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Bob wasn’t happy. It wasn’t much prettier than before and it wasn’t a sudden magical improvement many hoped it could be. To be fairly honest, it wasn’t a different scenario than we had most of the time this year.

The Montreal Canadiens started the period well and scored early in first period when Tanguay was at the right place at the right time to grab a puck that deflected on two players before floating in the slot. The rest of the period was a close battle and looked to be quite a physical game. Stewart dropped the gloves again and players seemed to have a lot to discuss after nearly every whistle.

Then the second period rolled in and all hell broke loose. Cogliano was left with all the time in the world to take a good shot when Gorges fell on the ice. Price looked weak and Edmonton tied the game. Five minutes later Sheldon Souray fired one of his trademark slapshot from the point. The puck deflected on Thomas Plekanec’s knee and went pass Price who couldn’t do much on this one.

Finally, after Edmonton scored twice and shot 13 times towards Montreal’s net, Dandenault finally recorded the first shot from Montreal at 16:22 in second period. That is plainly unacceptable and afterwards, even Bob Gainey was left without an explanation to offer the fans and media. The crowd even cheered Dandenault for this shot, in the same derisive tone they cheered Patrick Roy for a routine save back in 1996. The difference this time is that four second later, the fans had something real to cheer when Glen Metropolit placed one five hole past a stoic Dwayne Roloson.

Sadly, Edmonton complete dominance was back second later and the Oilers even added another goal before the end of the period. A complete waste of 20 minutes of play where the Habs were outskated, outplayed and outshot 17-2. Simply unacceptable. Bob Gainey said he didn’t give a speech to his players between the periods. He simply didn’t understand didn’t know what he could tell his players. But this time, the players didn’t need to be told anything, they knew they played a bad period and responded well.

The third period saw the Habs a lot more aggressive in their forecheck, a lot more decisive in their plays and kept the game simpler. And when the Canadiens stop overthinking everything and keep shooting the puck good things happen. With less than five minutes to go in the game a puck deflected in front of Dwayne Roloson and hit Saku Koivu or his stick. That wasn’t clear. But the goal and crowd reaction left no doubt. The Canadiens were back in a tied game.

The third period ended with the Habs winning 16-9 in the shot department despite being shorthanded twice. Glen Metropolit had his best game as a Habs not only for scoring but also for his play on penalty killing. He killed at least 40 seconds of Edmonton’s powerplay all by himself tonight, most of it in the offensive zone. He was one of the main reasons Montreal was able to keep the puck out of the net with a penalty for the last two minutes of the third period.

And in overtime, the last piece of the puzzle fell into place for this victory. The powerplay that hadn’t produce a single goal in March finally got one in when Saku Koivu, again, deflected a point shot from, again, Mathieu Schneider.

That was simply a weird game. We were treated to a somewhat satisfying first period, a disturbingly awful second period and a solid third period and overtime. Clearly, the problem wasn’t simply Carbonneau and how the players didn’t like him. The head coach was changed and yet, we see the exact same result as we’ve seen most of the year. Win or lose, the Canadiens gave us many “one and a half period of play” this year. This is a problem and changing coach will not be enough. There is a mentality that has to change. I would love the Habs to play all game long with that fire in their eyes, thinking about demolishing their opponent instead of playing just well enough to win.

Yes, we got away with a victory tonight, but this is only the first step. Now Les Glorieux have another 15 games to become a team that can contend and be a threat in playoffs. Gainey really has his work cut out for him.