Playing to their strengths puts Canadiens on cusp of Round 2 | HI/O Show

The Canadiens are one win away from advancing to the second round of the playoffs, leading their best-of-seven series with the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 heading into Game 6 Friday at the Bell Centre.

On this week’s Hockey Inside/Out Show, three members of the Canadiens’ 1986 Stanley Cup team — Chris Nilan, Rick Green and Brian Skrudland — join The Gazette’s Stu Cowan to talk about what impressed them the most in the Canadiens’ 3-2 win over the Lightning in Game 5 Wednesday night in Tampa and set the stage for Game 6.

Canadiens centre Kirby Dach celebrates a third-period goal by winger Alexandre Texier as Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy looks at the puck in Game 5 Wednesday in Tampa, Fla. Dirk Shadd / Tampa Bay Times

The three former teammates also weigh in on head coach Martin St. Louis’s decision to put Brendan Gallagher in the lineup for Game 5 — which paid off — after he was a healthy scratch for the first four games, the play of Kirby Dach and goalie Jakub Dobes, and how the No. 1 line of Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky has struggled to score at five-on-five.

Also, what would the former Canadiens say to this team ahead of Game 6 at what will be a wild and crazy Bell Centre?

It’s always a fun show when these three former teammates get together.

Nilan, Green and Skrudland will also be together for our three Hockey Inside/Out Show bonus episodes coming up during the next few days, so look for those, and we will be back with a new Hockey Inside/Out Show next week.

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