9:10 pm
June 22

Canadiens @ Golden Knights

Who will WIN this matchup?

Montreal Canadiens (24-21-11)

@ Vegas Golden Knights (40-14-2)

 

Starting Goalies:

Carey Price (MON): Unconfirmed

Marc-Andre Fleury (VGK): Likely

 

Current odds:

Montreal Canadiens: (+210)

Vegas Golden Knights: (-250)

 

• After stopping 27 of 28 shots on Sunday night to help the Vegas Golden Knights even their Stanley Cup playoffs semifinal series with Montreal after a 2-1 overtime victory, goaltender Robin Lehner had a simple message: Keep those mean tweets coming. Lehner, who allowed seven goals in his only other playoff start this season at Colorado, was a surprise starter for the Golden Knights in place of popular Vezina finalist Marc-Andre Fleury and made head coach Peter DeBoer’s gamble pay off with a brilliant performance. And although DeBoer does not name his starter before games, it would be surprising not to see Lehner back in net for Tuesday’s Game 5 at Las Vegas.

• Vegas looked like it was on the verge of going down 3-1 in the series, trailing 1-0 in the third period Sunday when rookie star Cole Caufield broke in on a breakaway. But Lehner, under siege for most of the game, blocked Caufield’s attempt to fire the puck between his pads.

• A few minutes later, defenseman Brayden McNabb tied the game, and the Golden Knights won it on Nicolas Roy’s rebound of his own shot at 1:18 of overtime after collecting Max Pacioretty’s shot attempt. Lehner said he arrived for the game four hours early and spent half of that time scrolling through his Twitter feed for motivation.

• Montreal assistant Luke Richardson, who took over head coaching duties after Dominique Ducharme tested positive for COVID-19 prior to Game 3, said he was not surprised by Lehner’s performance. Richardson coached Lehner for two seasons with the AHL’s Binghamton Senators.

• Vegas, a heavy favorite before the series began, regained home-ice advantage with Sunday’s win heading into Game 5.

• Montreal had won two in a row and was 4-0 in overtime playoff games before Sunday’s loss. The Canadiens dominated the action for the majority of the contest but could manage just the one goal on Lehner.

6/10
Confidence
StreakSmarter Pick
Vegas Golden Knights
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