The Tampa Bay Lightning and Montreal Canadiens are starting a second round series in the NHL playoffs on Friday and Game 1 starts up at 7 pm ET on the NBC Sports Network and NBCSN Live Extra website from the Bell Centre in Canada as the two teams battle in the conference semifinals and MVP candidate Carey Price takes the net for the Canadiens.
The Lightning come into the series after winning in seven games against the Detroit Red Wings, while the Canadiens won over the Senators in the first round. These teams are the top two from their division and now they are facing off to see who plays against the Caps or the Rangers in the next round. The Rangers and Montreal made it to the east finals last season and both of those teams are alive now.
The Rangers lost Game 1 at home after a terrible call that went for the Capitals and now those teams will play Game 2 on Saturday. The Canadiens have had rest and now the Lighting will be back in action after pulling out the Red Wings series in seven games. Tampa comes into the game after being the top scoring team on average this season and they also ranked 12th in the league in goals allowed per game.
The team won 2-0 over the Red Wings in Game 7 and now the Lightning have Montreal, who was one of the best teams in the league this year. Montreal comes in as the best goaltending team in the league, as Price had a fantastic season and they ranked first overall in goals allowed per game. The team was seventh in penalty kill and that will be crucial during this run for the Canadiens. Price had a GAA under 2.00 this season and he has been fantastic overall and now he has the chance to do it again after limiting the Senators to 12 goals in six games.
Steven Stamkos has not been scoring and the team is hoping that he can snap out of his funk. Tampa has players like Brian Boyle, Anton Stralman and Braydon Coburn that have played in the playoffs, with the first two names making it to the Stanley Cup finals last season. All three players have played against the Canadiens in the playoffs, with Boyle and Stralman making it with the Rangers after winning over the team in the east finals last year, while Coburn was with the Flyers when they won over the team in the eats finals in 2010.
Check here for the Tampa Bay Lightning and Montreal Canadiens live coverage.
