If game one is any indication on what the first round playoff series between the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens is going to be like, then buckle up.
Ottawa missed out on a golden opportunity as the Habs were playing without Max Pacioretty and then P.K. Subban for over half of the game (more on that later), but in the end it was Brian Flynn having a career night that sunk the chance for the Senators to gain home ice advantage.
For the much hyped battle of the goaltenders, neither Andrew Hammond nor Carey Price will be putting this one in their personal top-10s as both fought the puck at times made mistakes, and both were very good at times. Price did what he had to do and finished one save better, despite the chances the Senators had, and that is all that matters in the end.
For the Senators, they might as well have been playing without Bobby Ryan who, aside from a big hit on Subban early on, was pretty invisible all night and had about as much impact as Pacioretty did. In fact, he didn't even see the ice in the last 6 minutes with the Senators needing a goal, and that says a lot unless he is injured.
In the end it wasn't the goaltending, but careless defense that cost the Senators. Too many odd man rushes and defensive zone lapses left Hammond on his own. The Canadiens were opportunistic, moreso than the Senators who had multiple golden opportunities to even the score but slid it past the post or Price came up big (and fortunate on a couple of occasions).
So no time for panic for the Senators, they were in the game start (at least after the first 5 minute flurry) to finish, and were a shot away from forcing overtime. Nobody (who was realistic) thought the Senators would sweep the Habs and they still have a chance to come home with the all-important split on Friday night.
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Now, for the real story of the game, and I know the criticisms that are coming my way from one particular segment of the population, but it would be doing a disservice for me not to discuss it.
I never want to hear a Habs fan complain about someone running Carey Price or targeting P.K. Subban or hitting Lars Eller or whoever ever again. For all the whining and complaining that came about from Chris Kreider taking out Price in last year's Conference Final, the Canadiens certainly have no problem dishing it out themselves.
The tactics used by the Canadiens were not hockey plays and have no part in the game. First off, how Subban escaped a penalty for tomahawking (for lack of a more politically correct word) Jean-Gabriel Pageau in the head in the first period is beyond me. I don't think that one was particularly intentional or vicious, but it was clearly a high stick in anyone's book. It was an intense game where there were missed calls going both ways (Eric Gryba got away with a pretty big interference call later on), but after an official calls the play and reverses his mind on such an obvious call is unsettling.
I am referring more to the targeting by the Habs on the Senators' star players. Subban's baseball swing (or tomahawk) slash to Stone's wrist was a targeted attempt to injure and certainly not a hockey play. He deserved every second of that 5 minute major and a game, regardless of his tantrum after getting caught. The fact that the punishment was diminished by somehow singling out Kyle Turris and giving him an even-up penalty on the ensuing scrum is laughable considering how many scrums there were on the night, instigated by the Habs but left completely unpunished. The Senators should have had a 2 man advantage for the full time of Eller's remaining penalty and that could have been a game-changing call. Instead, Montreal scores a turning-point shorthanded goal and Ottawa is fighting from behind.
Combine that with the blatant two-hander from Torrey Mitchell to Erik Karlsson's wrist at (or after?) the final buzzer. That was another non-hockey play and simply dirty. I know it is the playoffs, and I say bring on the physical, hard hitting, on the edge hockey. But those two incidents were not hockey plays and it is no coincidence that it happened to be Mark Stone, one of the best players in the league in the second half, and Eric Karlsson, a Norris Trophy candidate and Ottawa's best player.
Stone came back and left a couple of times, but played just 6 minutes or so in the second half of the game, and clearly had no strength in that wrist. Still, I fully expected a Bobby Baun moment, and that he would tie the game up in the dying seconds but it wasn't meant to be.
If you want to target those players, that is fine, and even expected. But at least make it look like you are trying to do it as part of a hockey game. That certainly wasn't, and you can say that Stone returned and was involved in the scuffle at the end of the game, but he clearly wasn't the same player and was certainly playing injured after the Subban slash. If he gets suspended he has no one to blame but himself because that was a blatant assault, and there is no place for that.
The Senators are no angels, and they didn't pass up many opportunities to finish checks. Mark Borowiecki and Brendan Gallagher had plenty of battles where penalties could have been called either way, but they were hockey battles, not targeted thuggery. There is a difference between targeting a player with a hit or giving him a whack on the shin pads or a shove to the back in front of the net to let him know that you are there, and outright assault. What the Habs did in game 1 crossed a line in my book.
And Habs fans wonder why the team gets no respect. Play between the whistles and quit the post whistle tough-guy act. Play the game the way it is supposed to be played. Say what you want about Eric Gryba's hit on Lars Eller in their last playoff series, but that was a guy stepping up to make a hit on a guy who had just played the puck, not a blatant attempt to injure targeting a star player. And Montreal fans wanted Gryba decapitated for that hit.
But the Habs overcame the loss of Subban and are full credit for the win. I don't expect he will get suspended because he is a star player (not an Eric Gryba type) and it is the playoffs. Hopefully Stone is OK after some rest and treatment and can play at full strength come Friday night.