Last night was a foray into the theatre of the ridiculous.
Ridiculous--Montreal's play though the first two periods.
Ridiculous--The Habs scoring three goals on their first five shots; one shorthanded, one on the powerplay, and one at even strength.
Ridiculous--The notion that the Canadiens could just sit back and watch the rest of the game with an early three-goal lead secured.
Ridiculous--Carey Price.
In fact, Price's performance goes down as one of the most ridiculous goaltending performances the game's seen since the days of Dominic Hasek. Granted, Tim Thomas and Craig Anderson threw it back to Hasek a few times over recent playoff memories.
Here's the difference. Anderson, Thomas, even Hasek are examples of reactionary goalies. Goalies that aren't known for positioning, but known for their acrobatic prowess, their anticipation, and their incredible reaction to a play they seem to be out of.
Carey Price wasn't making easy saves look hard last night. He was making hard saves look hard. He was even making hard saves look easy. Before 40 minutes expired, Price was put to the test on at least 20 top notch scoring opportunities. He allowed four goals on 38 shots, and his team didn't just sit back, they pulled up a chair on the ice and watched their goaltender in amazement, leaving him to not just do most of the job, but do the whole thing. If they'd have continued to watch, they'd have come home losers of the hockey game.
Instead, the Habs held Ottawa to six shots in the third period, while they managed a measly five--one of them, a breakaway for Tomas Plekanec that Anderson put a boot on. The problem for Anderson: Jarred Cowen put a boot on it too, and it trickled by to give the Canadiens the life they didn't deserve.
Subban's OT-winner came with a genuine reaction of excitement and relief. There was nothing contrived about it. It was a stinker past Anderson; the kind of goal the Senators would've broken the Canadiens with last night. It was a thank you to Carey Price; a debt of gratitude, paid in part, for part of that game from the team was irredeemable.
"I'm hard-pressed to find another goalie that's better than him right now, in the world," said Subban after the game. It was his opinion, and it was pretty congruent with the facts.
Price has been ridiculously good. It was a ridiculous hockey game. ******************
Previous to this hockey game, I was on Sirius/XM NHL Network dissecting the Atlantic Division with host Boomer Gordon. He started the interview off by telling me he'd reviewed the last 25 games of the season to note that the Canadiens had the best record of any of their Atlantic division rivals over that stretch.
It says less about the Canadiens, and more about their competition. We all know the stat is skewed with the Habs having put together a 10-game stretch in there that's been unlike any other stretch of average hockey we've seen from them, this season.
So let's talk about their competition.
The Ottawa Senators, who came into last night's game having gone 6-0-1 in their last seven, rank 26th in the league in goals against. It's not an anomaly. They're prone defensively, and their goaltending has been a few saves shy of incredible.
Ask a Senators fan what it's been like watching their team play with the lead this season, and they will tell you a scary story.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have three regulation wins in their last 28 games.
The Detroit Red Wings are old, banged up, and in all fairness, the worst edition of the team Mike Babcock's ever coached.
The Bruins are fighting for stability without Dennis Seidenberg. They can't replace him internally, and they can't replace him on the trade market either. We know their regular season success is all but guaranteed, but the loss of Seidenberg puts a long playoff run in question.
The Florida Panthers--they played some of their best hockey in the last month or so--don't have much of a hope at making the playoffs.
The Tampa Bay Lightning have done miraculous things without Steven Stamkos, and yet, they're only two points up on the Canadiens.
And the Sabres...they rendered themselves irrelevant a month into the season.
We focus on the Habs in Montreal, but when it comes down to it, they haven't distinguished themselves from the bunch with their play, but they've been on the same level as the Lightning and Bruins, and maintained a spot that's six points ahead of the Leafs (with a game in hand), now eight points up on the Senators, and nine points up on the Red Wings.
As an aside, the Habs are six points up on Philly, six up on the Rangers, seven up on the Capitals, eight up on the Devils, 12 up on the Hurricanes.
If the Habs continue to play like they did last night, this division gets infinitely tighter. The Senators will find some life down the stretch. The Leafs can't play worse. And you never count Babcock and the Wings out.
But maybe, even if there aren't signs of it right now, the Canadiens find a way to clean up their act. It wouldn't take much to not only make the playoffs in this Eastern Conference, but to finish with home-ice advantage.
Can't predict which way the Habs will go, but they're certainly driving this bus.
And if they don't fix it, well, there's always ridiculous Carey Price.