3 Surprises from the Canadiens’ Game 7 Upset of the Lightning

The Montreal Canadiens pulled off a shocker in Tampa. Their 2-1 Game 7 win sent the Lightning packing and booked the Habs a date with the Buffalo Sabres in Round 2. It was one of those series where every game felt like a knockout punch: all seven games were decided by a single goal, and four went to OT.

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To Win, the Canadiens Had to Grind It Out

Game 7 itself was a grind. Montreal had just nine shots, Jakub Dobes stood tall with 28 saves, and the winner came from chaos and hustle more than slick offence.

The winning sequence was bonkers. Lane Hutson rips a shot, Vasilevskiy bats it away with his stick, the puck bounces off the end boards, Alex Newhook lunges at the airborne puck on the goal line, and it caroms off Vasilevskiy’s back into the net. Pure playoff weirdness.

Surprising Thing 1: The Canadiens won with almost zero offence.

Montreal only managed nine shots in the decider. Nine. That’s not a typo. Typically, you need to outshoot or at least out-chance Tampa to win in their arena, but the Habs leaned on defence, structure, and Dobes’ glove instead of generating offence.

Winning a Game 7 on nine shots is borderline unthinkable, and yet here we are.

Surprising Thing 2: Newhook’s scrappy finish stole the show.

This goal wasn’t a slick top-shelf highlight; it was pure scrappiness. Newhook didn’t wait for a perfect setup. Instead, he just hacked at a puck near the crease, and it bounced in off Vasilevskiy.

Playoff goals like that are tiny miracles and momentum killers, and this one came at the exact right time (11:07 of the third) to flip the game on its head.

Surprising Thing 3: The Canadiens survived Tampa’s power-play and Vasilevskiy’s skill.

Tampa’s power play found its one chance late. Dominic James’ PPG tied it up earlier. And Vasilevskiy still made only seven saves in total for the Lightning.

The surprising part is that the young Canadiens shut down the rest of Tampa’s attack all night, limiting chances and keeping bodies in lanes. It was an old-school playoff win: clog lanes, clear rebounds, and hope your goalie answers when called.

Looking ahead for the Canadiens

Now the young Canadiens head to Buffalo for Round 2, where they’ll face a Sabres squad stacked with talent and speed. Montreal’s youth and gutsy defensive game got them this far; if they can keep Dobes hot and find a few more ugly goals, this series could be a lot more interesting than people expect.

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