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Price Wins One for the Team |
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Tonight, the Canadiens finally got a win in this Cup final and avoided the humiliation of a sweep on home ice. To be fair though, they weren't the better team on the ice, clearly, Dominique Ducharme's men knew the importance of this game and it got to them, they had quite a nervous start and Tampa Bay actually got 11 shots on goal before Montreal got it's first one. In fact, for much of the first period, the Bolts looked like the Harlem Globe Trotters in the Canadiens' zone, but unfortunately for them, they weren't shooting at an unguarded basket, they were shooting at "Playoffs Price". The Canadiens' franchise player stopped 32 of the 34 shots aimed at him and was pretty much flawless. In its hour of need, the Tricolore once more turned to Price and he answered the call.
However, the goaltender wasn't the sole reason for this win, the changes made by coach Dominique Durcharme also played a big role in this 3-2 overtime win. For the first time tonight, Josh Anderson found himself on the left wing of Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield with great results. The Canadiens' power forward scored both the oppening goal and the overtime winner to send the Canadiens back to Tampa. While Suzuki and Caufield have showed great chemistry during these playoffs, Tyler Toffoli often looked like the odd man out, the one who wasn't clicking as much as the other 2 were and this change was quite frankly a stroke of genius. It's impossible to talk about the Habs' first goal without mentionning the poise and patience with which Nick Suzuki handled that play, hanging on just long enough to feed Anderson at the perfect time.
Speaking of changes, on the blue line, both Alexander Romanov and Brett Kulak returned to the line-up for this game and they each made an impact. A positive one for the young Russian who scored the Habs' second goal and an unfortunate one for Kulak who's mistake lead to a Tampa Bay goal. Still, the Canadiens top 4 defensemen were less sollicitated and overall, I believe it was the right call to finally bring them in.
The Habs penalty kill units also deserves a huge path on the back after muzzling the powerful Tampa Bay power play who couldn't score even though they had 5 power play opportunities. Philip Danault, Joel Armia, Jake Evans (who was back in the line-up) and Arturri Lehkonen made quite an impact. On the blue line, Ben Chiarot was an absolute monster, landing 9 hits and blocking 3 shots.
The Canadiens' valliant effort could have been in vain though, with a minute left in regulation, Shea Weber was assessed a double-minor penalty for high sticking and the Canadiens' odds of winning at that moment hit rock bottom. It seemed to be a particularly sick twist of faith since the Canadiens remebered all to well how Corey Perry's face was high sticked in OT in a previous series and in went unpunished. While some thought the Canadiens were over and done with, the Bell Centre was still rocking and clearly, the fans had not lost confidence in their team. I don't know what it was, if it was the ghosts from the rafters, maybe it was the sheer will and determination to avoid being swept at home or just the need to kill one for the captain, but Montreal survived those very long 4 minutes and scored the game winner less then a minute after Weber came out of the box.
Thanks to this 3-2 OT win, the Habs will now go back to Tampa Bay to play game 5 and on home ice, you can expect the Lightning to give their all to try and win the Cup at home, in front of their fans. The Habs shouldn't be counted down and out just yet though. If Playoffs Price is still there on Wednesday night and the rest of the team delivers as it can, it wouldn't be that surprising to see Montreal host a game 6 come Friday night. Perhaps Diane Bibaud had a premonition when she played "Je reviendrai à Montréal" (I'll come back to Montreal) on the organ during warm-up...
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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