This Was Destined to Go 7

Listen, at the start of this Habs season back in October, if you had told me that the Canadiens would be in a Game 7 against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the playoffs, I would have jumped at that opportunity.

Obviously, there were some ups and downs along the way, and expectations have been raised for this group after a successful season.

Which brings me to last night....

Being up 3-2 in the series with a chance to close out the Lightning at home, getting a power play opportunity in overtime to bury them, and then losing 1-0 in a goaltending duel for the ages, I could be devastated. I could be demoralized. I could be sitting here thinking we blew our opportunity.

But I am not. And like I said, it would be very easy to think that way, but I cannot. You have got to flush it and move on to the next day.

And if we are being honest, based on how this series has gone, it was always going seven. It has felt destined to go seven. This has been maybe the closest first round series I have ever seen, and honestly, one of the closest playoff series I have ever seen in general. The Lightning held a lead in game about 7% of the time. The Canadiens have only led in game around 27% of the time. That means roughly two thirds of this series has been tied at some point. That is ridiculous.

On top of that, we have had four overtime games in six so far. Tampa has won two, Montreal has won two. This is just elite level hockey in every sense.

And while I would have loved to see the Habs close this out last night, I am at the point now where I almost just want it to be over either way. This series has aged me 15-20 years with just how stressful it has been.

And for the longest time, I hated the Tampa Bay Lightning. But I am at a point now where I just respect them. Because if they win this series, they will have earned it. And if the Canadiens win this series, they will have earned it too.

This has been a war of attrition, and it has really come down to Montreal’s depth scoring versus Tampa Bay’s elite scoring talent. The Habs’ top six has been almost invisible at even strength. Game 1 was their best game but that was all power play production from Juraj Slafkovský who scored a hat trick.

Cole Caufield, Ivan Demidov, Juraj Slafkovský, and Nick Suzuki have combined for just one even strength point in this entire series.

Meanwhile, on the Tampa side, their bottom six has gone quiet, but their stars have completely carried them. Guys like Nikita Kucherov, Brandon Hagel, and Jake Guentzel have been driving everything offensively.

And then you look in net. The goaltending in this series between Andrei Vasilevskiy and Jakub Dobes has been unbelievable, especially in Game 6. That game last night, Dobes and Vasilevskiy were just on another level.

I would have liked to see the Habs close it out, but it was not for a lack of effort. That was one of the best team performances I have seen from them in a long time. They just got goalied.

Vasilevskiy has taken some criticism for his performances in the past few playoffs, but he might have erased all of that with his performance last night. He was unbelievable. The Canadiens were not even playing bad They were not missing the net. They were hitting posts or getting robbed.

And on the other side, Jakub Dobes has come such a long way. From the goalie we saw in November, emotional after giving up a late goal in New Jersey, to now, he looks so much more composed. His style is still a bit chaotic, and he plays the puck a lot, but he just finds ways to keep the Canadiens in games.

So yeah, this has been one of the most exciting, stressful, and overall best series I have watched in a long time in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

As a Canadiens fan, I look at the fact that they have been a strong road team for most of the season, and am also holding onto the fact that Tampa has not won back to back playoff games since 2022.

But at the end of the day, it all comes down to one game. I am not guaranteeing anything. I am just hoping.

Because no matter who wins this series, they will have earned it. This has been incredible hockey. One of the tightest and closest series I have ever watched.

And yeah, as a Canadiens fan, I would have loved for this to end in six. But as a hockey fan, this really does feel like it was meant to go seven.