NHL Final 4: Canadiens Look To Close Out Semis Against Golden Knights In Montreal Thursday After 4-1 Win Over VGK Before 17,969 Tonight
Story by Alan Snel Photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
The Golden Knights’ arena has the ear-splitting noise, lots of whiz-bang light technology and the celebrities cranking the siren to start hockey periods.
But it was the Montreal Canadiens that brought the goals at T-Mobile Arena, where Montreal smothered the Golden Knights, 4-1, at T-Mobile Arena Tuesday night.
The Knights announced attendance at 17,969 for this pivotal game five.
The semifinals return to Montreal for game 6 Thursday when the Habs look to close out the series and end the Knights’ season.
After reaching the playoffs with only 24 wins in 56 regular season games, the Canadiens won three in a row to close out Toronto, 4-3, in the first round and then swept Winnipeg, 4-0, to reach the NHL Final 4 against Vegas.
The Golden Knights were a big favorite over Montreal after knocking out Minnesota and Colorado in the first two rounds.
But the Canadiens took a 3-2 series lead and look to clinch a spot in the Stanley Cup Final with a win against the VGK Thursday. The Knights scored clutch goals against Colorado to win in six games, but there were no timely goals against Montreal Tuesday.
Montreal enjoyed nice breakouts against the VGK forecheckers and were opportunistic in taking advantage of the Golden Knights’ defensive lapses. And they killed 13 straight power plays against the VGK.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi opened the scoring for Montreal in the first period by swatting in a rebound into an unguarded VGK net after Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury made a nice save on the initial Montreal shot.
Then in period two, Montreal veteran Eric Staal and newcomer Cole Caufield notched goals thanks to some weak VGK defense and the Canadiens led, 3-0, after two periods.
The Golden Knights mustered only 13 shots on goal after two periods, even with Chandler Stephenson back in the lineup centering between Mark Stone and former Canadien Max Pacioretty.
The Knights’ power play was abysmal, and there were boos heard in the arena after a man advantage fizzled toward the end of the second period.
Pacioretty snapped a wrist shot past Price 4:09 into the third period and the Knights had cut the Montreal lead t 3-1.
With about six minutes left in period three, Pacioretty fed Reilly Smith at the right post but Price stuffed Smith at the goal doorstep.
It was still 3-1, Montreal after that crucial save by Price.
Former VGKer Nick Suzuki of Montreal put in an empty-net goal with about a minute to go in the final period and finalized the score: 4-1.
Tickets were available for Montreal vs Vegas Game 5 starting at $149 at about 2:15 PM Tuesday, four hours before puck drop, according to the VGK Ticket Exchange website, the team’s official ticket site.
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Here’s a look at what tickets were going for on the secondary market, non-VGK site.
Perhaps you recognize some of these fans?
The NHL provided these Game 5 stats.
In the other semifinals, the Tampa Bay Lightning look to punch their ticket to the Cup Final with a win on Long Island Wednesday.
