Canadiens vs. Lightning Stanley Cup Final Game 4: Montreal staves off elimination, forces a Game 5 in Tampa

There will be a Game 5 in the 2021 Stanley Cup Final after the Montreal Canadiens staved off elimination with a 3-2 overtime win against the Tampa Bay Lighting on Monday night. Josh Anderson scored his second goal of the night to save Montreal's season in the extra period. With the win, the Canadiens avoided becoming the first team in 23 years to get swept in the Stanley Cup Final.  

Things looked tenuous for Montreal at the beginning of overtime and the beginning of the game. Habs' captain Shea Weber was sent to the penalty box in a 2-2 game with just 1:05 remaining in regulation on a four minute double-minor penalty for a high stick on Tampa Bay's Ondrej Palat. It gave the Lightning a man-advantage for the end of regulation and the first three minutes of overtime. 

The Canadiens' defense stood up and Carey Price was excellent all night stopping 32 of the 34 shots he faced. Montreal killed off all five penalties they faced on their way to the win. After the game, interim head coach Dominique Ducharme praised the Habs' special teams. 

"Guys did a tremendous job on the PK and stayed aggressive ... took away the options when they were set up, and we got rewarded."

Ducharme was also asked if he had anything to say to Price before Game 4 following Price's self-reflective comments that he needed to be better in Game 4. "Nothing, just a tap on the pants." Ducharme said.  "Pricey's got experience ... he's a competitor and we wanted to be better in front of him. He said what he said and he answered the bell tonight."

Tampa Bay started the game strong on offense, out-shooting Montreal 12-5 in the first period, but came up empty, which would cost them later in the game. One of Montreal's five shots was Anderson's first-period goal, beating Andrei Vasilevskiy to open the scoring. Barclay Goodrow tied the game in the second on a goal off a beautiful pass from Ryan McDonagh. In the second period, Montreal took more control in the offensive end, despite the game being tied after two frames. 

Montreal took the lead back with just over 11 minutes left in the game when Alexander Romanov buried a pass from Jake Evans, who also assisted on the first Anderson tally. Tampa Bay's Pat Maroon, who's looking to get his name on the Cup for the third straight season, sent the game to overtime with the final goal in regulation to tie the game at 2-2.

The series now heads back to Tampa for Game 5 on Wednesday night.