High temperatures in the bay area might bother the Montreal players, but the pressure of their playoff situation doesn't.
By TOM JONES
Published April 25, 2004
TAMPA - Forget discovering an antidote for Vinny Lecavalier. Ignore finding a solution to the Nikolai Khabibulin puzzle. Scrap the adjustments and game plans and new ideas.
What the Canadiens might really need after dropping the first game of this series against the Lightning is some air conditioning, a fan and a tall, cool glass of lemonade.
When you come to Tampa Bay, it's not Khabibulin, it's the Khumidity.
"It was a little bit harder for us because the temperature outside was hot and the guys were exhausted after a period and a half," Canadiens forward Alex Kovalev said in explaining his team's 4-0 loss in Game 1. "It's hard to get yourself going. Hopefully, we'll get used to this weather and it will be a little bit easier on our bodies (today)."
Don't make fun of Kovalev. He didn't pin all the Canadiens' woes on the weather. "You don't have to look at the video to know we didn't play well," he said.
Whether it was the temperatures outside or the heat supplied by the Lightning inside the St. Pete Times Forum, clearly the Canadiens who showed up Friday night were not the same team that left Boston last week after overcoming a 3-1 deficit and surviving an emotional seven-game series.
And the team that shows up today, the Canadiens promise, will not be the same team the Lightning ran over in Game 1.
"They played well, but the way they play is out of our control," Montreal goalie Jose Theodore said. "We just have to play up to our potential. And we didn't play up to our potential."
In fact, it doesn't appear as if coach Claude Julien is planning any major shakeups for Game 2 simply because he believes his Habs will play better.
"We didn't execute what we were supposed to execute and that's why we didn't play well," Julien said. "Everything we saw in watching the game tape, if we would've done the things we were supposed to, a lot of those things wouldn't have happened. So we have to look at ourselves more."
What happened to the Canadiens Friday? Well, maybe the weather played a role. But a better bet is the Canadiens have yet to fill up again emotionally after emptying their tanks against the Bruins.
"There's going to be an adjustment period," Canadiens defenseman Craig Rivet said. "We came off a huge high and a seven-game series with Boston. ... We need to be better prepared. Seems like we were always one step behind them, one second late into the corners, one second late getting to the puck."
If the Canadiens can see anything positive it's that they dropped the first game of the last series against Boston 3-0 and were counted out three games later when they fell behind 3-1 after what appeared to be a devastating overtime loss.
But they rebounded to play three near-perfect games. So one loss isn't sending the Canadiens into a panic.
"Well, we've been here before," captain Saku Koivu said. "But we don't want to get down by two games. ... We have to bounce back. We definitely can play a lot better."
