Montreal fills the net in a must-win, Chicago sweeps Minnesota, and some thoughts on dynasty defenceman rankings. 

****

The Montreal Canadiens managed to extend their season by at least one game with a 6-2 bombing of the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 4. Tampa leads the series 3-1 but now have to make a trip back to Montreal for Game 5 on Saturday night for another chance to close it out.

There really wasn't a lot of rhyme or reason to this game other than Tampa looked less than their best. The Habs loaded on the shots, and have now averaged 36 shots per game in four games against Tampa. That's a bit incredible considering Montreal averaged just 24 shots per game in five games against Tampa in the regular season. As I mentioned in my Ramblings yesterday, the Habs were due for a bit of luck (Brandon Prust's goal last night comes to mind). The team was shooting 5.1-percent at five-on-five in the playoffs, and just 2-percent on the power play (all from War On Ice). Going into Game 4, they were shooting 3.8-percent (at all strengths) in three games against the Lightning. They got a lot of that luck back in this game.

****

Lightning goalie Ben Bishop allowed two goals on nine shots in the first period, and then was pulled in favour of Andrei Vasilevskiy after allowing the third goal just over five minutes into the second period. Not much changed, as the Habs made it 5-0 within the next five minutes, and the game was over from there. The broadcast team in Canada was wondering aloud why to pull Bishop after the third goal. I assume Tampa coach Jon Cooper was looking to reinvigorate his team by taking out Bishop, which is a very common thing. Also, with this being the second game in as many nights, I think he gave Bishop some rest instead of having him play three full games in four nights. It seems to be much ado about nothing, and I had no issue with taking Bishop out, considering the game state at the time.