Canadiens have 'great opportunity' against Lightning in Game 6

MONTREAL -- The Montreal Canadiens will have a raucous and enthusiastic Bell Centre crowd behind them when they hit the ice Friday with the opportunity to win their first playoff series since 2021.

The Canadiens lead the best-of 7 Eastern Conference First Round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 following a 3-2 win at Benchmark International Arena on Wednesday. Montreal can advance to the second round with a win in Game 6 at home on Friday (7 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, ESPN2, The Spot).

"We can use the crowd to our advantage," Montreal defenseman Kaiden Guhle said in a Zoom call from Tampa on Thursday. "But we've just got to stay even keel through all of it and I think that's kind of a big thing. It's going to be loud, the fans are going to be excited but the big thing for us is just to kind of not get too high, not get too low, not get nervous, not do too much or too little, just keep playing our game."

Tampa Bay has plenty of experience competing in hostile environments. Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, defenseman Ryan McDonagh, and forwards Nikita Kucherov, Anthony Cirelli and Yanni Gourde are some of the Lightning players who won the Stanley Cup for a second straight season when they defeated Montreal in five games in the 2021 Final.

"I feel like it was such a great opportunity to go against the team (this playoffs) that probably set the standard the last 10 years," Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. "We haven't done anything yet but it's a challenge, it was going to be a challenge, still is a challenge. This is a veteran, talented group that is not going to go away easy, wasn't going to give you anything for free. And the ups and downs of it is part of it, but the learning through it, I think is what is most important."

The Canadiens spent the past five seasons rebuilding their roster for the first time in franchise history. St. Louis was hired with no previous NHL coaching experience during the 2021-22 season and Montreal finished last in the Atlantic Division three years in a row.

But the Canadiens improved each season and made the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season, losing to the Washington Capitals in five games in the first round. Montreal now finds itself in the driver's seat with two opportunities to close out the series, which has seen the first three games decided in overtime and all five games decided by one goal.

"Every game we learn, we learned some stuff last night, and you try to carry that into the next game, put your best foot forward, stick to the process," St. Louis said. "So cliche and nothing guaranteed but it's all about raising the percentages on your side, nothing guaranteed."

Guhle was encouraged by the Canadiens' performance in Game 5, when they successfully held off relentless pressure by the Lightning to deny the tying goal and protect their one-goal lead after Alexandre Texier's goal 1:06 into the third period gave Montreal its third lead of the game.

"I thought last game was really good," Guhle said. "We defended well. We were playing fast, we were playing well, everyone was engaged and doing the right things, doing what the game was asking of them. I think it's just kind of building off what we did last night. We should be good."