from Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette,

“(The Lightning) have all the pressure, definitely,” Therrien said. “We were in the same position in the first round (against Ottawa). We had a 3-0 lead in the series and they took us to six games. The fourth game is always the hardest to win.”

The first round of the playoffs offered examples of both teams handling pressure. The Canadiens seemed to ease up after winning the first three games against Ottawa and struggled to win Game 6.

The Lightning never led in its series against the Detroit Red Wings until it won 2-0 in Game 7. Detroit led that series 3-2, but Tampa Bay won Game 6 in Detroit 5-2 and then relied on Ben Bishop for a shutout in the deciding game.

Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said that the final outcome of the series will reveal which team faced the most pressure.

“Whoever ends up losing the game is the team that had the most pressure and couldn’t get through it,” Cooper said. “Let’s be honest, that’s what it is. If you don’t read a newspaper and you don’t watch TV, you wouldn’t really know anything other than we’re playing the Montreal Canadiens tomorrow. That’s kind of how I’m looking at it.

“It’s been fun playing these guys this year,” Cooper added.

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