How to Watch Live Stanley Cup Finals Game 5: Montreal Canadiens at Tampa Bay Lightning Preview & Betting Odds

The Montreal Canadiens have to forget they were ever down 3-0 in this series if they're ever going to bring back the Stanley Cup back to Canada for the first time since they won it all in 1993. That's because they've come back from a 3-1 deficit before. In these playoffs as a matter of fact when they defied the odds beating their hated rival Toronto Maple Leafs. But something must be in the water in the nation's most populous city because Toronto hasn't won much of anything since 1967 when they last one the Cup.

What TV Channel is Game 5: Canadiens-Lightning on?

Canadiens-Lightning will be shown on NBC at 8:00 p.m. ET. You can live stream NHL Playoff games on fuboTV.

How to Watch Canadiens-Lightning

When: Wednesday, July 7
Where: Amalie Arena - Tampa Bay, FL
Time: 8:00 p.m. ET
TV: NBC
Live Stream: fuboTV (watch NHL Playoffs free with fuboTV)

All of that to say is that the Tampa Bay Lightning are not the Toronto Maple Leafs. It's going to be even more difficult for Montreal to comeback against the mighty defending champions because they have to win twice in Tampa. The Lightning have only lost at Amalie Arena three times in these entire playoffs and have not lost at home in this series. The good thing for the Habs is that they've proven they can hang in this series even if the outcomes have suggested otherwise. Case in point, the last game they played in Tampa.

They nearly doubled the amount of shots the Lightning had in Game 2 but didn't win because Carey Price struggled in net. Thankfully for Montreal, Price had a good night in net in Game 4 and they won even though all the chips were stacked against them. Montreal looked firmly in control the entire game but with about six minutes left Tampa tied it and it looked like deja vu all over again.

Things definitely looked bleak when Shea Weber made an uncharacteristically bad play for the veteran when he was assessed a double-minor penalty for high-sticking cutting Ondrej Palat bad on his nose. With one-minute to go in regulation and the four-minute penalty extending into overtime, the Stanley Cup Finals seemed all but over. The Lightning had scored twice on seven power play opportunities in this series and have been scoring at will even at full strength the entire Finals.

The Canadiens fought it off though and lived to see another day when Josh Anderson scored the game-winner soon after the power play was over. The Canadiens will have to set the tempo like they did in Game 2 to have any remote shot on winning Game 5. Their best player Nick Suzuki and Carey Price who needs to replicate his Game 4 performance in net will have to lead the way. Tampa Bay is clearly the better team. But that's been the case for Montreal these entire playoffs for every opponent. Can they defy the odds for even one more game?

Montreal Canadiens vs. Tampa Bay Lightning Odds

Canadiens Odds: +1.5
Lightning Odds: -1.5
Money Line: Canadiens -- - Lightning -245
Over/Under: 5