The Montreal Canadiens upset the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7 and are headed to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs after a historically bad offensive performance. Folks, this is why we love the NHL postseason: because the best team always wins.
The Canadiens fired just 9 shots on goal in their 2-1 victory, setting a Stanley Cup playoffs record for the fewest shots in a win.
Even worse, the Canadiens fired no shots on goal in the second period entirely, which is the first time in franchise history (since shots were first tracked in 1959-60) they’ve accomplished that lowly feat. Thanks to some brilliant stat-keeping , we also know that the Canadiens had 0 slot shots, 0 turnover chances, 0 odd-man rushes, and, as you might have guessed, 0 goals during that 20 minutes of play.
According to Josh Dubow, the last time a team had 0 shots on goal in a period during the postseason was the Penguins, who had 0 in Game 1 of 2017 Stanley Cup Final against the Nashville Predators. And as you might have predicted, the Penguins won the Stanley Cup that year — their second in a row.
Okay, last fact. Per Jessica Brand, no prior team this century has won a game, regular season or postseason, with single-digit shots on goal. The Canadiens are literally the first to do it in the 2000s.
Anywho, Alex Newhook ultimately scored the series-winning goal with 8:53 remaining in the third period, batting a puck out of mid-air from no angle off Andrei Vasilevskiy and in.
Vasilevskiy stopped seven of nine shots, good for a .778 save percentage. On the other side of the ice, Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes made 28 saves on 29 shots for the victory.
What a weird game.
Congrats to the Habs, I guess.
Montreal will now play Buffalo in the second round.
Please no one bring up Jaroslav Halak in the comments. I’m still not over it. Yes, I know it’s been 16 years.
