I don't know if there is panic in the Montreal Canadiens room or not, but during their second failed chance to put away the Ottawa Senators, there was certainly visible frustration.
Craig Anderson played his 3rd straight stellar game, and has brought the Senators back into the series that many people had written them out of.
I said in yesterday's preview that the two keys to Ottawa extending the series to a 6th game would be to weather the first 10 minutes and come out of it tied, or even better, ahead. Check. Anderson was great as the Habs buzzed early on, and then Bobby Ryan scored his first goal in what seemed like forever (and probably seemed even longer to him) to break the ice 9 and a half minutes in.
The other key (and that was equally important for both teams) was to get traffic, because the way the two goalies were playing if they could see it, they were going to stop it. Check. Four of Ottawa's 5 goals came via tip or screen (or both), and there wasn't much Carey Price could do on most of them.
On the other hand, Anderson had to deal with just as much traffic, and certainly more contact, than his counterpart and on this night he was positionally sound enough to make those saves even on shots he couldn't see coming. Anderson made 45 saves, many of them of the difficult variety as the Habs spent almost as much time in the blue paint as he did, culminating in a stick battle with Brandon Prust in the game's dying minutes.
The Senators did a fantastic job of bothering Price and getting in his line of sight, but I can't think of more than one or two instance where they actually made contact with the goalie, meanwhile Anderson was seemingly constantly not only having to ward off the puck but bodies as well.
I also said yesterday that it felt like a breakout game was coming and whatever line had that night, their team would win the game. Well, a couple of Ottawa's lines did just that, with Bobby Ryan getting an elephant off his back. And that elephant had a piano on its back, and there was a monkey playing that piano. The Senators' second line accounted for 2 goals, one of them coming on the power play The third line was on the ice for 2 goals for as well, and even Erik Condra, who is perhaps best known for his lack of prowess on scoring chances, beat Price on a breakaway.
The Senators got two goals from Ryan, 2 from its defensemen, and 2 goals (on 2 shots) on 4 power play chances.
You also have to give the Senators' fourth line credit, because although they didn't contribute offensively, they spent considerable offensive zone time on the cycle and did their jobs as well.
There is a little cause for concern because Clarke MacArthur didn't come out to play the third period with a lower body injury, but hopefully for the Senators' sake it was more precautionary with a 3-0 lead rather than something that will keep him out of Game 6. Even if he can't play, Milan Michalek played well in that spot while MacArthur was out over the last month of the regular season, and if Chris Neil has to come back into the lineup he has shown he can fill a limited 4th line role. Missing MacArthur would take away some options for Dave Cameron but wouldn't be tragic.
Anderson stole the show, stopping even the shots he couldn't see, but credit the Senators for finally giving their netminder some breathing room, something neither team has been able to do. The managed to get the first 2-goal (and eventually 3- and 4- goal) lead of the series and he made it stand up. Anderson might not be Carey Price in terms of overall long-term consistency, but he has shown in the past that when he gets "in the zone", or Beastmode, there aren't many goaltenders who are better. The question over the next 2 (and maybe 4) days is - how long he can make that last?
This game doesn't really change much in the grand scheme of things, and although they got to Price this time around, don't expect it will be any easier to take Game 6 or that the Habs will just roll over now that they have lost twice in a row. Ottawa still faces a must win situation coming home, and will need to continue to improve and get even better to force a game 7. This might have been one-sided on the scoreboard, but the game was much more even that the score indicates, thanks to Anderson.
But the learning curve of the young and inexperienced Senators, especially the bottom 4 defensemen, has been pretty steep and they aren't making the same mistakes that they did in the first couple of games. Maybe they were a little tentative in the first 2 games, but it seems like they have realized that hockey is hockey and although the intensity ratchets up in the playoffs, it is still the same game.
The Canadiens looked visibly frazzled, from Coach Therrien (much to the chagrin of Senators fans I am sure) down to Brendan Gallagher, Dale Weise, Brandon Prust and P.K. Subban. It was the Habs' veterans that were committing the errors (turnovers by Subban and Andrei Markov that led to scoring chances or goals) at inopportune times. Once they got behind they could be accused of trying to do too much individually t get back in the game and it cost them.
The bottom line is that, Montreal, just like Ottawa, must turn the page because the reset button is pushed and it starts all over again at 0-0 Sunday evening. Give credit where it is due, but the Senators are only halfway there in their quest to dig out of the hole they had dug for themselves. There still isn't room for error for the Sens, while the Habs have 2 more chances, even though they have frittered away their first two opportunities, to put the Senators on the sidelines.