Despite their 3-2 series lead, the pressure is now all on the Canadiens to regain momentum
SENATORS 5 CANADIENS 1
Montreal leads best-of-seven series 3-2
During his Friday morning walk from the team’s hotel to the Bell Centre, Ottawa Senators coach Dave Cameron raved about the great spirit in the city. Then a great ghost from the Senators past, former captain Daniel Alfredsson, made a guest appearance in the arena, sitting beside general manager Bryan Murray during the game.
All day, there were sights and sounds that something special just might be in the Montreal air for the Senators.
And when the 5-1 romp over the Canadiens was finished, narrowing the Canadiens series lead to 3-2 and setting up a Game 6 Sunday at the Canadian Tire Centre, Alfredsson said nobody should ever count the team out.
“Overall, it was a just a great fighting effort and a big road win,” said the former captain. “It’s very impressive.”
Alfredsson says the Senators have shown superb spirit in climbing back into the series from a 3-0 deficit.
“If you look at it, they were in every game. They could have been up 2-1 or down 2-1, but they had the confidence that they were still playing well and doing a lot of good things. Now, with (goaltender Craig Anderson) coming back and playing really solid, it has been a big boost, as well. Most teams know they’re never going to give up.”
It remains a longshot, but the Senators are that much closer to pulling off an impossible playoff comeback to match their remarkable end to the regular season.
Only four teams in NHL history have rebounded from that deficit to win a series, but that fact is weighing heavily on the Canadiens, who will arrive in Ottawa feeling the stress of not blowing it.
From start to finish, Anderson’s fingerprints and footprints were all over the victory, backing up his 28-save shutout in Game 4 with a 45-save performance in Game 5.
“Pressure is what you make of it,” said Anderson. “For me, it’s just focusing on the right things and just seeing the puck. Just go out there and play.”
Bobby Ryan — breaking out of his five-week, 16-game scoreless drought — Patrick Wiercioch and Erik Karlsson beat Price, giving the Senators the comfort of a threegoal edge heading into the third period.
Tom Gilbert put life back into the Bell Centre by scoring for the Canadiens at the 1:44 mark of the third period and the Canadiens fed off the momentum for the first half of the final period. Anderson denied the Canadiens’ first shot attempts and the players in front of him cleared the rebounds.
Erik Condra salted the game away with a breakaway goal against Price, taking advantage of an atrocious mid-ice mix-up between P.K. Subban and Andrei Markov. Mike Hoffman finished off the scoring with a power play goal in the final minute.
Hoffman’s goal came on a man advantage following a chippy finish, which is typical in lopsided playoff games. Anderson and the Canadiens’ Brandon Prust exchanged stick shots, which Cameron says began due to a “cheap” play from the hard-nosed Canadiens winger, who was trying to rattle the Senators netminder.
The concern for the Senators is that Clarke MacArthur didn’t finish the game with an apparent “lower body” injury. There was no immediate word on the extent of the ailment. Jean- Gabriel Pageau, who limped off the ice after a blocking a Subban shot during an early third period power play by the Canadiens, also didn’t finish the game. Cameron described both players as “banged up” and “day to day.”
For Senators players, Pageau’s blocks were indicative of what success in the playoffs is all about.
“You just know it’s playoffs and you know certain guys are going to do it and we’ve got a couple of guys on the back end and a couple of guys up front who do it and those are the guys who play (on the penalty kill),” said Condra. “You just have to have the will to do that.”
After Anderson allowed the Senators to weather an early surge from the Canadiens, Ryan broke the ice by breaking his long drought. Wiercioch padded the lead to two, taking his time before picking the top of the net over Price’s blocker.
The teams exchanged chances in the run-and-gun second period — Anderson stopped Tomas Plekanec on a short-handed breakaway and Alex Galchenyuk following a ghastly Erik Karlsson turnover, before Karlsson beat Price on the power play to give the Senators their commanding 3-0 edge heading into the third period.