You will hear lots of numbers over the day and evening about how tough it is to come back from a series deficit of 3-0 to force a game 7, and also how tough it is to beat Carey Price in back to back games, let alone back to back to back.
Including this series, Price is 13-9 this season after a loss (including OT losses as a loss), has lost 3 games in a row just twice all year, and lost twice in a row just 4 times.
We know that he is good. He is great. But heading into tonight's game 6, it doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter that the Senators have beaten him twice in a row, or that the Habs beat the Senators 3 times in a row before that. It doesn't matter what happened in 2013. It doesn't matter that Craig Anderson has stepped in and stopped 120 of 123 shots fired his way in the past 3 games.
Right now the Senators don't need to beat Carey Price three straight times. They only need to beat him once. Tonight.
It doesn't really matter that the Senators seemed to get the Habs frustrated, because I fully expect them to brush that game aside and press reset, just like I expect the Senators to.
That doesn't mean that there aren't experiences for everyone to draw on from the past that will affect the game and the way it is played, but nothing truly matters until the teams take to the ice at 6:00 and the puck drops.
And, as we saw in Chicago and Calgary last night, even a two or three goal deficit doesn't matter too much.
The only thing that matters is the final score after 60 minutes, or longer, and who is standing at the end. It doesn't matter how a team gets there, as long as they get the number under their name on the scoreboard is at least one integer higher than their opponent's number.
The Senators have been on an incredible run to get here, and the building will be rocking without a doubt. But the team needs to harness that energy and play with the same deliberate pace they played the last 3 games. They didn't look desperate in the last game when facing elimination in the Bell Centre, they weathered the early storm and went about their business. They need to do the same tonight.
The Canadiens certainly want to close it out tonight, because even though you want that game 7 on your home ice and played consistently all season to get that privilege, the Habs don't want to be in a winner take all game after having blown 3 chances to put away their rival.
The Senators didn't skate yesterday, so it is still uncertain whether or not Clarke MacArthur will be available after missing the third period of game 5, but Dave Cameron expects to have all hands on deck, which is a good thing. Assuming MacArthur can go, expect the same lineup for the Senators.
Ottawa has done a great job holding the Habs' top 6 in check, while the "Jackpot line" of MacArthur-Turris-Stone slowed up but the Hoffman-Zibanejad-Ryan line finally came to life and picked up the slack in game 5.
Both teams employed the strategy of getting into the face of their opposing goaltenders, with Anderson winning the battle of being screened, being more effective at making the save without being able to see the shot coming. Both goalies can expect that strategy to continue because other than breakaways every shot that eluded the masked men in game 5 was either screened or deflected on the way, or in most cases, both.
The odds say, for so many reasons, that this will be the last home game of the season for the Senators, but then again Ottawa has been bucking the odds for the last 9 weeks.
In the immortal words of The Rock - "It doesn't matter".