Canadiens blow lead but beat Kings in OT
It has been 25 years since the Montreal Canadiens won the Stanley Cup. Leading up to the anniversary on June 9, we’ll be tracking the Habs’ route to victory with articles from the Montreal Gazette archives.
Original date: June 6, 1993 Original headline: LeClair gives Habs 2-1 series edge; Canadiens triumph in OT after blowing 3-0 lead to Kings
CANADIENS 4, KINGS 3 (OT)
INGLEWOOD, CALIF. The Canadiens continue to find strange and almost mind-boggling ways to do things the hard way.
There’s the matter for example, of last night’s 4-3 overtime victory over the Los Angeles Kings — the ninth time in a row the Canadiens have done the job beyond regulation time.
This time, the winner was scored by John LeClair when he was allowed three whacks at a puck in front of a fallen Kelly Hrudey. The time: 34 seconds.
The Canadiens have taken the long road before, up to and including their 3-2 overtime victory in Game 2, but this one ranks near the top.
It starts with their 3-0 lead on goals by Brian Bellows in the first, period and others by Gilbert Dionne and Mathieu Schneider in the second.
At that point, there was more than ample reason to believe the Canadiens would move into a 2-1 lead in their best-of-seven series with the Kings. Teams don’t lose 3-0 leads in a Stanley Cup final — particularly Canadiens teams, right? Wrong.
The Kings comeback was started by Luc Robitaille a little more than four minutes after Dionne and Schneider had scored within 21 seconds. Then, Tony Granato lifted the Kings to within a goal of the Canadiens and Wayne Gretzky got the tying goal with fewer than three minutes left in the period.
The Canadiens deserved something better than the 1-0 lead they had going into the second period — because of Hrudey’s work and several near misses.
The game was barely two minutes old, for example, when Eric Desjardins, the full-blown hero of Game 2, was in a position to score his fourth consecutive goal after getting three in Thursday’s 3-2 overtime victory. Instead, he missed the pass.
Then, there’s LeClair sweeping around Rob Blake, only to have Hrudey get in his way.
Alexei Zhitnik is in the penalty box — and now it’s Bellows — who was to score the Canadiens’ first goal, misses a delightful setup from Kirk Muller.
There’s more. Goaltenders don’t make better stops than Hrudey’s on Patrice Brisebois from the lip of the crease two minutes later.
This was, perhaps by far, the best period the Canadiens had played against the Kings. There was a jump to their skating. They were in control in their zone. They provided the Kings with fits at the other end of the ice.
Then, of course, there was Bellows, who had come out of Game 2 somewhat disenchanted after sitting out the entire second period. Coach Jacques Demers hadn’t liked what he got from Bellows in the first period, Bellows, on his part, was somewhat less than enchanted with the idea of sitting while others played.
The result: he and coach Demers engaged in some light, verbal trashing, but Bellows made his point with a Bellows-type powerplay goal. It’s called getting your nose dirty.
Kevin Haller delivered a shot from the blue-line, whereupon Bellows headed directly for the traffic in front of Hrudey. He got there in time to deflect the shot downward through the Los Angeles goaltender’s legs — which is what Bellows is all about.
What, however, were the Canadiens, as a team, all about in a second period during which they appeared to leave the Kings dead in the water — and then lost it?
The Canadiens’ damage was done even as the Forum fans were settling into their seats.
First, it’s Dionne getting his stick to a Mike Keane wrist shot 2:41 into the period.
Then, only 19 seconds later, Schneider deflects a Guy Carbonneau pass beyond Hrudey.
So here’s the game only 23 minutes old, and the Canadiens are sitting on a 3-0 lead — which is as much as anyone can hope for in a playoff game. The Canadiens looked strong. They were dictating the tempo. They were capitalizing on chances. They were, in every way, in a position to leave the Kings reeling.
Instead, the Kings reeled in the Canadiens — with too many of the Canadiens’ problems selfinflicted.
Gretzky — who else? — started the comeback with a soft pass to Robitaille from behind the net. It’s something everyone, starting with the Canadiens, has seen over and over again. It’s Gretzky behind the net waiting ... waiting ... and waiting, and then delivering to Robitaille. that’s when the fever set in.
The Granato goal fewer than four minutes later was simply a case of Patrick Roy letting one get away. The shot from the edge of the circle was good and strong — but goaltenders stop these in the playoffs. They must.
Hardly anybody stops the Gretzky rocket six minutes later, however. It was in and out of the net before anyone realized Roy had been beaten for the goal which sent the teams into the third period locked up, 3-3.