The Montreal Canadiens are headed to the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1993! Artturi Lehkonen scored just 1:39 into overtime in game 6 to give the Canadiens the series win over the Vegas Golden Knights.
What a wild ride it has been for Montreal throughout these 2021 playoffs. To begin, Montreal was the last seed in the North Division and they had the worst regular season of any team in the playoffs. It was going to be a miracle if Montreal won a series, let alone make it to the Stanley Cup Final. The Canadiens impressively beat the Maple Leafs in 7 games and then went on to sweep the Winnipeg Jets in round 2. All of a sudden the Canadiens seemed like a more legit contender than they appeared to be at the start of the postseason. They were still a longshot to beat the Vegas Golden Knights who were a powerhouse heading into the 3rd round. Montreal quickly turned this script around as well. The Canadiens limited the Knights to just 13 goals in all 6 games of the series and created many problems for Vegas in the offensive zone. Goaltender Carey Price was a rock wall for them all series long and all season long for that matter. Montreal has won 11 of 13 since falling into the 3-1 hole against the Maple Leafs and are as hot as a team can be heading into the Cup Finals. It will be the 35th time that Montreal has appeared in the Stanley Cup Final which is leading all teams. They will also be looking to add to their 24 Stanley Cups.
Tomorrow night is game 7 between the Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Islanders which will be played at Amalie Arena in Tampa Bay. The Lightning are looking to appear in back-to-back Stanley Cups, while the Islanders are looking to go to their first Stanley Cup since the 1983-84 season. It would be one of the most improbable matchups in NHL history if the Islanders manage to win tomorrow nights game. The Islanders had to come back from a 2-0 hole in game 6 to force a game 7 against the Lightning and they did it in improbable fashion. Jordan Eberle scored late in the second period to make it 2-1 and Scott Mayfield scored at 11:16 of the 3rd to tie the game at 2-2. Just 1:08 into overtime, Anthony Beauvillier stole the puck and shot it right past goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy to give the Islanders a 3-2 victory. The Nassau Coliseum was going absolutely bonkers after the OT goal…take a look
Tampa has to be at least a little shaken up after blowing a 2-0 lead right? I mean they did beat the Isles 8-0 in the previous game so who knows what will happen in game 7. All I know is that it’s going to be awesome to watch these two teams go at it Friday night. Who ya got? #Boltsin7 #Islesin7
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