TAMPA, Florida -- The Tampa Bay Lightning get their third crack at eliminating the Montreal Canadiens with Game 6 on tap at 7:30 p.m. ET Tuesday at Amalie Arena. Here's what to watch for:
Callahan is out: The Lightning suffered a big blow on the eve of Game 6 when top-six winger Ryan Callahan underwent an emergency appendectomy Monday night.
"You can't plug Ryan Callahan's hole," coach Jon Cooper said Tuesday morning. "He's a guy that, the hole he leaves -- he's a leader on our team. He's extremely important. He plays with passion, grit. He plays with all those things that help you win. But he plays with such character and grace. You win with guys like Ryan Callahan. That's why he's another one that's played so many playoff games in his career because you win with guys like that. We saw that the day he came here in the trade last year, and he's done nothing but elevate the play of our team. ...
"But one guy doesn't make a team. I don't think you can say that about any team in this league. That's where you need your depth and you need guys to step up. Ryan Callahan plays 15-20 minutes a night, somebody's going to have to take those minutes and run with them."
Perhaps in a bit of gamesmanship, Cooper left the door open for Callahan's return Tuesday night, although we all know that’s not going to happen.
"Who had the famous line? 'Everybody's day to day,' " Cooper said. "Something like that. We're all day to day. You know how that goes. So we'll see. I have not talked to him since he's been released [from the hospital], so we'll see how he's feeling. Is he extremely doubtful for tonight? Sure he is. But I've done a little researching now on the whole subject and I've read it's taken people weeks and I've read it's taken people a day to get back. I would say he falls somewhere in those parameters. And knowing how tough Callahan is, I'll put him closer to the days than the weeks."
Who's in for Callahan?: Cooper would not say, though it’s interesting to note that rookie forward Jonathan Marchessault skated Tuesday morning with the main group and for the first time was given a locker-room stall.
Does that mean he’s playing?
"I mean the coach told me to come ready to play, I'm going to do warmups and he's going to tell me after warmups if I'm in or not,” Marchessault said. "So obviously I'm going to listen to that and come ready to play."
The 24-year-old led Tampa’s AHL team in Syracuse in scoring this season with 67 points (24-43) in 68 games. He also scored April 11 in the Lightning's last regular-season game after being recalled.
"If I get a chance to get in, I want to show what I can do," he said. "I think the last game of the season I had a good game here. So, hopefully I can go on the same pattern and just be intense and be ready to play a playoff game here."
Cooper also has Vladislav Namestnikov or Jonathan Drouin as options, too.
But if Marchessault plays over Drouin, it would truly underline the lack of trust the Lightning coaching staff have in the rookie forward.
Will they go to 11/7?: Cooper opted to go with 11 forwards and seven defensemen in Game 5, and it’s possible, though not for sure, that he does it again Tuesday night. It’s not common for teams to go this route, but Cooper had a lot of success doing so in 2012 while coaching the AHL Norfolk Admirals to the Calder Cup.
Why does he like the 11-7 lineup?
"The short version is sometimes you can get your better players on the ice more," he said. "You're not sitting guys on the bench, putting a guy in the middle of the bench and saying, 'You're not playing for the longest time.' It can take some minutes away from some of your defensemen, you can put situational defensemen in. You get a little parade to the penalty box with defensemen, you still got more guys back there.
"For me, I'm all about it in certain situations. We've played well when we've gone with that lineup."
Habs are feeling it: The Canadiens are looking to be just the 10th team in NHL history to push a series to Game 7 after being down 3-0.
They’ve been playing with house money ever since losing Game 3. They are a loose group entering Game 6.
"We're playing with confidence," coach Michel Therrien said in French on Tuesday morning. "That confidence comes from the way in which you’re playing. When you play well, when you’re doing good things, you feel that confidence. But we’re also conscious that we’ve accomplished nothing yet. Our philosophy hasn’t changed, we’re in the moment. But you also have to look at the big picture.
"It’s been our philosophy since we were down 0-3. We started Game 4 wanting to bring the series back to the Bell Centre. Then we played at the Bell Centre and wanted to bring it back to Tampa. Now we want to force a Game 7."
Projected lineups:
Difficult to predict the lineup for the Lightning; Cooper didn’t tip his hand on what he’ll do with Callahan out. But here is what the Lightning did for Game 5 with Callahan in and when they went with 11 forwards and seven defensemen:
Lightning (UPDATED: 7:39 p.m. ET)
Alex Killorn-Valtteri Filppula-Steven Stamkos
Ondrej Palat-Tyler Johnson-Nikita Kucherov
Brenden Morrow-Brian Boyle-J.T. Brown
Cedric Paquette-Jonathan Marchessault
Canadiens
Max Pacioretty-Tomas Plekanec-Brendan Gallagher
Alex Galchenyuk-David Desharnais-Dale Weise
Brandon Prust-Lars Eller-P.A. Parenteau