Lightning vs. Montreal 2026 Playoff Game 2 "Medium Rare" Reaction

Stevie Z gives his reaction to the Bolts thrilling 3-2 OT win in Game 2 of Round 1 vs. Montreal. 

Transcript

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What is going on, everyone? Stevie Z here, 401 Channel Slide Podcast. Here to do a reaction pod after game two, your Tampa Bay Lightning winning overtime, three to two over the Montreal Canadians off a JJ Mosier snipe from the right circle over the glove of Jakob Dobesh. Look, all I can really say is wow. Like you have to kind of put this game into two halves in a sense, because there were three periods in the overtime period. So for the first two periods of this game, I thought the lightning got worked over from the hockey standpoint. Yes, the lightning scored the first goal. I think, and that was what the first time that they had scored the first goal in, I think what, 12, 13 games. And after Tampa got that goal, yes, they were they they had found their feet a little bit, but later in that first period, when Kucharoff takes that interference penalty, and everything from that point goes to hell when Hegel and Josh Anderson are behind the net and they're mixing it up, and and then you've got Gensel and Kucharoff and Perry and all those guys getting in there, and you look who's on the ice for Montreal, and it's Jake Evans, Josh Anderson, Matheson, like those guys. And and in my head, all I thought about was Montreal is gonna come out on the right side of this when the penalties are doled out. And sure enough, they did. And what a trade-off for Montreal! So in the box, what they've got Josh Anderson and whoever else, and in our box, right, you've got Hegel, you've got Kucharoff, like I just Harry was in the box, like it was just so ridiculous. Now, when I say that, don't get me wrong, I love that this team sticks up for themselves. I love that they have that they are determined to not get pushed around like they have the past two years. I love it. However, I have said this many a time on this podcast that I do think that sometimes this team just goes over the edge. Like they just don't know when it's time to skate away. And sure enough, Montreal gets that power play later in the first period, and they end up scoring. So Montreal, through two games, has gone four for nine on the power play. Just early in that game, between the first and second period, like everything that the lightning did, it just looked like an absolute grenade coming off of each other's sticks. Like passes weren't crisp, like they couldn't get out of the defensive zone, like nothing. Every shot was getting blocked, like they were active, no, no doubt about it. I thought they were active, but it was just it seemed aimless, like no purpose a lot of one and done, like Montreal from a five-on-five standpoint, was dominating this game. And I saw some things on on uh I'm not I'm not sure if you guys know about the deserve to win O meter. Sometimes that circulates around X and other social media outlets. And through 40 minutes of last night's game, through the first two periods, that meter was in favor of Montreal winning 78% of the time. Like they they and they did it like I guess it's if it's a thousand simulations, right? Montreal would win, or if it was 100 simulations, I'm sorry, Montreal would win, you know, 78 times or whatever it was, you know. And you're just looking at it, and I looked at that and I thought about it last night, and I was like, yeah, that's that's fair. You know, like Montreal was playing incredibly well, and for me I began to have a little bit of doubt. I began to lose some hope. I I won't lie to you. I I won't lie to you as a fan. I began like so many things began to go through my head because through the first 40 minutes of this game, nothing that Tampa had did outside of Post Whistle Scrums and Brandon Hagel playing out of his mind was leading me to believe that Tampa was going to be able to come back in the third period after Josh Anderson scores another five-on-five goal after he gets loose in front of the net again. And listen, if you were a fan and you're listening to this, and after two periods, you began to have some doubts about where Tampa stood in this series, I wouldn't blame you. And I'm and I'm telling you that I had doubts to be transparent with you. I'm a fan too. Because all that we had seen for the last couple playoff rounds, first round series for the last couple years was just that. Like this team trying hard, but not executing, and then wilting at the wall at the wrong moments, and so it's two to one at the end of two. And really the only thing that Tampa has done has taken a lot of penalties, mixed it up, they've been baited by Montreal, and it's worked to an extent. I mean, at the end of the second period, our supposed most composed player in Ryan McDonough gets a frustration penalty. That's and that's a frustration penalty. Like, you can we can say that. And look, guys, like I I've seen it on both ends, like both sets of fans are complaining about the referees. But I'm here to tell you, like, just throw that stuff away. Stop complaining about the referees because a lot of the stuff that the referees are calling, the lightning are really doing it to themselves. I know they like to mix it up. And like I've said earlier, a few minutes ago, I love it. But you don't really give yourself much benefit of the doubt with the referees when you're just constantly doing it after every whistle. Now, let's get to that to the fun part, right? So I said this was a raw reaction. This is more like a medium rare reaction, right? Cooked up just a little bit because it's about 18 hours after game from last night. And look, I tried to wake up this morning uh and and get get this out to you before I went to work because I'm a self-proclaimed man of the people. And I'll be honest with you, uh, I just didn't like the sound quality. So I was able over that time uh to just throughout my day kind of look and analyze certain things. So this is what I've got for you. In the third period, Tampa started better, right? They kill off that penalty, the Ryan McDonough penalty. And as that third period kind of wind down, you you felt Tampa building their game. You could notice it too. And it also looked like for the first time in this series, Montreal was uncomfortable, or they were just sitting back and they were comfortable. And Tampa, with their experience, could feel that, they could see it, and they attacked. And sure enough, with six minutes left in the third period, Nikita Kucherov for the first time in 17 playoff games, gets a beautiful wraparound goal on Dobesh, really started by Mosier, who forced Slavkowski to put an errant puck through the middle of the ice in their own defensive zone. Hegel at the blue line intercepts it, takes a stride forward, shoots a shot. It goes sidewards of Dobesh, but Kucharov follows the puck, takes the puck off the wall, and is able to use so much skill to wrap around the net and tuck it in. I mean, Kucharov never scores a goal like that. And at that moment, I began to be like, okay, okay, Kucharoff is Kucharov is is off that schneid a little bit. First goal in 17 games, tied it up in a big moment, clutch goal, all started by Mr. Brandon Gordy Howe-Hagel. And I'm thinking like, okay, cool. Let's see this game out and get to overtime. And as the third period is winding down, two minutes left, Scott Sabarin. I love what Scott Sabron brings to this team. Love it. And Scott Sabron was brought into this game tonight to keep a player like Josh Anderson in check. He was trying to go all night with him. But with two minutes left in the third period, he takes an absolute boneheaded penalty. Terrible penalty. Four minutes ago, the Lightning had just tied the game after honestly, they probably shouldn't have deserved to have tied the game based on what had happened in the first 40 minutes. But they here they are tied. And Scott Sabron just absolutely runs through the back of Josh Anderson. Now, here's what I'll say: Josh Anderson, like if you slow the replay down, he takes a peek over his left shoulder. He sees Scott Sabron coming and then he gets hit and he tries to sell it. Initially ruled a five-minute major. It's downgraded to a two-minute uh minor for interference. I thought the PK, those last two minutes, bailed out a really poor coaching decision by John Cooper to put on the fourth line. I'm sorry. And two minutes left in the game, I don't want the likes of Corey Perry, Scott Sabrin, and whoever was their center. Was it James? Out on the ice. I'm sorry. Just not at that moment. Not at that moment. You live to fight those last two minutes, get to the get to the extra period, and then you give the fourth line their token shifts whenever you can. But but outside of that, like I don't, I don't want those guys. Like the bench has got to get shortened. And I thought the penalty kill did a really good job. Now I'm saying that like I know what the hell I'm doing. I'm not John Cooper, right? The guy's been in the the the head coach of Tambay Lightning for 13 years. But for me personally, if I'm if I'm behind the bench, I'm thinking, yeah, no, I don't, I don't want Scott Sabron back there on the ice right now. I don't I don't want that. And he takes a bone-headed penalty, P PK bails everybody out. And we get to overtime. And this overtime period was the best period of hockey that this team has played in I don't know how long. Let me let me get to you some stats here from that overtime period. Okay. In that overtime period, Tampa, nine shots. Montreal zero. And we could really even extend this back to the third period, that stretch in the third period from when they were building that their game, right, to get to the tying goal. In the third period, Tampa only gave up two five-on-five shots to Montreal in the third period. Before that, it was a lot more, right? But what it's what it showed me from that third period stretch to OT is that when Tampa is really dialed in and they're really committed to just moving as a unit on the ice, and everybody's in sync, and that chemistry that I talked about in the preview comes to life. That depth that John Cooper has at his disposal, much more so than Marty St. Louis does with his Canadians team. Good things will happen. They will defend. No answer in that overtime period. All they could do was get the puck out. Tampa would get it. They have to change off the ice on the fly. Tampa, here they come again in waves, in waves, in waves. It didn't matter who was on the ice, everybody was getting a piece for the Tampa Bay Lightning last night. And Dobesh was standing on his head a little bit. And I can tell you, like late in that third period and over time, I don't know if anybody noticed this, but Tampa started to get into the crease of Dobesh, start slashing his hands, start pushing him in the pads, and he was getting frustrated because he was retaliating, pushing sticks away, right? Trying to mix it up a little bit, getting in guys' faces. And what I said after game one was that Tampa was going to have to find a way to make a young goaltender uncomfortable. Get in his kitchen a little bit, like live there, live in the crease. And sure enough, they were doing that. And you could tell it was starting to wear on him a little bit with some of his antics pushing the sticks, like I said. And for the first time in this short-lived series, Dobesh looked like he was cracking just a little bit, at least for game two. And then sure enough, the details matter because Tampa is getting after it, rolling all the lines, and they're going, and Kirby Doc takes an ill-advised icing. All he has to do is skate a couple more strides to the red line, and there's no issue. But he doesn't take control of that detail. And I'll tell you the detail that really mattered tonight for Tampa: the face-offs. They won 52%. Anthony Sorelli on the game-winning goal wins the face-off so clean. And just you go back and watch that goal and look how everybody was invested in making sure that this was a grade A chance that hopefully ended the game. Mosier gets the puck, dances the blue line. Kucharov sets a bit of a pick. Takes his guy with him near net front that pulls somebody out of the defensive lane. And Mosier gets to the right circle and snaps that bad boy. And Dobesh, who had been so solid through two games, made a mistake for the first time in your life, this guy is freaking human. And the bolts tie it up 1-1 in the series. And there was a little bit of life. I won't lie to you. And as fans, we all should. Because for the first time, listen, the streaks that were broken last night, Kucharov. First goal in 17 in 17 playoff games. Vasi. 27 saves on 29 shots. I think he had it over a 0.92 save percentage last night. What 12? 12? 13 opportunities? Were they 1 and 11 or 1 and 12 in their last 13? In OT. And then they get an O they get a home playoff win. I'll say this. I think sometimes we forget that these players are human because they make so much money. Now I want to try to try to reinsert that element of humanness to them in the fact that maybe the possibility of these players have heard about the fact that look Kutrov hasn't scored. Vasi hasn't looked good in the most recent playoff series. They haven't won a home playoff game. And you just maybe thought that maybe it was wearing on them just a little bit. And I didn't think about that during the game. I thought about it in hindsight afterwards that maybe that was it. Because those guys are humans. Sometimes those things happen. No matter what you do in a home playoff game, you can't get anything right. You can't do anything right. And they finally got the monkey off their back, at least for game two. Because they could have got it off their back in game one, and they had the silly penalties. They lose on a power play goal by Montreal. And then tonight, from the third period on, outside of the Sabin penalty, they played incredibly well. And so this series deserves to go back up to Montreal, tied 1-1. And here are some things that I've noticed before I wrap this up. Look, Paulfield, Suzuki, Slavkowski have zero points 5-on-5 through two games. We're going to see if that's going to continue when they get back up to Montreal and they have the last change, and Cooper can maybe no longer get his preferred matchup. We'll see if that's the case. But outside of the four power play goals that Montreal has scored, the only five-on-five goals have come from, of course, Josh Anderson, who they have both been very similar goals where he gets loose in front of the net and there's nobody protecting the front of the net. And he's putting it in. That's it. Montreal has scored six goals for them on the power play, two five on five, and those two have been lost puck battles net front. And look, if if this series were to go seven games, and that top line for Montreal is not scoring, which I don't foresee happening the entire series, at some point they they may break free. You will take that all day long. If Josh Anderson is the one scoring five on five goals for Montreal, you will take that. You are effectively making somebody else other than that first line beat you. And Josh Anderson's not, I mean, he's nowhere near the top top minutes in four time for Montreal. So, and I will say this. In two games, Josh Anderson has been Montreal's best player. He's been everywhere mixing it up, scoring goals. And it's all like, gosh, this guy again, he scored both goals, and I'm like, oh, you're punching the air because you're like, come on. Like, this guy's taking shots at all the Tampa Bay players, all the Tampa Bay stars, and he's scoring goals. And then on the Tampa Bay side, that depth that I talked about before the series that John Cooper had at his disposal, more so than Marty, that he was going to be able to mix and match the lines a little bit. And I was hoping that after the second period, Coop was going to do something. An adjustment needed to be made. Anything, because it wasn't working with Point and Kuchoff, like just nothing. It didn't look good. None of the lines, for that matter. And Cooch gets put with Sorelli and Hegel. Point gets put with Gensel and Paul. Then you get James and Gonsalves with Gord. And wow. I mean it looked really good. It looked really good. Well, will that be the will that be what Cooper goes with in game three? I don't know. I have a hunch that he probably will start the game with that. You know, because they had Sorelli and Hegel and Cooch out there versus Slavkovsky, Caulfield, and Suzuki as the matchup in OT, and the third period in OT. So will that be a matchup going up to Montreal? I have no idea. I'll tell you what, Marty St. Louis is definitely going to try to get his top line away from Hegel and Sorelli because Hegel has been a menace. He is dragging, he is willing this Tampa Bay Lightning team through two games in this series, doing whatever you ask of him. He's got three goals, four points, a fight. He will go with anybody right now. And I'm not sure if any of you read the Pierre LeBron article on uh The Athletic where it's uh it's about Brandon Hagel, and he said that he will put his head through a wall for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Oh, he's living up to the bill. He's living up to the bill. He has been Tampa's best player by far in this series. I just really hope that Tampa can build off that third period and especially that OT moving forward into game three. They've got the monkey off their back from not being able to win a home playoff game. Kucharov scored, and it just like when Kucharov scored, it looked like a giant weight lifted off his shoulder. And we'll see. I want Tampa to continue to poke at Dobesh in the net, hit his hand, and just get him out of his element. Get him out of his element because you could kind of see it in that OT period. The other thing is, I really wish that Tampa, especially our our big guns, would stop trying to mix it up with Josh Anderson and Jake Evans and those guys. Who gives a shit about those guys? Listen, I am not I am not for hurting other players at all. But but for me, listen, if I am a bottom six player, if I'm Corey Perry, if I'm Sabarin, I'm I'm skating up to Caulfield, Suzuki, Slavkovsky, Hudson. Whatever stick work you gotta do, whatever you gotta do along the boards to get in their head, get them off their game, make it uncomfortable. Freaking do it! Why the hell are we wasting time with Josh Anderson? The Montreal will take that if Hegel and Anderson are in the box. They will take that. Why the hell are we wasting time with Josh Anderson? Go after Caulfield, Suzuki, Slawkovsky. Slawkowski already got his piece. He found out. Fafod. For those of the for those of you that don't know what that is, F around and find out. Yeah, he found out alright. And then after he got his piece, Hegel uh, you know, found out that Slaughkovsky had a glass jaw. He wasn't the same the rest of the game. I don't know if he was concussed or whatever. He was not the same. So a little bit of a bruised ego, probably, after that. After what, he's got 40 pounds on Hegel, and Hegel just wound up and caught him clean. Oh my gosh, beautiful. But I love it. And you know what? It goes back to last year in the playoffs when Hegel says, I don't care if I'll get my ass kicked, I will take on anybody. And he did. He did. I'm pretty sure he bloodied up uh Josh Anderson in that little behind-the-net scrum earlier in the first in the first period. But I just want Tampa to be a little bit more disciplined with the post-whistole scrums. If you're gonna mix it up with anybody, stop wasting time with Montreal's bottom six. Those guys, that's who you want on the ice. That's who you want on the ice. Look, go after Caulfield, Suzuki, Slawkovski, Hudson. Like those are their players. Why are we wasting time with these bottom six guys? Montreal has shown through two games they have little to no scoring depth outside of their three top guys at the forward position. So don't waste time with the others. Right? Like Montreal fans all over the socials right now are like slaughtering Kirby Doc, Kappanin, like just Texier, New Hook, like those guys. Newhook's their second line center. They are going after them. Because for them, they've really been passengers. Outside of the power play, Montreal has not really done much of anything. They've had a couple chances, right? Like last night, the scoring chances were what 29 to 18, I believe. Five on five. And you know what? Yeah, they were 29 to 18, 5 on 5 last night. High danger chances for Tampa were six. Montreal had 10. But you know what? Here's the big one. In the third period in OT, when Tampa decided enough was enough, Montreal had zero high danger chances. Zero. Montreal, two scoring chances for in the second third period, zero in OT. When Tampa is going to decide that Montreal, it's like you're yeah, we're not gonna even, we're shutting it down. We're gonna make you play our game. Tampa shows that Montreal doesn't have an answer. And they have to continue that. It cannot just be a one-off. And I'll close it out with this. Look, so far through this series, Hegel's been the best player. Yanni Gord was once again noticeable in game two, like he was game one, mixing it up. He doesn't care. And Dominic James. Boy, he was moving last night in OT. The weaving with Yanni Gord and the give and goes that they had on some rush chances last night. Dominic James is like that the way he plays is built for this time of year. And I am looking so forward to just watching how his game grows throughout this series. Bassi look good. Guys, this is gonna be, I mean, this series could this trip to Montreal, we're gonna get a game five for sure. Obviously, Tampa wants a split. Tampa has played really well in Montreal. They've won playoff games in that building before. And for a lot of these guys, it's nothing that they haven't done. That place is gonna be a powder keg on Friday. If Tampa can withstand the first 10 minutes and just make Montreal play the type of game that Tampa wants to play, especially from the third and OT, continue to build on it. I think as fans, we're really gonna like what we get from Tampa, but it has to be done consistently. It cannot be a one off. Clean up the penalties, continue with the shots, make Dobesh uncomfortable, stop wasting time with bottom six forwards on Montreal, and we'll see where it stands after game three. We'll talk then, guys. See ya.