HABS IN LATE HEARTBREAK
Tampa scores in last second
“Adversity” is the buzzword the Canadiens have frequently used this season to describe a variety of hardships. Injuries, for one. A challenging road trip against strong opposition, for another.
Perhaps a losing streak of modest or troubling length.
None of that was adversity. No, not compared with what the Canadiens face now.
You could hear hearts of Habs players breaking all over Amalie Arena on Wednesday night, Tampa Bay’s Tyler Johnson scoring the winning goal 1.1 seconds from the end of regulation time.
The 2-1 Lightning victory has dug what appears to be an inescapable hole for this Habs season, the odds stacked almost insurmountably against their surviving to see another playoff round.
The Canadiens are now down three games to none to Tampa Bay in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal, and the ugly statistics look like this:
One hundred and 79 times in NHL history, a team has been down 3-0 in a best-of-seven series; only four times has one come off the floor to advance.
The Canadiens have never rallied to win when down by three games, having previously been in that position nine times between 1950 and 2009. At least they pushed things to five games on four occasions before bowing out.
Now it was 10 minutes after Wednesday’s final siren, and here stood Canadiens forward Brandon Gallagher in front of his dressingroom stall, blood dripping down the bridge of his nose from a cross-check he had taken to the face. That the blatant infraction by Tampa Bay’s Braydon Coburn went unpenalized was the farthest thing from his mind.
Gallagher had tied the game with a goal that is not just a page from his textbook, it’s every page: driving the net to the dirty ice, cashing the rebound of Tom Gilbert’s shot at 10:03 of the third period, then being vaporized, belted to the rink at the edge of the blue goal-crease paint.
Like everyone else on his team, Gallagher would be stunned as the game clock swept almost into fractions, Johnson banging home the winning goal from goalie Carey Price’s doorstep.
There will be no time for the Canadiens to lick any wounds — Game 4 is Thursday night, the Canadiens playing their 92nd and final match of the season with a loss, or forcing a 93rd back at the Bell Centre on Saturday with a win.
“Since I’ve been a Montreal Canadien, one thing we’ve always done is find ways to win games,” Gallagher said slowly, looking for the words. “Just seems like right now we’re finding ways to lose games. We’re playing good hockey, we’re just coming on the wrong side of things.”
He took a deep breath and continued:
“That said, this team is full of character. I know we’re not going to give up. I know we’re not going to quit. You’ve got to win four but you can’t win four unless you win one. We’ve got to focus on the next one, but obviously, it’s disappointing.”
It’s unlikely the Canadiens can play better hockey than they did on this night.
With a bounce here or there, they could just as easily be up 2-1 in this series, discounting their embarrassing, undisciplined effort in Game 2.
So, maybe this is simple hockey fate. These teams have met twice before in the playoffs, Tampa Bay sweeping the Canadiens in 2004, the Habs sweeping the Lightning last year. Now, here we are again, on the brink of another four-and-out.
The Canadiens outshot the Lightning 31-19 Wednesday, outchanced them handily and were slightly better on faceoffs.
For the seventh time in nine playoff games, they surrendered the first goal and had to play catch-up. That was almost to be expected, however, so they came at Tampa Bay goalie Ben Bishop, at times in waves.
Twice, they couldn’t cash on the power play, their dismal manadvantage record now showing one goal in 28 playoff attempts.
“We’re going to keep battling,” Gallagher said. “We love playing together. We’re going to try to earn one more game, try to earn 60 more minutes together.
“You talk playoff hockey — you talk about emotions, how high and low you get,” Gallagher said. “At the start of the playoffs, we knew it wasn’t going to be easy. We’ve dug ourselves a hole that’s going to be difficult to get out of, but if anyone’s capable of doing it, we know this group is.”
So the Canadiens turned out their lights Wednesday night, knowing they would awaken to stare real adversity in the face in what might be their final game this season.
“This group — the character, the want and the will to do things, that is what’s carried us to this point,” Gallagher said. “We’re really going to rely on that now.”
This hugely popular player turned 23 on Wednesday, and with his goal, it seemed it might be a day memorable for all the right reasons.
The happiness slipped through his fingers, and those of the Canadiens, with a second-and-a-fraction left on the clock.
“Was this my worst birthday?” he repeated a question grimly.
“At the time, that was when my sister was born. I was pretty angry as a 10-year-old that I had to share my birthday.
“Now I’m pretty happy to have her,” Gallagher said, forcing a tight smile.
“But obviously, this one stinks.”