TORONTO (Apr. 9) – After more than six months of the regular season, the playoff fate of the Montreal Canadiens could hinge on a dreadfully foreign concept: A team coached by Jacques Martin beating the Toronto Maple Leafs in a game that matters.
Long-time fans of the Ottawa Senators would probably snicker, given how Martin became perennial fodder for the Leafs during his years behind the bench in the nation’s capital. Upon a fourth consecutive playoff loss to Toronto in a five-year span [in 2004], Jacques was excused from further agony. On Saturday night – two NHL stops later – Martin’s team may have to beat the Leafs again to save his season. And, if the Habs' preparedness for Thursday night’s debacle in Raleigh, N.C. is an indication, history could easily repeat itself.
Owing to longevity, and the serial recycling of coaches in the NHL, Martin sits eighth among his colleagues in all-time regular-season victories [556], right behind another man with nine lives – the Maple Leafs’ Ron Wilson. As of this moment, neither fellow is apt to receive Hall of Fame consideration based on playoff worthiness. Though Wilson has once been to the Stanley Cup final – with Washington in 1998 – he is better known for premature implosions in San Jose (he’s not alone). Martin almost made it to the Cup final with Ottawa in 2003, the one year his club did not have to face the Leafs along the way. The Senators lost a heart-breaker on home ice to New Jersey in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference championship.
Now, Martin’s Canadiens may have to defeat the Leafs at the Bell Centre on Saturday to secure a playoff berth in a terribly mediocre year for much of the Eastern sector. Given that it appears the Leafs have finally grown tired of meaningless games [1-3-2 in the past six, including “mail-ins” against Philadelphia and the Rangers earlier this week], the Canadiens’ task may not be particularly onerous. And, Montreal could have a post-season spot locked up before the Toronto game… if Philadelphia defeats the Rangers tonight. Otherwise, it'll be nail-biting time for Canadiens supporters, all of whom would be wise to avoid looking up Martin’s record against the Maple Leafs in important games.
The Canadiens and Rangers could finish this season with an identical record in the standings, giving Montreal the edge for a playoff spot based on the third sequence in the tie-breaking formula. The Habs and Rangers would have the same points and total victories. But, Montreal defeated New York in three of four match-ups during the regular season. Otherwise, we may have had a repeat of the bizarre scenario from 40 years ago this week.
The end of the 1969-70 season in the East Division is now hockey folklore. Montreal, New York and Detroit went into the final weekend scrambling for the final two playoff positions [Chicago and Boston had clinched while the Leafs were buried in the cellar by 20 points]. On Saturday night [Apr. 4], the Red Wings hammered the Rangers, 6-2, at the Detroit Olympia to secure their place in the Stanley Cup tournament. Though the same teams had an afternoon game the following day at Madison Square Garden, the Detroit players chose to burn the midnight oil in celebration of their achievement. As a result, the vast majority of them arrived at the Garden half-in-the-bag.
The Canadiens were wildly rooting for Detroit to defeat New York, thereby eliminating the Rangers before Montreal’s game later that night in Chicago. But, the Red Wing players were in no condition to compete, and Detroit got bombed, 9-5, in a nationally televised fiasco. What it meant is that the Canadiens either had to gain a point [win or a tie] in Chicago… or score at least five goals while losing to the Blackhawks. A loss would drop Montreal to an identical record with New York [38-22-16]. The Habs and Rangers had split their season-series. But the nine-goal New York eruption against Detroit earlier in the day gave the Blueshirts a 246-242 edge in the fourth tie-breaker: total goals scored.
So, the Habs went into Chicago Stadium hoping to win or tie, but knowing they could lose and still make the playoffs by scoring five goals. When the Blackhawks raced out to a 4-1 lead early in the third period, Montreal coach Claude Ruel threw in the towel on a victory or a draw. He decided his team would only be able to qualify on its scoring total and he pulled goalie Rogatien Vachon for a sixth attacker… with 17 minutes left on the clock. Needless to say, the move backfired.
Chicago happily poured in six empty-net goals to obliterate the Canadiens, 10-2, and bounce Montreal from the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in 22 years.
How about this scenario, Leaf fans [courtesy of my colleague at the radio station, Mike Hogan]?
Say the Rangers beat the Flyers tonight at Madison Square Garden, pulling to within a point of the Canadiens in the standings. A Montreal loss to Toronto in regulation time would allow New York to eliminate the Habs with another win, at Philadelphia, on Sunday [if the Flyers get a point in either game – and Montreal loses to Toronto – Philly would also finish ahead of the Canadiens; Boston would finish ahead of Montreal with just one point in its final two matches]. Knowing this, is there any chance Ron Wilson might pull Jean-Sebastien Giguere in a tie-game late in regulation… to try and make the Habs sweat it out for another day?
Heck, the Leafs-Habs rivalry needs something to spice it up given no playoff meetings in the past 31 years, and Montreal’s 10-0 edge in Stanley Cup victories since 1967.
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