Hagel, Lightning 'will learn a lot about ourselves' in Game 6 at Canadiens

TAMPA -- The Tampa Bay Lightning face elimination in the Eastern Conference First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the fourth consecutive year and coach Jon Cooper is going to be looking to his veteran leadership to extend their postseason.

The Lightning trail the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 in the best-of-7 series with Game 6 at Bell Centre in Montreal on Friday (7 p.m ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, ESPN2, The Spot).

"I understand that the next game is a potential elimination," Cooper said Thursday, "but the last game that we played in there (a 3-2 victory in Game 4) ... if we lose that we're down 3-1, so you're really chasing the series. We've had some guys ... they've been in that building twice now and they have a pretty good feeling of what to expect."

Tampa Bay has been leaning heavily on its top players for much of the series; forward Brandon Hagel has six goals, forward Nikita Kucherov has a goal and five assists and forward Jake Guentzel has scored goals in consecutive games and leads the Lightning with eight points (two goals, six assists). 

Hagel said the veterans and the team as a whole understand the challenge and have to do what it takes to get the series back to Tampa for a winner-take-all Game 7 on Sunday.

“Everyone, when Game 6 is over, will learn a lot about ourselves," Hagel said. "This team will learn a lot about themselves. There is not much more to say. You just, kind of, have to leave it up to us. I think it will show a lot about our team and a lot about who we are as people.”

One of the deciding factors for the Lightning will be getting off to a better start. On Thursday, Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher scored on his first shift three minutes into the first period. Montreal never trailed and held on for a 3-2 win.

Tampa Bay has given up the first goal in four of the first five games of this series and hasn't held a lead at the end of the first period in the past 20 games, dating back to March 19 (including two regular-season games against the Canadiens). It's a stat that even Cooper seemed a little surprised to hear.

"Is it 20, like 2-0? I'd love to change that," Cooper said, "but what I'd love to change though, is walking in after the third period with the lead. If we do that, then I'll be happy. Naturally our starts, we've had a tough time, especially at the end of the regular season. It's not the recipe to have to keep chasing the game, but we've found a way and here we are. We're still alive."

Forward Corey Perry said in a series with two-evenly matched teams, playing from behind is a difficult task.

"The margin is so small," Perry said. "You've got two teams that are equal and when you're fighting from behind early it's tough because you're always chasing."

Hagel is one of the few members of the Lightning veteran core that wasn't part of the back-to-back Stanley Cup Championship teams in 2020 and 2021. In his first season with Tampa Bay in 2021-22, he helped the Lightning reach their third consecutive Cup Final, which they lost to the Colorado Avalanche in six games. 

He says the group is hungry to continue their postseason, but knows the Canadiens are equally hungry to add to the Lightning's recent run of playoff disappointments.

"We have a lot of belief in this room, there's no doubt about that," Hagel said. "Tomorrow will be a good test. You've got to win four games to win the series, that's just the reality of it. They've won in our building, we've won in their building, it's a tight series, it's a close series. It doesn't matter where we're at, we have the belief and we have the team to do it."