3 Keys: Canadiens at Lightning, Game 1 of Stanley Cup Final

3 years ago  /  NHL.com  /  Read Time: 3 minutes 39 seconds

• The Tampa Bay Lightning and Montreal Canadiens will play Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final at Amalie Arena on Monday.
• The Lightning are trying to win the Stanley Cup for the second straight season after defeating the Dallas Stars in six games in the Final last season at Rogers Place in Edmonton, a neutral site with no fans in attendance due to the coronavirus pandemic.
• "There's a different buzz knowing we're opening this in front of our home fans," Lightning forward Blake Coleman said.
• Montreal has won 11 of its past 13 games in the playoffs.
• Teams that win Game 1 are 61-20 (.753) winning a best-of-7 Stanley Cup Final series.
• However, each of the past three Stanley Cup champions lost Game 1 before going on to win the series (Washington Capitals, 2018; St. Louis Blues, 2019; Lightning, 2020).
• Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy called it a "big personal challenge" to play against Canadiens goalie Carey Price in the Cup Final.
• "Goaltending is a big part of this series," Lightning forward Brayden Point said.
• The Lightning are 37.7 percent on the power play in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
• The Canadiens haven't allowed a power-play goal in 13 straight games, going 30-for-30 on the penalty kill in that stretch.
• A concern, however, is that Montreal may be without forward Joel Armia, who is a game-time decision after being placed in NHL COVID-19 protocol Sunday3
• Armia has played the second most shorthanded minutes among Montreal forwards (33:03) behind center Phillip Danault (44:14).
• Danault has been a big reason why the Canadiens have been able to shut down some of the NHL's top forwards in the playoffs, including Auston Matthews and Mitchell Marner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Nikolaj Ehlers and Blake Wheeler of the Winnipeg Jets, and Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone of the Vegas Golden Knights.
• Evans has missed the past nine games since sustaining a concussion on a hit from Jets center Mark Scheifele in Game 1 of the second round
• … The Lightning are expected to use the same lineup they used in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Semifinals, a 1-0 win against the New York Islanders on Friday.

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