The Tampa Bay Lightning have their eyes set on defending their title and they are one win away for winning back-to-back cups for the first time in the league since 2017. The only time it happened before that in the last 25 years was when the Detroit Red Wings won it in 1997 and 1998. This doesn’t happen often folks. Of course the Lightning are trying to close this series out in as few as games as possible but the mayor of Tampa is asking for them to win it in five games so they can host the cup in front of Lightning fans. The team actually won the Stanley Cup in Canada last year against the Dallas Stars since one of the sites for the NHL Playoff bubble was in Edmonton.
What TV Channel is Game 4: Lightning-Canadiens on?
Lightning-Canadiens will be shown on NBC at 8:00 p.m. ET. You can live stream NHL Playoff games on fuboTV.
How to Watch Lightning-Canadiens
When: Monday, July 5
Where: Bell Center – Montreal, Quebec
Time: 8:00 p.m. ET
TV: NBC
Live Stream: fuboTV (watch NHL Playoffs free with fuboTV)
As absurd as it sounds to let the Canadiens have one so the Lightning can clinch at home, that’s how in control Tampa Bay has looked in this series. While in Game 2 the Habs were easily the better team nearly doubling the amount of Tampa’s shots, they lost handedly 3-1. Getting their coach Dominique Ducharme back from testing positive  for COVID-19 was supposed to be a shot in the arm for this club as the series headed back to Montreal. Instead, the Lightning just were a force on offense and this series just seems so out of reach.
Unfortunately this series is living to the odds Vegas set for it going in. The Lightning had the second best odds to win the Cup since Detroit won it over the Carolina Hurricanes in 2002. But the Canadiens were underdogs the entire 2021 playoffs and never given a chance and they won all of their series convincingly after a improbable 3-1 comeback against their hated Toronto Maple Leafs rivals in the first round. They’re going to have to dig even deeper in this series though down 3-0. While it’s not as bad as some other sports, there have only been four teams that have erased that deficit in the history of the league. Only the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs have done it in the final.
Unfortunately the reason the Habs are in this hole is the play of their great veteran goaltender Carey Price. The wheels must have just fell off as he was having a great playoffs up until now. He’s really the biggest reason they were able to overcome such odds to get here in the first place. But he has a low 83.5 percent efficiency rating in these playoffs. In Game 3 the Lightning seemingly scored at will notching six goals. Coach Ducharme said he will be making roster changes but has not considered pulling Price. Hopefully an extra day off between Game 3 and 4 will make the Habs more competitive or the Lightning will repeat as champs and keep the cup in the United States. The last time a Stanley Cup Final ended in a sweep were those 1998 Red Wings. The last time a Canadian team won the cup was the 1993 Montreal Canadiens. Their going to need a whole lot of luck to reverse the course of that history.
Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Montreal Canadiens Odds
Lightning Odds: -1.5
Canadiens Odds: +1.5
Money Line: Lightning -160 – Canadiens —
Over/Under: 6
