The stage was set for the Montreal Canadiens to punch their ticket for the second round on Friday night, leading 3-2 over the Tampa Bay Lightning ahead of Game 6. It felt like a Saturday night as fans gathered outside the Bell Centre before 4:00 p.m. in anticipation of the game. Before puck drop, Diane Bibaud warmed up the crowd as always, and while her sets are normally flawless, she did play the Bee Gees’ “Staying Alive” on the organ on a night where the city hoped the Bolts wouldn’t survive. A puzzling choice…
But the DJ countered by having the two teams warm up to the sound of Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name of”, a much more appropriate song to pump up an already electric crowd. Clearly, the song’s message wasn’t lost on the two teams, as they offered fans an incredibly exciting first frame and a fantastic game.
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It was obvious quite quickly that the referees didn’t intend to be a factor in this game, or that they were told not to be. Early on, Arber Xhekaj rocked a rival with a big hit, and after he fell to the ice, the gritty defender gave him a couple of cross-checks, but the arms remained down.
Minutes later, Brendan Gallagher was trying to take off from the defensive zone, and his stick was held, stopping him in his tracks. There was no call there either, which at least indicated that both teams would receive the same treatment. The only call of the first frame came on an obvious high stick on Kaiden Guhle, courtesy of Jake Guentzel.
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The same was true for the middle frame, as two obvious stick infractions were called. The one call that made many gasp was the goalie interference call on Demidov in the dying moments of regulation. The youngster was attacking the net and looked to be hooked, which sent him spinning, and he ended up in Vasilevskiy’s crease, falling shoulder-first into the goal post.
Asked if he felt the refs let the team play tonight, Phillip Danault said:
Well, yeah, towards the end of the series, it is really important, and they called four each way, so it was even.
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This new iteration of the Habs had never given itself the opportunity to eliminate an opponent, and it showed. Jakub Dobes, who had been solid handling the puck around the net all series long, made a couple of blunders in the first frame that could have been costly.
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As for the skaters, they appeared to be overtaken by the enormity of the moment for the first part of the second frame. They were withstanding attack after attack, and while they were managing to get the puck back, they were so eager to make a play that they just turned it back over to Tampa.
The Bolts came quite close to opening the score, but Phillip Danault saved the Canadiens, clearing the puck on the goal line. The close call seemed to wake up the Habs somewhat, and they managed to manufacture a couple of odd-man rushes, but they were unable to capitalize. It did allow them to draw a rare power play, but Andrei Vasilevskiy made two brilliant saves on Ivan Demidov, who could only look to the heavens.
When the Canadiens managed to kill the Demidov penalty at the end of the third period, it felt like when the Lightning had killed the Scott Sabourin one at the end of Game 2. One could have hoped that it would have given them the momentum needed to score the game-winner in OT, but it wasn’t to be.
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In the end, it was Gage Goncalves who was finally able to get a puck past Dobes, with Dominic James and Brendan Hagel picking up the helpers. While it was obviously not the ending the Canadiens wanted, St-Louis was quite philosophical in his post-game presser, explaining:
It was quite a hockey game. I think both teams played the best game of the series. We had our chances. I loved the game, aside from the result, which was disappointing. It’s meant to be, it’s fate, it wants our 20 guys who have never played a Game 7 to play one. I think it’s part of our journey, and we have to embrace it. We have to pick ourselves up and go.
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There’s a lot to build on in that game for the Habs. Cole Caufield was much more visible on the night; he registered eight shot attempts, with four making it to the Bolts’ cage. The same can be said of Demidov, who led the team in shots with five and three missed.
Meanwhile, Josh Anderson and Arber Xhekaj were like trains out there, dishing out hit after hit. The former had nine, while the latter had seven. Despite the disappointing loss, veteran Mike Matheson said the group was confident going into Tampa:
The whole series has been trading chances; each team has won one, lost one, so it’s our turn.
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The Canadiens will travel to Tampa tomorrow to face the Lightning one last time on Sunday, and meet their fate, whatever that is.
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