You didn't think the Ottawa Senators would just roll over and die, did you?
It really puts the game one steal into perspective.
The Habs dominated the first two games of the series, but only won one of them. They won it with brash physicality, a nose for the net, timely scoring and excellent goaltending.
The game two win would've demoralized the Sens, had it sent them back to Ottawa down 2-0 in the series. In Montreal, the Canadiens dominated nearly every aspect of the matchup, from faceoffs to hits, from blocked shots to shots, the Senators couldn't match their intensity.
Instead, the Senators took a game they didn't deserve, and after getting embarrassed in game two--albeit, not by the same margin of embarrassment the Senators dolled out to the Canadiens at Scotiabank Place last night--they came out with their most inspired performance of the series. In fact, they came out with their only inspired game of the series.
The Senators gave us a flavor of what has defined them this season. They showed incredible will and character, and they came out with their best game when they needed it most. They have seized momentum--which you have to figure will be extremely difficult to wrestle from them come Tuesday.
The onus is now very much on the Canadiens. Last night wasn't a proof of character for them. It was an exercise in futility. It was a close game through two periods turned into a gong-show third.
The game was hardly out of reach at 2-1, when Tomas Plekanec chipped a puck off the crossbar on the powerplay. At 3-1, Brian Gionta was stoned cold by Craig Anderson, and shortly after, Kyle Turris scored his first of the series with 13:00 remaining in the third period.
That was it.
The Canadiens had lost the game right in that moment. What happened after was a pure display of frustration and a calculated attempt at inflicting some degree of damage, even if it meant suffering some.
Five fights off the draw--five decisive victories for the Senators. P.K. Subban straddling Kyle Turris shortly after; spot-picking at its worst. A headshot and a powerhouse slash by Rene Bourque. Brendan Gallagher taking his frustration out on Cory Conacher. A timeout from Paul MacLean with :17 on the clock of a 6-1 game while the victors were on their 12th powerplay of the night. Josh Gorges slapping a puck at someone off the draw. It was all kinds of ugly.
You could say it was completely unnecessary that things devolve in such a manner in a game that wasn't close, but whether you like it or not, this is part of trying to win the war.
You can certainly agree, it wasn't a good thing for the Canadiens by any stretch of the imagination. They're not built to fight the likes of Matt Kassian, Jared Cowen and Chris Neil. The tradeoffs were certainly not in their favor. But that didn't stop them from releasing the boiling frustration that came with losing decisively; from expelling the bile that came with Eric Gryba's headshot on Lars Eller and all the posturing that followed.
"We will regroup...We will bounce back," said Michel Therrien after the game. Can they, in the face of such a loss of composure? Can they steal away the momentum Ottawa will ride high on in the first period of Tuesday's game?
I think we all understood why this matchup was so interesting before things got underway. These were the two most resilient teams of the Eastern Conference's regular season (for different reasons). The Sens showed their's in game three. If the Habs don't show their's in game four, you have to wonder just how resilient they are.
Resilient enough to dig themselves out of a 3-1 hole?
The Sens hold the hammer. The Habs must prove their will to avoid such undesirable circumstances.
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-It was reported that Brian Gionta will have to have surgery once this season is over. There's no reason to question the veracity of the report--which came from Kevin Weekes, Gionta's former teammate with the New Jersey Devils.
For a guy that's hurt, Gionta came to play last night. He wasn't the only one.
People will look at a 6-1 loss and call it what it appeared to be; an embarrassment.
It was an embarrassing third period, there's no debate. Up until that point, the Canadiens were in it, but they were outplayed by a Senators team that fought so hard to erase the image they had created of themselves in the first two games.
You have to give Ottawa full credit. They targeted Subban and Gallagher, right from the first shift, and they clearly got under both players' skin. They finished their checks, they got to the net, they scored timely goals.
-The refs set the tone of this one right from the start. A missed call on Eric Condra, who crosschecked Subban in the mouth less than a minute into the game showed both teams that liberties were there to be taken.
Talk about embarrassment, the officials were on par with anything you wanted to apply the label to last night.
-It took guts for Max Pacioretty to play. He's clearly not right. He didn't even take the morning skate. And yet, maybe the Canadiens would've done better with another player at 100%.
Pacioretty isn't doing what he needs to do to succeed in this series. He isn't getting to the net, where he can score with the best of them. And he isn't getting any help from David Desharnais.
-The guys on TSN 690s post-game show gave us the epitome of how uninvolved Desharnais is. Through three games, he has recorded ZERO shots on goal. Regardless of the fact that he's a passer, that is unacceptable.
Listening to Mitch Melnick with Conor McKenna on my way home from Ottawa, Melnick said something that couldn't be denied:
Desharnais looks like Scott Gomez out there.
Maybe someone should let Desharnais know what's being said about him. Somebody needs to light a fire under him.
Let's not get into the whole ice-time debate, as Lars Eller sits at home, licking his wounds.
If we're going to see a different Pacioretty, it might have to be next to someone else.
-Because the only player who's playing nearly as bad as Desharnais is Michael Ryder. That's not shocking considering how he played in the final ten games of the regular season, but it's completely shocking given the way he played in every other game before that.
Ryder is a clutch playoff scorer, and he's not showing signs that he's going to do that for the Canadiens in this series.
Another Melnick observation: Ryder hasn't looked the same since taking that monstrous hit from Kimmo Timmonen of the Philadelphia Flyers a few weeks back.
So be it.
Three players, all of them playing well below their standards, all of them on the same line!
If these three can't reverse their fortune, I have a hard time believing the Canadiens will be able to.
-The Habs lost a battle last night. If they want to win the war, they revert to the style that got them to where they stood before this series began.
Speed, skill, net presence. And they need the Carey Price from game two, not the one from games one and three.
-Was Chris Neil waiting for the home fans to be in his corner, or what?
Rene Bourque blows up Daniel Alfreddson in game two, and Neil jumps on the ice and does...nothing at all. The Sens were completely pounded by the Canadiens in game two, and clearly, they took it personally.
No question, the Montreal Canadiens took what happened to them last night personally.
-Alfredsson was great last night. So was Sergei Gonchar.
Obviously, Jean-Gabriel Pageau lived a dream, scoring a hat-trick; a Gatineau-born hero. He'll never forget it for the rest of his life.
-Yet to have a breakthrough performance: Erik Karlsson. Expect it in game four. It'll be another thing the Habs will have to overcome.
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