3 Things to Watch: Lightning at Canadiens, Game 3 of Eastern Conference 1st Round

(2A) Lightning at (3A) Canadiens

Eastern Conference First Round, Game 3

Best-of-7 series tied 1-1

7 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, HBO MAX, The Spot

MONTREAL -- Martin St. Louis knows just how much this hockey-crazed city is cranked up for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference First Round against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday.

In fact, the Montreal Canadiens coach was reminded of that when he arrived at Bell Centre for the team’s morning skate and saw all the preparations being completed for the huge fan party outside the building.

“I walked in this morning to get a coffee and there’s 20-30 porta potties outside,” St. Louis said before breaking into a chuckle, noting yet another reflection of the passionate Montreal hockey culture preparing to see which team will go ahead in the best-of-7 series that is deadlocked 1-1.

“It’s just the magnitude of this market and being front and center," St. Louis said. "Being part of it, it’s not something I take for granted … There’s nothing like being behind the bench of the Montreal Canadiens. And when you magnify that with the playoffs, well, it’s pretty cool.”

The Canadiens took home ice advantage away from the Lightning with their 4-3 overtime win in Game 1 at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa on Sunday. They appeared to be on their way to taking a two-game advantage in the series when they carried a 2-1 lead late into Game 2 only to see Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov score the equalizer at 12:33 of the third period before defenseman J.J. Moser won it for Tampa Bay at 12:48 of overtime for the 3-2 victory.

Now, with the matchup whittled down to a best three-out-of-five, the series shifts to Montreal, where the young Canadiens got a taste of the local postseason vibe a year ago when they lost their first-round series in five games (4-1) to the Washington Capitals.

“Playing playoff games in this building a year ago, you learned about starting on time and keeping it simple early,” forward Cole Caufield said. “It’s going to be loud and exciting but we have to stay level-headed.”

For their part, the Lightning plan to do the same, especially early on.

“The more success you have from the start, the quicker it will quiet down the building,” Tampa Bay forward Nick Paul said.

Teams that have taken a 2-1 lead in a best-of-7 series have won the series 69 percent of the time (396-178) in NHL history.

Here are three things to watch:

1. Been there, done that

For St. Louis, the experience his team got against the Capitals last spring is proving to be extremely valuable this time around. The moment has not seemed to be too big for them through the first two games of this series, and for the most part, they’ve not looked intimidated or lost their composure, aside from the odd hiccup.

The task at hand now is not to get too juiced up and let the adrenaline rush ignited by the Bell Centre atmosphere take them out of the structure that has served them well to this point.

“There’s going to be a lot of energy in the building," Montreal forward Caufield said, "but we have to stick with the same rules and doing the same things that have made us successful so far.

“We have to keep it simple, limit mistakes early, and try to get that first one.”

2. The villainous Lightning?

Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said after Game 2 that the Lightning are fine being cast as villains in the series if that’s what the outside perception of his team might be. 

That’s all fine and good, but only if they don’t let that role cause them to digress into a procession to the penalty box. The Lightning have accrued 41 penalty minutes through two games, a disturbing trend that cost them in Game 1 when Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky scored three power-play goals.

“I can’t sit here and say we’ve been the the total aggressor,” Cooper said. “These are two teams that are competing hard against each other. And I’m pretty sure we’re not the only series where things are going down. I think Boston (Bruins)-Buffalo (Sabres), I think there’s been some attention there.

“It’s the playoffs. And for two games I’m not sure we were the villains in our own building. These next two games, we’ll be the villains in this building, and so I think it’s just a matter of playing smart.”

Montreal, meanwhile, has to adopt that same game plan, having already totaled 39 penalty minutes on its own.

3. Top line troubles?

The Canadiens' first line of Slafkovsky, Caufield and Nick Suzuki has yet to score at 5-on-5 and will need to find a way to break out from the smothering checking of Lightning players such as forward Anthony Cirelli. 

On the other hand, it's a trend Tampa Bay hopes to continue.

“Montreal’s a tough team to play against when you give them time and space,” Cooper said, adding the key to limiting those things is skating.

“Part of that is using our legs,” he said. “You can’t be tentative against these guys. There’s too much speed and skill, so you have to take the puck away.”

Lightning projected lineup

Gage Goncalves -- Brayden Point -- Nikita Kucherov

Brandon Hagel -- Anthony Cirelli -- Jake Guentzel

Zemgus Girgensons -- Yanni Gourde -- Nick Paul

Corey Perry -- Dominic James – Scott Sabourin

J.J. Moser -- Darren Raddysh

Ryan McDonagh -- Erik Cernak

Declan Carlile -- Emil Lilleberg

Andrei Vasilevskiy

Jonas Johansson

Scratched: Oliver Bjorkstrand, Conor Geekie, Max Crozier, Brandon Halverson, Victor Hedman

Injured: Pontus Holmberg (upper body), Charle-Edouard D'Astous (undisclosed)

Canadiens projected lineup

Cole Caufield -- Nick Suzuki -- Juraj Slafkovsky

Alexandre Texier -- Alex Newhook -- Ivan Demidov

Zachary Bolduc -- Oliver Kapanen -- Kirby Dach

Jake Evans -- Phillip Danault – Josh Anderson

Mike Matheson -- Alexandre Carrier

Kaiden Guhle -- Lane Hutson

Jayden Struble -- Arber Xhekaj

Jakub Dobes

Jacob Fowler

Scratched: Brendan Gallagher, Joe Veleno, Adam Engstrom, David Reinbacher

Injured: Patrik Laine (lower body), Noah Dobson (upper body)

Status report

Each team is expected to dress the same lineup used in the Lightning's 3-2 overtime win in Game 2 on Tuesday. ... D’Astous stayed on the ice with the extras at the end of the optional morning skate; the Tampa Bay defenseman likely will sit out a second straight game after he was injured on a hit by Anderson in the Canadiens' 4-3 overtime victory in Game 1. ... Anderson did not take part in the optional morning skate and did not practice Thursday; the forward went to the dressing room after he was hit from behind by Sabourin in the third period Tuesday but returned and played in overtime. There was no update on his condition. … Matheson was on the ice Friday after missing practice Thursday. 

NHL.com independent correspondent Sean Farrell contributed to this report