MONTREAL – Here in the land of the hopeful we find a city that has painted itself bleu, blanc et rouge. Every statue and landmark has seemingly been graced with the colours of the Montreal Canadiens and, inside the Bell Centre on Sunday night, the roar you heard was the collective cry of a people that believe.
And why not?
The Habs own a commanding 3-0 lead in their first-round series with the Tampa Bay Lightning and are quickly checking off all of the boxes needed to chase a championship. Recently, an NHL coach – a former Stanley Cup winner at that – told Sportsnet that the three most important ingredients to a long playoff run are good health, at least one quick series and a little bit of good luck.
Programming Note: Game 3 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals between the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers will air on Sportsnet 360 Tuesday night beginning at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT
On Sunday night, Montreal certainly seemed to have some luck on its side during a 3-2 victory that moved it one step closer to making this a quick series. That came in the form of a disallowed goal from Ryan Callahan during the second period, one that referee Francis Charron waived off because of what he deemed to be incidental conduct with goalie Carey Price.
At the very least, it was a 50-50 call. Alex Killorn had been driven into the goal and certainly didn’t go out of his way to bump Price on his way out. Even after that happened, a second or two elapsed with no whistle from the referee – long enough for Callahan to bank a shot under Price.
The Lightning were furious.
“I was pissed then and I’m pissed now,” said coach Jon Cooper. “That’s just my opinion. I’ll let the court of public opinion take care of the rest.”
The Callahan goal would have put them ahead, but instead Tampa found itself behind after a wild three minutes to follow.
First, captain Steven Stamkos was sent to the dressing room when he was knocked to the ice by Brandon Prust and had Alexei Emelin’s knee catch him in the head. Then, P.K. Subban took the game in his hands by swooping around the Lightning net – sending checker Ondrej Palat catapulting into the end boards in the process – and finding Brendan Gallagher for a goal to make it 2-1.
That was the second assist of the game for Subban, who has emerged as a force in this series. He saw more than 28 minutes of ice time on this night.
He had also sent the puck skipping between Lightning defencemen Victor Hedman and Matt Carle and onto the stick of Rene Bourque right after the opening faceoff. Bourque, who suddenly looks like a reborn hockey player, calmly beat Anders Lindback to make it 1-0 just 11 seconds into the game.
Officially, the goal was recorded as Bourque from Subban, but the 21,273 in attendance should get some credit as well. The atmosphere was so incredible that a little confusion was inevitable.
“You could feel the energy in the building even in warmups,” said Bourque. “You could feel the intensity from the fans and it was really loud after the national anthem. To get a big goal like that early, it was awesome.
“It was nice just to settle the guys down a little bit. I think the guys were pretty jacked up and it kind of relaxed us after that.”
It has not always been this way. After Sunday’s morning skate, Cooper had wryly noted that the Canadiens have a recent history of frittering away a good start to a series.
“I’m sure they’ve never had a 2-0 lead on the road and come back and blown it,” he said, clearly raising the ghost of the 2011 and 2006 Montreal teams that did just that.
This version doesn’t appear to be in any jeopardy of joining them in infamy. What has been most striking about these Habs is how composed and confident they’ve remained against a young Tampa team. Perhaps the group that flamed out in five games against Ottawa last spring learned something in the process; or maybe the roster moves have made a significant difference.
Either way, getting contributions from Bourque, Daniel Briere and Dale Weise – not to mention some of the usual suspects like Tomas Plekanec and Brendan Gallagher – has made a difference in this series. Price has been solid in net the last two games. Even the bounces have gone their way.
“When you have success, the confidence grows,” said Subban. “I don’t think we ever doubted ourselves – we always believed that we could have an impact and have success in the playoffs – but confidence-wise you can see it starting to grow.”
To perform well in this environment was a big deal, especially with Tampa bringing its best effort of the series. There is undoubtedly a pressure that comes with playing in Montreal and it hasn’t always been a positive thing for the Habs.
“Finally, we used it for us – for our energy, for our advantage,” said Plekanec. “That’s what we’ve got to do playing in this building.”
For any hardcore hockey fan, at least those that don’t cheer for the Lightning, this was a delightful night to be inside the Bell Centre. The walls shook a little more than usual during a stirring pre-game ceremony and you couldn’t help but stand up and take notice when iconic Quebec singer Ginette Reno emerged to perform “O Canada.”
The roar that accompanied her arrival soon became the best group of backing vocalists in the country.
Believers, one and all.
