A different beast?
It felt as though the Montreal Canadiens encountered one in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday night, losing 5-1 to the defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena.
Nikita Kucherov scored twice and Erik Cernak, Yanni Gourde and Steven Stamkos claimed singles for the Lightning, while Ben Chiarot registered the lone goal from the Habs.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 18 saves for his 13th victory on the path to 16 wins. Carey Price was the slightly busier of the two netminders, making 21 stops.
Here's what happened in Game 1:
Danault becomes the hunted
Tonight — and for the first time in these playoffs, really — we witnessed the limitations associated with having a top line that's focused entirely on the defensive side of things.