Ed. here. Last night we received a message from a sports bar not 1000 miles west of le Centre Bell, where our National Sports Editor was in a celebratory mood.
In fact I'll buy you two beers, to equal the number of chances people thought the Montréal Canadiens had of going deep into the Stanley Cup playoffs. Because, by golly, tonight they swept the Winnipeg Jets -- four games straight! -- to become the champions of the National Hockey League's Northern (read: Canadian) division.
To explain that... This season, because the World's Longest Undefended Border (TM) was effectively closed to prevent the spread of the kung flu, the NHL (G. Bettman, Prop.) reorganized its four divisions so that one of them, the Northern Division, was comprised only of Canada-based teams, thereby becoming the (unofficial) "Canadian Division" -- a dream come true for Canadian fans.
During the shortened regular season, the Canadian division was, by most accounts, the weakest of the four. The stats proved it. The Canadiens finished 4th in the division, 18th overall, with a goals for/against record of -9. Yet, since the Ottawa Senators, Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames couldn't even do that well, the Habs qualified for the playoffs.
The Canadiens, lacking any big stars (except Carey Price, whose star has dimmed somewhat in recent years) were widely expected to win maybe one game vs the first-place Toronto Maple Leafs, and then go golfing. Wrong! After playing rope-a-dope for four games, they came back to win the last three, confirming the Laffs' reputation as Allstar Chokers.
That took the Habs to the quarter-finals against the Jets, the team that had swept Connor McDavid's Edmonton Oilers in four straight. Again, the Habs were the underdogs. Again they emerged victorious, winning four straight games -- including tonight's 3-2 overtime victory -- to earn the soubriquet Les Glorieux.
How could that be?! How does a team of two 30-something players getting multi-millions a year without scoring goals, plus four kids with roughly seven years of NHL experience among them, beat teams whose players include trophy winners for scoring and not being scored on?
On paper, and according to the regular season stats, the Canadiens compare unfavourably to both Toronto and Winterpeg. But in the playoffs, certain intangible, unmeasurable factors are in play, the greatest of these being the ability to function as a true team, with a shared and instinctive understanding of how to "play right" and a common will to win!
It is hard to pick just three stars of the win over Winnipeg. Everybody contributed! Carey Price, who went into the game with a GAA of 1.67, look less than superhuman, especially on the second Winnipeg goal, but still, two was all the Jets could manage. That's thinks in large part to a fine defence, even with Jeff Petry, arguably the Habs best D-man, out with an injured hand. In fact, the previously suspect Érik Gustaffson, got Montréal's first goal, on the power play.
The injury to Petry gave rookie Alexander Romanov the chance to appear in his first playoff game, and he acquitted himself well enough. Kudos to defence coach Luke Richardson for figuring out how to pair his weaker D-men with stronger partners to make it impossible for the Jets to put more than 16 shots on Price.
The Canadiens' forwards, by contrast, had 42 shots on Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck, who should get some kind of award for heroism under fire. Throughout the playoffs (unlike the regular season) the Habs' real strength has been their ability to roll four lines of more or less equal strength.
The "greybeards" line -- Joel Armia, Eric Staal and Corey Perry -- nominally fourth, looked more like the top line at times, with Armia scoring a couple of key goals, as did Perry who was involved in at least half the highlight reel plays. The erstwhile first line -- Arturi Lehkonen (in the absence of Tomas Tatar), Philip Danault and the inspirational Brendan Gallagher -- was a factor throughout. Danault was particularly good last night.
The Habs' "kids" -- Nick Suzuki, Jesperi Kotkaniemi and rookie phenom Cole Caufield -- were very impressive, especially Suzuki and Caufield who combined on a couple of really pretty scoring plays. If those two had been played in the first games against the Leafs, that series might have ended sooner.
Last but not least, a round of applause for speedster Paul Byron, who scored a short-handed goal while lying prone on the ice, and old pros Josh Anderson and Tyler Toffoli, astutely acquired by GM Marc Bergevin in the off season. Toffoli (#73 in the photo) led les Glorieux in scoring during the regular season, and scored the overtime winner against the Jets, on a perfect pass from the Caufield (the little guy in the middle).
All in all, a terrific team effort. The 2021 Canadiens may not be one of the best-ever Montréal teams, but they have been a great team for seven straight games. They go on now to face the Las Vegas Golden Knights or the Colorado Avalance -- whoever wins the Western Division -- who will be underestimate them at their peril. As the Hockey Guy said in today's review, "It's beginning to look a lot like 1993."
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