Costly moment from Nick Suzuki could give Tampa the edge
Nick Suzuki and Martin St-Louis head to Game 7 with Tampa Bay now holding a quote the Canadiens never needed to give away.
Suzuki said Montreal was the better team for most of Game 6 and that Andrei Vasilevskiy “kind of won them that game.” That may have been captain talk meant to keep the room steady, but it still gives the Lightning something to grab onto.
The problem is the numbers do not leave much room for that kind of claim. Tampa Bay outshot Montreal 33-30, and the faceoff split was 51.1% to 48.9%. That is not one team driving the other into the ice. It is a razor-thin playoff game.
That is why Suzuki’s comment carries weight now. Jon Cooper’s room did not need extra push before a winner-take-all game, but Montreal’s captain still handed it over.
It also drops pressure right back on Montreal’s top line. Through this series, Suzuki, Cole Caufield, and Juraj Slafkovsky have combined for only 1 point at 5-on-5, which is a hard number to drag into Game 7 when your captain is saying your team had control.
That is the real issue, not the quote by itself. If your best forwards had owned the series, the line might sound like swagger. With that even-strength output, it sounds a lot more dangerous.
Suzuki has earned room to speak. He just became one of only 5 players in Canadiens history with a 100-point season, so nobody is questioning whether he can carry big moments.
Nick Suzuki mistake could hand Tampa the edge at the worst moment
Caufield scored 51 goals this season, and Slafkovsky pushed past the 30-goal mark, so Montreal’s top-end talent is real. That is what makes the even-strength drought in this series stand out so much.
Game 7s do not leave much room for cleanup. One loose puck around the crease, one bad line change, one empty power play, and the whole story flips.
Tampa Bay also gets to walk into this game with Vasilevskiy fresh off the shutout and Brandon Hagel publicly calling him the best goalie in the world. That is a pretty clean emotional edge for the home side.
Suzuki probably was trying to protect belief in the Montreal locker room. Captains do that. They keep the bench from sagging after a 1-0 overtime loss.
But words travel fast in a playoff series like this. When you say the other goalie stole one in a game that was basically dead even, the other bench hears disrespect, not confidence.
Now Montreal has to answer it. If Suzuki and the Canadiens are still the better team, Game 7 is where they have to prove it, not say it.
Source : Nick Suzuki gifted the Lightning bulletin board material at the worst possible time
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YESTERDAY
MAY 2, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Logan Stankoven | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Jackson Blake | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Mike Reilly | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Taylor Hall | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Seth Jarvis | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Andrei Svechnikov | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Sebastian Aho | - | - | - | |
| Frederik Andersen | - | - | - | |
| Denver Barkey | - | - | - | |
| Alex Bump | - | - | - | |
| William Carrier | - | - | - | |
| Noah Cates | - | - | - | |
| Jalen Chatfield | - | - | - | |
| Sean Couturier | - | - | - | |
| Jamie Drysdale | - | - | - | |
| Christian Dvorak | - | - | - | |
| Nikolaj Ehlers | - | - | - | |
| Tyson Foerster | - | - | - | |
| Luke Glendening | - | - | - | |
| Shayne Gostisbehere | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||