TUESDAY COMMENTARY – C’MON TOTO

(Listen daily for the Rod Pedersen Commentary on Cat Country 98 FM & Rock 98.5 FM)

THE MONTREAL CANADIENS HAVE FOUND OUT THEY’RE NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE.

THEY’RE LICKING THEIR WOUNDS TODAY AFTER GETTING SPANKED 5-1 IN TAMPA BAY IN GAME 1 OF THE STANLEY CUP FINAL MONDAY NIGHT.

HABS DEFENCEMAN JEFF PETRY SAID AFTERWARDS THAT THE GAME WAS CLOSER THAN THE SCORE INDICATES, BUT NOT REALLY.

SURE IT WAS 2-0 LIGHTNING GOING TO THE THIRD PERIOD BUT THE DEFENDING STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS HAD CONTROL OF THE ENTIRE GAME, AND WON THE SHOT CLOCK MARGIN 27-19.

BUT OVERALL, IT WASN’T A GREAT GAME. THAT’S THE WAY TAMPA PLAYS. AND THEY MAKE NO APOLOGIES FOR IT.

FILL-IN MONTREAL COACH LUKE RICHARDSON SAID AFTERWARDS THE POSITIVE IS THAT THEY KNOW THEY DIDN’T PLAY THEIR BEST GAME. WHAT HE MEANS BY THAT IS, THEY CAN PLAY MUCH BETTER AND THEY HAVE TO IN WEDNESDAY’S GAME 2.

IT’S AN IMPRESSIVE STAT THAT THE CANADIENS HAVE NEVER LOST WHEN THEY SCORE THREE OR MORE GOALS AND OBVIOUSLY THAT HELD TRUE IN GAME 1.

HOWEVER THAT’S AS MUCH A TESTAMENT TO THEIR GOALTENDER CAREY PRICE THAN ANYTHING ELSE. AND SOMETIMES TEAMS TEND TO RELY TOO MUCH ON THEIR GOALIES – ESPECIALLY THIS TIME OF YEAR – AND PERHAPS THE BLEU, BLANC, ROUGE WAS GUILTY OF THAT MONDAY NIGHT.

THEY WEREN’T THE HIGH-FLYING HABS ON IN FLORIDA. IN FACT THEY WERE GROUNDED IN A LOT OF WAYS. THEY WERE MISSING ONE OF THEIR STAR PLAYERS JOEL ARMIA, PLUS HEAD COACH DOMINIQUE DUCHARME, DUE TO COVID PROTOCOL.

NOW THE HABS NEED TO STAY CORONAVIRUS-FREE DOWN IN THE COVID CAPITAL OVER THE NEXT TWO DAYS AND TRY TO REGROUP IN GAME 2.

NOBODY SAID THIS WAS GOING TO BE EASY.

THAT’S TODAY’S ROD PEDERSEN COMMENTARY

(Photo: Chris Johnston)