The Canadiens came out with the short stick tonight in Montreal as the Lightening scored a quick overtime winner to push their lead in the series to 3-0. Brad Richards picked up his own rebound and banked it in off the back of Jose Theodore only 1:05 into the extra frame to put the Habs backs against the wall.
It was an entertaining game, however, and by the end you were assured that each player had left virtually everything they had on the ice. The Canadiens were all over Tampa for much of this one, and except for a few silly mistakes, the game would have been theirs.
The crowd was also in this one from the drop of the puck through Saku Koivu’s opening hits right down the final goal. They were boisterous and their singing was in fine form as they willed the home side on.
The opening period was dominated by the Habs, particularly along the boards, as they pasted their opponents with an intensity spurred by adrenaline. Only an outstanding save by Nik Khabibulin near the end of the period on Richard Zednik allowed the Bolts to escape with the score even.
The second brought much the same for the first third of the period. Michael Ryder was stopped brilliantly two times in succession early on and a Niklas Sundstrom pass to a streaking Steve Begin forced Khabibulin to hold the fort one more time for his troops.
When the Habs went on the power play, there was a sense that this might be the time when the Habs broke the game open. Unfortunately a poor pass from Sheldon Souray sent Corey Stillman in alone on Theodore. While he was unsuccessful at burying his opportunity, he was offered a second chance when Souray pinched wrongfully and left the Bolt alone near centre. Stillman’s goal silenced the crowd.
It didn’t take long for Montreal to respond, however. Less than a minute later, still on the power play, Alex Kovalev, a dominant force throughout the game, deflected an Andrei Markov shot past the Tampa goaltender to tie the score. The camera’s rocked under the wave of enthusiasm at the Bell Centre.
It was only a few moments later, though, that they were silenced once again as, this time with Tampa on the power play, the Bolts moved into the lead again. From the blue line, Brad Richard fired a shot on net and somehow the puck wormed its way through Theodore – surely a goal that the Montreal goalie wants back.
If some were expecting a panicked Montreal team to be unable to respond in the third, they were completely incorrect. At about the halfway point, Craig Rivet took a shot at goal from the point which was deflected. While Khabibulin made the initial save, his original momentum took him out of the net and the rebound was picked up by Ryder, who shovelled it in to tie the game.
The Ghosts seemed to be in full spirit when Patrice Brisebois received the puck from a faceoff in the Tampa zone with less than four minutes remaining in the match. Somehow his weak half-shot half-pass made it through the tangle of legs and sticks and hit the far post then the near post before burying itself in the cage.
All good things must come to an end, though, and this version of the Canadiens, picked by some to finish dead last overall, finds its backs against the wall here in the second round. A goal with less than 20 seconds left in the game by Vince Lecavalier sent the game into the overtime where Richards finished them off.
Despite the sour end, there should be few heads hanging after this one. The Canadiens played, and outplayed, the Bolts for large parts of this game, and while the result wasn’t there, the team put in a very solid effort. Save for a few mistakes, this one could have easily gone Montreal‘s way.
Game four on Thursday will give a glimpse into the character make-up of this club. Although, in some respects it cannot be questioned. For a team picked to finish dead last, they’re playing an awful lot of extra hockey.