Following each game of the Canadiens-Senators series, Eric Engels will be providing his post-game takeaways for sportsnet.ca. Follow him on Twitter @ericengels
Here’s everything you need to know after a wild Game 1 between the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators.
P.K. Subban’s slash is polarizing
“That was a good ‘Sherwood whack,” Canadiens head coach Michel Therrien said in French regarding P.K. Subban’s slash on Mark Stone.
He couldn’t supress his grin. “But it didn’t deserve a major penalty.”
To say Senators head coach Dave Cameron saw it differently would be an understatement.
“It’s a vicious slash on an unprotected part of the body,” said Cameron. “I think it’s an easy solution. You either suspend him or, when one of their best players gets slashed, just give us five [minutes in penalties].”
Cameron insisted Stone isn’t 100 per cent, saying he couldn’t tell whether he’d be able to participate in Game 2 on Friday at the Bell Centre.
Here’s how I seeit: Stone and Subban jostled a bit in the corner, they scurried to the front of the net, and Subban turned around and delivered a reckless slash to Stone’s right arm. Stone was clearly injured on the play — he rushed off the ice in quite a panic.
Rules 61.3 and 61.5 of the NHL rulebook stipulate the following:
61.3 Major Penalty: A major penalty, at the discretion of the referee based on the severity of the contact, shall be imposed on a player who slashes an opponent. When injury occurs, a major penalty must be assessed under this rule.
61.5 Game Misconduct Penalty: Whenever a major penalty is assessed for slashing, a game misconduct penalty must also be imposed.
It’s hard to fault referee Steve Kozari for assessing a major on the play. It was a two-handed downward thrust by Subban with his stick, and it appeared to cause a severe injury.
Cameron was trying to hold himself back from uttering a threat to the Canadiens, but he just couldn’t help himself. In the end, he’s the one who might have to answer to the League. His lack of composure under the circumstances should be far more concerning to Senators fans.
All of his behaviour in the aftermath of this loss opened the door to the notion that he underestimated the pressure of the moment. He didn’t just seem rattled, he was rattled.
We’ll see if he can collect himself for Game 2.
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It was a great night for Torrey Mitchell
In front of friends and family, playing in his home town, in his first playoff game with the team, Torrey Mitchell scored his first goal as a Montreal Canadien.
Isn’t this what dreams are made of?
Five minutes into the first period, Mitchell was stoned by Andrew Hammond on a partial breakaway.
Just six minutes later, the puck caromed onto Markov’s stick, and he instinctively played it for Price to smother.
From Mitchell’s miss to Markov’s blunder, it was looking ominous for the Canadiens.
Here’s how I see it:
Mitchell’s goal at 7:53 of the second period proved to be the most important play of the game for Montreal.
Montreal came out with a lot of energy to start the game. They put the Senators on their heels, pushing pucks past their defence, cycling and forechecking with aplomb. And then they got away from it. The Senators, lethal on the counterattack, always seem to have one defenceman up on the rush with the forward line.
Ottawa survived Montreal’s initial thrust and controlled the second half of the first period and most of the first half of the second period.
The Senators stifled the forecheck by cutting off passes until Brian Flynn successfully got a puck behind defenceman Cody Ceci. Mitchell crossed up Ceci’s partner, Patrick Wiercioch and deposited on the wraparound to make it 1-1.
The goal not only reminded the Canadiens that their plan would bear fruit, it caused an eruption in the Bell Centre and the Senators were caught in the crosshairs.
Before the Senators could realize what was happening, Tomas Plekanec made it 2-1 for the Canadiens. The goals were just 15 seconds apart. Brian Flynn’s game-winner was a product of the same simple forecheck that led to Mitchell’s game-turning goal.
The Senators were sloppy
This wasn’t the execution that got them 20 wins out of Hammond’s 24 regular-season games.
Ottawa couldn’t move the puck effectively out of their zone and they had no response for the cycle once the puck got behind their defence.
Here’s how I saw it:
When you have execution like the Senators have had over the last couple of months, all you need is a few chances to net a win. But the Senators can’t change the fact that five of their six defencemen—-Karlsson excluded—-don’t have the mobility to handle the deep-zone cycle Montreal’s speed enables.
And let’s not discount Montreal’s physicality either. This isn’t the same team that lost to Ottawa in five games in the 2013 playoffs.
The Senators wanted to rough the Canadiens up in Game 1. They threw 44 hits. Montreal responded with 42.
Expect the Senators to make their plays. But, if they don’t get the goaltending Hammond provided to steal them a playoff spot, this could be a short series.
The Canadiens are deeper than you think
The Canadiens have played four games without Max Pacioretty. Raise your hand if you thought they’d score 16 goals in those four games.
Well, they have scored four in each game. The Canadiens — with leading scorer Pacioretty — haven’t scored at least four goals in four consecutive games all year.
Here’s how I see it:
Those 16 goals were scored by 11 different players (including one credited for a shootout win). This is a prime example of depth — and the Canadiens have it. All NHL executives covet depth on their rosters, as depth stimulates internal competition.
When Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin elected to add Jeff Petry from the Edmonton Oilers, the aim was to have him supplement some of the offence missing behind Subban and Markov on the back end.
It looked like the experiment with Petry was failing, as he went pointless in his first 12 games with the Canadiens. And then Petry went on a six-game point streak before the Canadiens’ final game in Toronto, where he was held off the board.
Petry finding his game in time made him an easy option for Therrien to turn to after Subban was ejected. He played 24:39 in Game 1.
“That was his first game in the playoffs,” said Therrien. “For the last month, [Petry has] been really good. He’s been playing his best hockey.”
Canadiens fans spent more than two months bemoaning Bergevin’s decision to dish talented forward Jiri Sekac to Anaheim in exchange for Devante Smith-Pelly. Bergevin said he saw Smith-Pelly as a player that could help the Canadiens get through the playoffs.
With six hits to lead the Canadiens in game one of this series, Smith-Pelly took his first true strides towards reinforcing his general manager’s point. As for Flynn, a goal and two assists is a heck of a way to make your mark in your first Stanley Cup Playoff game.
Grading Carey Price’s performance is tough
The Senators got a gift from Andrei Markov, and they capitalized with two goals on the five-minute power-play Subban gave them, making it pretty hard to assess Carey Price’s performance on the night.
Here’s how I see it:
Price wasn’t Hart or Vezina-worthy in this game. He just happened to be better than the guy across from him.
No matter how many things add up to the Senators challenging the Canadiens, the biggest factor that led me to predict the Canadiens will win in seven games was that I found it impossible to imagine Hammond beating Price in four of them.
I’m not knocking Hammond. I just find it nearly impossible to imagine any goalie beating Price in four out of seven games. Hammond and the Senators are in the hole, but if there’s a team in these playoffs that knows how to deal with that, it’s Ottawa.
Here’s hoping Game 2 is remotely as compelling as Game 1 was.
