TAMPA, Fla. — It was only one win. A tiny step towards history.
But under difficult circumstances it said an awful lot about a Montreal Canadiens team that could easily have shown up to Amalie Arena and taken a knee.
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Behind 3-0 in the series, just 24 hours removed from a spirit-sapping defeat. Facing the Tampa Bay Lightning for the ninth time this year and riding an eight-game losing streak in those matchups.
There was more than enough baggage to go along with the fact Montreal’s entire season was on the line, and yet the Habs found a way to play unburdened in the NHL’s toughest road building.
“So far this series we haven’t got what we deserved, and tonight we just kind of stuck to what we’ve been doing,” said goalie Carey Price.
They were rewarded in the most unexpected way possible, scoring six goals in a game for the first time since February and chasing Lightning starter Ben Bishop in the process.
In fact, Montreal had managed a grand total of four goals in 202 minutes of play over the first three games of the series. On this night, they needed just 17 shots and less than 30 minutes to get the first five pucks behind Bishop and Andrei Vasilevskiy.
A sixth was later added for good measure.
“I definitely think that us scoring six goals is huge; it’s huge for our confidence,” said defenceman P.K. Subban. “I think Bishop sort of was sitting on a horseshoe for a little bit there. He’s played well, but he’s been lucky as well.
“I think seeing him being pulled out of the net is a confidence-booster for our team.”
They may be down, but they haven’t lost their fight.
What was most rewarding is the fact Montreal’s top players found a response one night after allowing Tyler Johnson to score the winner with only 1.1 seconds to play. The Lightning centre had snuck behind Subban for that goal in Game 3 after teammate Victor Hedman skated around Andrei Markov.
Lo and behold, it was Subban making a great play early in Thursday’s game to find Markov for the opening goal at 2:44. That was a pretty good indicator of what was to come.
“I don’t like it when I’m being called out for how I perform in the playoffs,” said Subban. “I take pride in stepping up and being accounted for in playoff games. … I think as a group, a lot of us are sick and tired of hearing people talk about us individually as players that aren’t showing up in the playoffs.”
Considering that the night began with fourth-liner Torrey Mitchell leading the Habs forwards in scoring, this was an opportunity for a couple prominent men to make themselves noticed. Max Pacioretty doubled his playoff production with three points, while struggling winger Alex Galchenuk did the same with two.
Pacioretty’s goal was arguably the back-breaker, coming less than six minutes after Markov’s on a short-handed breakaway.
Two-goal leads have basically become an endangered species this post-season and the Habs stretched theirs even further when Tampa started to take more chances.
“It’s been two tough games here at home for us,” said Lightning coach Jon Cooper. “I think we’re helping them. We turned a lot of pucks over uncharacteristically, something we haven’t done for most of the year.”
He decided to pull Bishop after the third goal in an effort to spark his team. That didn’t happen, and Vasilevskiy was promptly beaten twice on the first three shots he faced.
Inside the Canadiens dressing room, there is a pronounced feeling that they shouldn’t be trailing the Lightning 3-1 in this series. They’ve been the better team 5-on-5, but have come undone with some costly errors.
Facing the prospect of being swept, not much needed to be said in the leadup to Thursday’s game. This was about pride, and everybody felt it.
“There’s no shortage of that on this team,” said Subban. “I think you could see it today: Guys diving for pucks, blocking shots, getting pucks deep. We owe it to our fans, we owe it to ourselves, to go back to Montreal and give ourselves a chance to come back in this series.
“Listen, it’s going to be a tough game for them to win there. That’s for sure.”
It’s going to be considerably more difficult for the Habs to reel off another three wins against a Lightning team that didn’t lose more than two in a row at any point this season. There is no margin for error.
Even if Tampa hasn’t played to its highest level in the last couple games, they will be thinking about possibility rather than dwelling on a defeat.
“It’s fun being a part of this,” said Cooper. “We’re playing hockey in May, we have a chance to get to the conference final and we need to embrace that.
“I’m really confident our group will.”
Only four teams in NHL history have successfully erased a 3-0 series deficit, but on Saturday the Canadiens will at least have a chance to accomplish something new for their organization. In 10 previous opportunities, they’ve never even reached a Game 6 after dropping the first three in a series.
One notch at a time. It’s the only way to make the impossible possible.
“We know how tough it can be to get that fourth win,” said Subban. “So I wish them the best of luck.”
