CANADIENS
Montreal

4-3

SENATORS
Ottawa

Game Report

The mighty Ottawa Senators, bulldozed the league for the final two months of the season, finishing on a 21-3-3 run.  In the first game of the post-season, the Sens were facing the 20th ranked offense who was without their leading scorer. Max Pacioretty scored four of the nine goals for Montreal during the season series with Ottawa.

The Senators caught another break when the defensively-reliable Andrei Markov delivered the visitor’s first goal on a platter.  It occurred during a first period where the shots were relatively even, 9-8 for the Sens, but there was a much larger disparity in scoring chances: 7-2 for Ottawa.

The officials seemed content to play their part. Mass muggings and crosschecks to Brendan Gallagher were certainly no reason to bring a whistle to one’s lips. And when the penalties started to be called, it was a steady stream of Habs to the box.

And from the 8:23 mark in the second period, the Canadiens would be without their best defenceman.  Let’s also add the five Ottawa power-plays (Montreal had one) to this mixture, where the Senators scored two of their goals.

So, following the game, who could blame the Senators post-game for thinking, ‘With everything going our way, did we let a golden chance slip away?’

But that’s where the Canadiens deserve credit. As a team, they battled through a great deal of adversity and found a way to win.  After the game, Devante Smith-Pelly said that no one individual could replace Max Pacioretty.  Each player had to step up.  And that’s exactly what happened, particularly from the unsung contingent.

Brian Flynn had a career-high game with a goal and two assists, all scored in the second period. Linemate Torrey Mitchell had a goal and was 67 per cent on faceoffs.  The third member of the fourth line, Brandon Prust, had an assist, four shots on goal and three hits.

And Smith-Pelly wasn’t too bad himself, registering six hits.

Also with six hits was Alexei Emelin, who played 23 minutes with a five-man rotation on defense.  Emelin, Tom Gilbert and Andrei Markov combined for 15 of the Canadiens 21 blocked shots.  Jeff Petry had 12 shot attempts to lead the team.

Lars Eller continued his strong play with a key shorthanded goal sandwiched between the two Senators power-play markers. And Tomas Plekanec’s delay just before the shot that would find the back of the net was a thing of beauty.

And what of this goalie battle that we heard so much about? The folks at CBC happy to discuss Andrew Hammond’s season in the same glowing terms as the Hart-worthy performance of Carey Price.  Some of the talking heads suggested that if Hammond had played a full season his numbers would be much better than those of Price.

So how did they compare? Take away the Markov own-goal, and Price didn’t give up a 5-on-5 marker to the Senators.  Conversely Hammond looked shaky at times in his first NHL playoff game.  Bell Centre fans helped welcome him with chants of “Ham-mond, Ham-mond!”

Hammond looked fine in the opening period when the Canadiens played the perimeter game. But when the Habs started driving to the net, Hammond looked more than a whisker-slow in moving laterally and had trouble tracking the puck.

It’s probably not a surprise that post-game, Hammond said that the Senators would have to do a better job getting between him and the Canadiens shooters. Simple fact is that he is not like Carey Price at all. To succeed, he needs a lot of help.  And without it, Hammond looked not too different from a Binghamton Senators’ goalie during Wednesday’s game.

So when Senators coach Dave Cameron stepped to the mic, he made comments that set the media on fire, talking about him facing potential fines for an apparent bounty he was placing on the Habs best players. But maybe what he was doing was simply taking the spotlight off his goaltender who looked decidedly ordinary on this night.

▲     Carey Price, Tomas Plekanec, Lars Eller, Devante Smith-Pelly, Torrey Mitchell, Brian Flynn, Brandon Prust, Jeff Petry, Alexei Emelin, Tom Gilbert, Andrei Markov

▼     David Desharnais, P.A. Parenteau

1.  Brian Flynn  MTL
2.  Torrey Mitchell  MTL
3.  Mika Zibanejad  OTT

• “It was definitely a slashing penalty, but from our side I don’t agree that it deserved five minutes. But I leave that to the discretion of the referees. One thing’s for sure: We lacked discipline in the second period. I didn’t like the two penalties we took after taking the lead. We’ll have to be more disciplined.”

Lars Eller

• “Losing a player, playing long stretches on the penalty kill, we didn’t get any calls for the first 50 minutes or so, that’s strong of us.”

Devante Smith-Pelly

• “You can’t replace Max with one guy; you’re going to need everybody. It was good to see unexpected guys step up, but it’s not that unexpected because I feel like anyone on this team can step up.”
• “We got two quick goals and then got hit with a little bit of penalty trouble. Having been through the playoffs before, I know it’s going to be up and down and a roller coaster emotionally, even shift to shift. I thought the guys did a good job of staying composed. I feel like it’s probably pretty tough to have an off game when the crowd is like that. I know everyone, especially the new guys, were excited to get out there and feed off the energy. The crowd did a great job of helping us out.”

Brian Flynn

• “[Lars Eller’s shorthanded goal] was big. We traded goals. We responded a couple of times after they had scored, and obviously that five-minute power play was a tough momentum swing, but being able to get one shorthanded kind of nullified that a little bit.”
• “To come out to those white towels going crazy during the national anthem, you get chills. When the game started, I got into the rhythm early and it paid off. It’s obviously one of the highlights, if not the highlight [of my career]. Playoff hockey is just a different animal than the regular season. I was really looking forward to tonight all day. I’m happy to get it started off on the right foot.”

Torrey Mitchell

• “Our line played really well and we just sort of fed off each other and kept things simple, used our speed. Obviously, getting a goal in the playoffs for my hometown team felt pretty good.”

Senators forward Mark Stone

• “[A suspension for P.K. Subban] is up to the league. Obviously it was a pretty big hack. It looked like he wanted to hurt me.”
• “[P.K. Subban] tried targeting me a couple times in the first period off faceoffs. I think he knew what he was doing.”

Senators forward Kyle Turris

• “We didn’t like each other before this series so [a rough game] is no surprise.”

Senators goalie Andrew Hammond

• “Absolutely. You look at those chances in the second period, and it [wasn’t] so much them maybe earning it. I thought we gave them too much time and space. They’re a good team. They’re going to create things when you do that. If we do better limiting their time and getting bodies between them and the net, I think we’ll do a much better job in the rest of the series.”

Senators coach Dave Cameron

• “I think it’s quite simple. It’s a vicious slash on the unprotected part of the body. You either do one of two things. I think it’s an easy solution: You either suspend him or when one of their best players gets slashed, just give us five. It’s not that complicated.”
• “I had no trouble with my goaltending whatsoever.”