3 Things to Watch: Lightning at Canadiens, Game 4 of Eastern Conference 1st Round

(2A) Lightning at (3A) Canadiens

Eastern Conference First Round, Game 4

Montreal leads best-of-7 series 2-1

7 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SNE, SNO, SNP, ESPN, The Spot

MONTREAL -- Overtime, anyone?

That's been the case through the first three games of the Eastern Conference First Round between the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning.

And now the two teams have the opportunity to make NHL history in Game 4 in front of the usual raucous throng at Bell Centre on Sunday.

Should they require extra time to decide the outcome once again, it would mark only the third time in the Stanley Cup Playoffs that the first four games of a series went to overtime, joining the Chicago Blackhawks and Phoenix Coyotes in the 2012 Western Conference Quarterfinals and the Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1951 Stanley Cup Final. Each had five consecutive overtime games.

"This is a coin flip right now between two teams that had the same amount of points (106)," Cooper said, referring to the regular season. "But we are the one that has one less win, so we need more."

To Cooper's point: When Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson scored in OT to give Montreal a 3-2 victory in Game 3 on Friday, it meant that the Lightning must now win at least three of the next four games, if necessary, to advance. In a series where the margin is slim between these two teams, any mistake, slip up, or moment of poor decision-making could be disastrous.

"We can't get distracted by where the series stands," Hutson said Sunday. "I think we have a pretty smart group in here. We know that it resets and that momentum changes all the time. You just have to forget about the past three games and reset as if it was Game 1."

Teams that take a 3-1 lead in a best-of-7 series win 90 percent of the time (245 of 273) and 87 percent (95 of 109) when winning Game 4 at home. Teams that tie a series 2-2 win it 49.8 percent of the time (150 of 301) and 59 percent after taking Game 4 on the road (73 of 124).

Here are three things to watch in Game 4:

1. Getting the Point across

How close has this series been? Through three games, Montreal has scored nine goals, Tampa Bay eight. 

Of those Lightning goals, one of the more important ones going forward in the series was scored by Brayden Point on the power play at 7:42 of the first period for a 1-1 tie in Game 3. The Lightning are hoping it sparks a resurgence from the struggling forward, who has just that one point through the first three games.

The forward has averaged nearly a point per game (0.95) in his NHL postseason career (45 goals, 45 assists in 95 games). 

"He's got to get going, no question," Cooper said. "And he knows that.

"We've talked at length about it. He's at his best when he's moving his feet and commanding the puck and skating with it. There were times last game where he was uncharacteristically giving it up a little early, but there's no question that goal took weight off his shoulders.

"I think the best of Brayden Point is yet to come. And I think we'll see it tonight."

2. Bell Centre breakout?

The Canadiens aren't panicking yet that their top line of Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky have zero combined points at even strength.

Given that they're ahead in the series, so far so good, but how long can it last?

"I think we're getting closer," Suzuki said. "We've had some good looks. Cole came close to scoring in OT in Game 3, for example.

"We've just got to stick with what we're doing. That's a good team over there, so you can't let yourself get frustrated."

3. Can anyone hold a lead?

Not in this series. At least not yet.

Each game has seen a team come from behind to win. The previous postseason series to feature a comeback win through each of the first four games was the 2019 first round between the St. Louis Blues and Winnipeg Jets, a series that had it happen on five consecutive occasions and won by the Blues in six.

"It's definitely game management," coach Martin St. Louis said. "You've got to take care of the puck. And you've got to still want it. You can't just give them the puck and say 'All right, we'll defend hard. You still have to keep playing.'

"Managing the puck in the offensive zone is huge. If you can spend time in there, they can't score."

Lightning projected lineup

Brandon Hagel -- Anthony Cirelli -- Nikita Kucherov

Jake Guentzel -- Brayden Point -- Nick Paul

Dominic James – Yanni Gourde -- Gage Goncalves

Corey Perry -- Zemgus Girgensons -- Scott Sabourin

J.J. Moser -- Darren Raddysh

Ryan McDonagh -- Erik Cernak

Emil Lilleberg -- Max Crozier

Andrei Vasilevskiy

Jonas Johansson

Scratched: Declan Carlile, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Conor Geekie, Brandon Halverson, Victor Hedman

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

Canadiens projected lineup

Cole Caufield -- Nick Suzuki -- Juraj Slafkovsky

Alex Newhook -- Oliver Kapanen -- Ivan Demidov

Alexandre Texier -- Kirby Dach -- Zachary Bolduc

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

Cooper made line changes during Game 3. … Crozier will make his series debut. … Carlile, a defenseman who played the past two games, remained on the ice at the morning skate. … Lilleberg, a left-handed shot, will move from right to left on the third pair. … D'Astous skated but will miss his third straight game after participating in an optional practice Saturday. Cooper said the injured defenseman's status is day to day while he recovers from a hit by Anderson in Game 1 on April 18. …  The Canadiens are expected to use the same lines from Game 3.