MONTREAL — Halfway to history, there’s no sign of the Ottawa Senators slowing down now.
Seldom will you encounter a team that seems so completely unburdened in the face of a dire situation. Carried by goalie Craig Anderson, with help ranging from the slumping (Bobby Ryan) to the surprising (Erik Condra), Ottawa strutted into the Bell Centre with its season on the line and made a statement on Friday night.
Not only was the 5-1 victory over Montreal the largest margin of the series, it was definitive proof that these Sens won’t go quietly.
“There’s just no quit in them,” said franchise legend Daniel Alfredsson, who made the trip to Montreal to watch Game 5. “They seem to respond well under pressure. I think everybody knows it might run out, but they’re going to give everything they have until it does. Tonight’s a perfect example of that.”
It was made possible by Anderson, who dealt with a lot of traffic early in the game and kept his cool when the Canadiens poured on the pressure late.
He finished with 45 saves and has to have the Habs wondering what it’s going to take to beat him. Remember that Anderson was the star of the 2013 series between these teams, and now sports a scary .960 save percentage in eight career playoff games against Montreal.
“I’m going to say it again: He’s got a history of that,” said Senators coach Dave Cameron. “(He’s been) a real good goaltender in crucial games in the playoffs, so I don’t know why anybody’s surprised by it. We didn’t expect anything less.”
Yes, but few would have predicted he would outperform Carey Price, the prohibitive favourite to take home the Hart Trophy and Vezina Trophy in late June.
Price wasn’t particularly strong on this night. A long wrist shot from Ryan squeezed through him to open the scoring — it was the winger’s first goal in 17 games — and the five pucks that eventually got behind him matched his worst performance of the season.
Of course, there’s every reason to expect the world’s best goaltender to return to top form in Game 6 on Sunday or a possible Game 7 here next Tuesday.
Even though the pressure might be mounting on Montreal, the favourites still have control.
“At the end of the day, we’re up 3-2,” said winger Max Pacioretty. “This is a good team we’re playing against. Nobody said it was going to be easy…
“We’ve got to worry about winning one game and winning a series.”
In the entire history of the NHL, only four teams have rallied from 3-0 down in a best-of-seven. However, two of those comebacks occurred in the last four years and Alfredsson, for one, believes that should give the Sens some added belief.
There is a quiet confidence to this group.
In addition to playing a must-win game, the other important business for the Ottawa players on Friday was a heated ping-pong tournament on the table set up outside the visitor’s dressing room.
Pressure? What pressure?
If anything, that seems to have shifted to the group of players down the hall. There were some scrums late in Friday’s game, including Brandon Prust and Anderson exchanging several hard whacks with their sticks.
“Yeah, there’s certainly frustration on their part,” said Cameron. “A sure sign of frustration is when they’re taking cheap shots at your goaltender, who is a real good player for us. That’s a sure sign of frustration.
“It’s cheap, extremely cheap.”
The toll of the series is starting to add up. Clarke MacArthur left midway through the game with an unspecified lower-body injury while Jean-Gabriel Pageau was also listed as “day-to-day” after blocking a P.K. Subban shot.
Montreal, meanwhile, will need to make adjustments to a power play that is an abysmal 1-for-19 in the series.
As tough as the first five games have been, it will only get more demanding from here. Don’t expect either team to bend or break now.
The Sens have had ample opportunity to throw in the towel in recent months. Yet despite being 14 points out of a playoff spot in
mid-February, and 3-0 down in this series just a few days ago, they defiantly continue to play on.
Their season began all the way back on Sept. 18 and has taken more unexpected twists and turns than most. Somewhere along the way a special bond was formed in the dressing room.
“Our team, they have passion,” said Cameron. “You’ve got 25 guys together for almost 200 days — 200-plus days — if there’s not passion there it can become a grind in a real hurry. I’ve always said that regardless of your profession, if you’re passionate about it and you do the work, you’ll maximize your level whatever that is…
“I think our team has that. I like that about our team.”
We will find out soon just where exactly their level is.
They’ll either go down as a tough first-round out or the least likely team to survive until the second round in NHL history.
“Just for them to get into the playoffs I thought was awfully impressive,” said Alfredsson. “Usually when you’re that far off and you get close, usually you get nervous that last few games. They stuck with it.
“It’s fun to see what confidence can do and guys believing in each other and this group certainly does.”
There’s no doubt about that.
