NHL playoffs with 16 teams this year, was a 50-to-1 throw at the start of the postseason six weeks ago, but has the with contributions from the entire line-up defied high opportunities.
“These guys are a special group and a really good mix,” said Luke Richardson, who took over as Montreal head coach during the playoffs after Dominique Ducharme tested positive for COVID-19.
“It’s hard to put into words how proud we are of them, but they deserve it and they’re not done yet. They still have fire in their eyes. “
There have been five cases of a Canadian team reaching the Stanley Cup final since Montreal won the last of its 24 NHL record championships in 1993, but each team came away empty-handed, most recently in 2011.
To reach the Stanley Cup final, Montreal stormed back from a 3-1 series deficit against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round, swept the Winnipeg Jets in four games in the second round and then displaced the Vegas Golden in six games Knights.
“I’m definitely proud of everyone in this locker room and what we’ve achieved so far, but there is still a lot to do,” said Montreal captain Shea Weber after the Canadiens reached their first Stanley Cup final since 1993.
Montreal has a mix of youth and experience, with players seemingly committed to each other, but perhaps the most important factor during their magical run has been the light-off play by goalkeeper Carey Price.
33-year-old Price, who led Canada to a gold medal at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, said his team never considered themselves underdogs, even though they had the fewest regular season points of any team in this year’s playoffs.
“Honestly, we wouldn’t be here now if we didn’t believe in it,” Price said. “We always stuck with it. No doubt about us. “
Tampa Bay and Montreal did not play against each other during the regular season as the NHL temporarily created an all-Canadian division due to travel restrictions related to COVID-19.
However, the Canadian government approved travel exemption for the final two rounds of the playoffs, which means Montreal and Tampa Bay can cross the border between Canada and the US without being quarantined for 14 days.
Montreal has a powerful Lightning roster standing in the way of only looking to become the third consecutive Stanley Cup champion in the past quarter century.
“We talked about that, hey, it’s all well and good to one day put on a tombstone that you’ve won a Stanley Cup, but to do it several times over two years in a row you’re talking about your team now is something special “Said Lightning trainer Jon Cooper.
“Years later they say, ‘Well the Tampa team was a damn good team for a while,’ and I think you can really put your stamp on that if you win another.”
The resilient Lightning, who haven’t lost two consecutive playoff games in more than two years, will host the series’ first two games and have won a win against the New York Islanders in a do-or-die game seven.
The Lightning also got a timely boost when Russian striker Nikita Kucherov, the team’s best all-round player, returned to the line-up for the series game against the Islanders.
The 28-year-old Kucherov missed the regular season as he recovered from hip replacement, returned for the postseason and had 27 points in the playoffs before missing most of the sixth game against the Islanders with an injury.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Clare Fallon)
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