2021 Stanley Cup Final: 3 Reasons why the Montreal Canadiens can win Game 4 to stay alive

2. Land The First Blow

It is no coincidence that the Lightning have scored the first goal in each of the first three games of this series, including scoring two in the opening five minutes of Game 3, and going on to win all three contests.

You can’t give an elite team like Tampa Bay head starts like that, and you aren’t going to win if you keep giving yourselves a gigantic mountain to climb.

Coming from behind in games is hard enough as it is let alone against the Bolts who have gotten stellar goaltending from Andrei Vasilevskiy throughout the Playoffs, while they have incredible depth and an abundance of star power.

Tampa just has too much quality up and down the lineup so if you spot them a lead they are going to run with it, and they also don’t get enough credit for their defensive play and how they are able to shut teams down once they have a lead.

They’ve done that to Montreal throughout the Stanley Cup Final and limited them to just five goals in three games, and that obviously has to change if the Habs are to avoid seeing their season come to a crushing end.

And scoring first tonight could be huge when it comes to the mental aspect of the game. If the Canadiens can land the first blow of the game, that will give this team so much confidence and it will give the 3,500 fans inside the Bell Centre something to cheer about, which wasn’t the case in Game 3.

It could also disrupt the Lightning and force them to get desperate the longer the game goes on, and you can be sure that those fans lucky enough to be in attendance will make plenty of noise if the Habs are leading late into the third period.

You can’t overstate how important it is for Montreal to come out swinging tonight because, if they have another slow start and spot the Lightning another lead, it may be tough to come back and that will be the series and the season over.