NHL Playoffs: The Canadiens upset the Knights in game six to advance to the Stanley Cup finals!
Montreal, Canada - The Montreal Canadiens are on their way to the Stanley Cup finals after taking care of the Vegas Golden Knights in overtime of Game 6!
The Habs have done it again. They continue to shock the hockey world, this time by eliminating the Knights 3-2 on Thursday night to advance to the Stanley Cup finals. This will be their first appearance in the championship round in almost 30 years, since they lifted the cup in 1993.
Artturi Lehkonen (25) scored his third goal in the playoffs, one minute and 13 seconds into overtime, punching Montreal’s ticket to the finals. It was a hard-fought game, but there's no tougher team than the Canadiens out there. Coupled with making all the right plays, this spelled the end of the Knights' season.
And it wasn't just about offense for Montreal. Vegas they threw everything at Montreal goalie Carey Price, who stopped 37 of 39 shots in the win. Although they suffered fewer hits in this game, the Knights also got burned by costly penalties, including a first period power-play goal by Montreal’s captain, Shea Weber, to break the scoreless tie.
Reilly Smith answered with an equalizer less than a minute later to keep his team hanging in, and Vegas deserves credit for doing just that. Even as the Habs looked like they would clinch it in regulation time, thanks to Cole Caufield's goal in the second period, Alec Martinez tied things up again and the Knights held on to send things into overtime.
But they had nothing left to give after that, and there was only ever going to be one winner – the Canadians, who incredibly had the worst record of all 16 teams that made the playoffs.
Do the Habs have one more upset left in them?
Montreal now awaits the winner of the other semifinal series between the Islanders and the Lightning, who have a game seven set for Friday night. Both Tampa Bay, the defending champions, and New York were expected to get this far, but the Canadians' weren't given a snowball's chance in hell.
Whoever faces them can't think that away, otherwise we're up for one of the biggest upsets in NHL history.
Cover photo: IMAGO / ZUMA Press