Canadiens vs. Lightning In The Playoffs By The Numbers

After what seemed like a never-ending wait, the puck will drop on game 1 of the Montreal Canadiens ’ first-round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning . This is only the fifth series between the two sides, and Martin St-Louis’ men have a 1-3 record against their host in playoff series (2004, 2014, 2015, 2021). The Canadiens’ sole series win over the Bolts came in 2014, when Montreal swept Tampa, which was without its number one goaltender at the time, Ben Bishop.

Of course, everyone remembers the last series between the two sides, the 2021 Stanley Cup Final, which the Bolts won 4-1, outscoring the Habs 17-8. They certainly weren’t without their number one goaltender then, as Andrei Vasilevskiy won the Conn Smythe Trophy that year. In their four-series matchup, the Bolts have outscored the Canadiens 58-42, but this will be the first playoff series for this new iteration of the Canadiens, built first and foremost around the offensive talent of Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, Ivan Demidov and Lane Hutson.

Rona Hits Big With Its New Canadiens Based Ad Campain Canadiens' St-Louis Is Not In A Generous Mood Double Dose Of Good News For The Canadiens The teams have split the honors of their 4-game season series, with Tampa winning the first two games in December and Montreal winning the last two in March and April. Tampa outscored the Canadiens 12-11 in the season series (the sixth goal in their 6-5 win doesn’t count as it was a shootout win). Interestingly, the Bolts have scored four goals in each period while the Canadiens have scored seven of their 11 goals in the third frame.

Overall, Tampa has a 16-23 record in Game 1 for a . 410-win percentage, but their home record in the first game of a series stands at 8-13 for a . 381-win percentage.