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Brendan Gallagher could make his 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs debut for the Montreal Canadiens in Game 5, and the timing lands with the series tied 2-2 at Benchmark International Arena. Victor Hedman is still out for the Tampa Bay Lightning, keeping both sides short of full strength in the Eastern Conference First Round.
Gallagher and Hedman
Gallagher has not played through the first four games of the best-of-7 series, but he was not on the ice with the scratches on Wednesday morning like he had been previously. Oliver Kapanen was on the ice with the scratches instead, a small lineup shift that pointed toward the Canadiens at least considering a change before puck drop.
Martin St. Louis did not confirm any lineup changes, but he did speak about what Gallagher would bring if he gets in. “There’s no doubt that, if he plays, he’s going to give you everything he has,” St. Louis said. “I think he does that every game.”
Lightning depth test
Hedman skated with Tampa Bay at the morning skate on Wednesday, but Jon Cooper said he remains out. He has not played since March 19 and took a leave of absence from the team on March 25, leaving the Lightning to keep moving without one of their most experienced defensemen.
That absence sits alongside a roster that includes players getting their first taste of the postseason, while Nikita Kucherov has played 156 playoff games and Andrei Vasilevskiy has played 124. Cooper tried to frame that balance in blunt terms: “You talk about experience and yeah we have a core group that's been around, but we've got a huge group.... I can go through a list of guys that have never been in this environment,” he said.
Game 5 pressure
The numbers around the series line up with why Game 5 carries so much weight. Each team has scored 11 goals through four games, each has taken 34 penalties, and each is averaging just over 23 shots per game. In tied 2-2 best-of-7 series, the Game 5 winner has gone on to take the round 239-62, or 79.4 percent of the time.
That history is split between home and road too, with the home team going 150-36 and the road team 89-26 in those situations. For Montreal, Gallagher’s possible return and Hedman’s continued absence are the clearest lineup developments heading into a game that has already tilted toward a coin-flip series deciding stretch.
