DEADLOCKED: Montreal Canadiens vs Tampa Bay Lightning a close battle | Surprises? | Keys to winning

About this episode

The episode analyzes the closely contested playoff series between the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning, focusing on key players and tactical elements.

Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning battle through a razor-thin playoff series, each game decided by a single goal and momentum shifting with every period. Has Brandon Hagel become the emotional catalyst Tampa Bay needs, or can Montreal’s youthful core, featuring Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki, push past a perennial Cup contender? Laura Saba and Greg Stephen break down high-stakes overtimes, highlight standout performances from Brandon Hagel, Anthony Cirelli, and surprising contributions from Arber Xhekaj and Zach Bolduc, and dissect both teams’ challenges with physicality and costly penalties. They explore the Canadiens’ evolving toughness, the Lightning’s depth questions, and goaltending heroics as Andrei Vasilevskiy and Jakub Dobes keep things even. Key topics include shot metrics, power-play effectiveness, penalty-kill improvements, and how Jon Cooper’s and Martin St. Louis’ tactical adjustments could decide this series. Will discipline and depth scoring tip the scales, or are more dramatic overtimes inevitable?

People in this episode

Host: Laura Saba

Guest: Greg Stephen

Topics covered

• playoff series
• Montreal Canadiens
• Tampa Bay Lightning
• overtime
• player performances
• tactical adjustments
• penalties

Keywords

• playoffs
• Brandon Hagel
• Cole Caufield
• Nick Suzuki
• overtime
• penalties
• goaltending
• tactics
• NHL

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Montreal Canadiens, Tampa Bay Lightning, Jon Cooper, Martin St. Louis

More episodes of Locked On Canadiens - Daily Podcast on the Montreal Canadiens

• Can Montreal Canadiens benefit from NHL trade requests? Can Maddox Dagenais fall to Habs? Mailbag · June 12, 2026 · 38 min
• STEAL: Mike Matheson, Noah Dobson SHINE for Montreal Canadiens | 2C HUNT - Who Are the Caps? · June 11, 2026 · 36 min
• Montreal Canadiens Kaiden Guhle: playoff warrior | Should Habs look to Kraken for possible trades? · June 10, 2026 · 35 min
• Breakthrough: Montreal Canadiens’ Jakub Dobes DOMINATES As Top Goalie – Season Report Card Analysis · June 9, 2026 · 37 min
• Montreal Canadiens Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield win Selke, Lady Byng | Matthew Knies non-trade fallout · June 8, 2026 · 39 min
• TRADE WINDS: Should Canadiens Eye Dylan Larkin? What's Next for Brendan Gallagher? · June 5, 2026 · 37 min