The Canadiens are still there!

Here's our National Sports Editor, Poor Len Canayen, breathing a sigh of relief. He'll tell you why.

Tank youse, Hed. Let us recap. Going into last night's fifth game of their NHL quarter-final playoff series, Canada's National Team, the Montréal Canadiens, trailed the Flyers of Philthydelphia 3 games to 1. How could this could be, when the World's Best Goaltender (TM), Carey Price, had a GAA of 1.25 and a saves pct of .957 in the first four games? I will explain.

Although Price allowed only 5 goals in the first four games, the team in front of him scored only 6. So why wasn't that enough to win, 6-5? Because the Habs scored 5 of their goals in the Game 2 blowout, and 1 in a 2-1 loss in the first game. The scored NO (zero) goals in Games 3 and 4, losing 1-0 and 2-0. So there they were, not having scored in almost 130 minutes, facing elimination.

But, as the saying goes, la plume de ma tante est sur la table. When the going gets tough, the tough get going! And so they did. Starting fast and getting the first goal early has proved critical in this series, and Joel Armia hit the twine, with a short-handed goal (!) just before the 3-minute mark, letting the Flyers know that the Habs weren't going to give up without a fight.

Then, at the 2-minute mark of the 2nd period, came something I never expected to see -- a major penalty and game misconduct for boarding to the formerly mild-mannered, always-smiling Jesperi Kotkaniemi, a kid who can barely raise a playoff beard. Is it true that steroids make you cranky? In the summer of 2019 they told KK that he'd better put some pounds on his lanky frame, and he did. 20 pounds heavier now than he was at Christmas, he's starting to throw his new weight around, but this time too much so, and at the wrong time. During the 5-minute powerplay, Flyers' Voracek ended a scoring drought with two goals, and I must admit I thought that was going to be the end.

Except it waasn't. Les Glorieux came back hard, with Joel Armia leading the charge. He hit a crossbar shortly after the teams got back to even strength, said "I won't do that again", and put his next shot in, just over Philly goalie Carter Hart's shoulder, making it 2-up. Just over a minute later, Brenda Gallagher, on something like his 37th shot in this series, finally scored, making it 3-2 Habs at the end of the 2nd.

Could the Habs hang on to a one-goal lead? Errr, no. Unlike in the first four games, special units played a big part in last night's game. The Canadiens' penalty kill was not as effective as usual, and the Flyers' power play hit for their third goal of othe game at 10:37. BUT... it seemed like Montréal said, with one voice, "Damn it, we are NOT going to lose!" Nick Suzuki, who had a goal called back (offside) earlier in the period, scored what proved to the the game-winner just 22 seconds later.

The Habs put up an aggressive defence for the balance of the game, with centre Phillip Danault -- overworked in the absence of Kotkaniemi -- rewarded an empty-net goal at 19:42. Final score: Montréal 5 - Philadelphia 2. Philadelphia now leads the series 3 games to 2, with another potential elimination game scheduled for 7 ET/4 PM on Friday. Can the Habs win that one and one more, to advance to the next round? Bet against them at your peril!