Canadiens continue to amaze with their resilience
Now all they have to do to get the Stanley Cup final back to Montreal is make their way through a tropical storm and beat the defending Cup champs on the road. So you're saying there's a chance?
MONTREAL – With Tropical Storm Elsa expected to move into Florida sometime on Tuesday, it would have probably rained on the Tampa Bay Lightning’s parade anyway. Or at least they would have had to do it on a boat again. The Montreal Canadiens may have put off the inevitable by throwing water on the Lightning’s plans Monday night, but like the storm that’s expected, they proved they would not go quietly into the night.
The Canadiens’ overtime win in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup final was basically a microcosm of their experience in these playoffs. Few people expected them to win. They scored first. Carey Price was brilliant. Nick Suzuki was the best player on the ice. Shea Weber was a beast. And they rode their penalty killing and the ability to overcome adversity to score the goal they needed in overtime.
So now they go to Tampa looking to continue the good vibes. It would have been a shame for them to have been unceremoniously ousted in four straight after all they had endured. You don’t work this hard to get to the Stanley Cup final to be embarrassed and to lose the thing on home ice. The Canadiens have talked the past couple of days about their character and resilience and they went out and showed everyone why they’ve made it this far. You get a four-minute highsticking penalty with 1:01 left in a tie game against a power play that has shredded its opponents and you suck the momentum out of your opponent by killing it. That’s resilience. That’s character.
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“The guys are doing a great job in the playoffs and we’re playing against a power play that is pretty dangerous,” said Canadiens coach Dominique Ducharme. “We know how dangerous they are and the guys did a great job. For sure it shows the character of our team and it also shows how much we care about our captain.”
That would be Weber, who was the one sitting in the penalty box feeling shame after opening up Lightning winger Ondrej Palat late in the game. Then he got free and was on the ice when Josh Anderson muscled his way up the ice and one-handed a great opportunity to Cole Caufield in front of the net. Anderson’s manhandling of Lightning defenseman Jan Rutta was complete when he drove back to the front of the net to put the rebound past Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. “We didn’t want to end it tonight in front of our fans,” Anderson said. “We expect to go to Tampa (Tuesday). Everybody in that locker room packed their bags this afternoon. We just had that feeling that we were going to win tonight and give ourselves a chance. We’ll go there and take care of business and come home in front of our fans. We’re in a good position now.”
Well, that’s debatable. Tampa has given itself all sorts of room for error and will be really, really difficult to beat with the Stanley Cup in the building and 18,000 fans cheering them on. And that’s exactly what Jane Castor, the incredibly silly mayor of Tampa wanted anyway, suggesting the Lightning, “give the Canadiens just the smallest break, allow them to win one at home and then bring it back to Amalie Arena for the final and the winning of the Stanley Cup. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves.”
Couldn’t you just picture the Lightning players and coaches facepalming themselves after that one? Wouldn’t it be something if Castor turned out to be Tampa’s version of Steve Bartman? Again, not terribly likely, but then again, the Canadiens weren’t supposed to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs when they trailed the series 3-1. There is no reason for Tampa to panic at this point. They played well enough to win in Game 4 and they have tons of experience letting teams back into series, only to squash their dreams with dominant performances.
Not only did The Tampa mayor get what she wanted, so did the hockey world. Nobody wanted this to be the least competitive Stanley Cup final in a generation and because the Montreal Canadiens of the 2021 playoffs returned, even if it was just for one night, it won’t be. “For me, it’s not surprising,” Ducharme said when asked about his team’s resilience. “We’ve been through a lot and we’ve talked about it. That’s another challenge we have and tonight we played hard. It was not perfect, but we still feel we can be better and we’ll do that in Tampa. We won’t go easy, that’s for sure.”
No, they won’t. Now all they have to do is navigate their way through a tropical storm and beat the defending Stanley Cup champions in an elimination game in front of 18,000 hostile fans. But it is not without precedent. Down 3-1 in the 2006 Stanley Cup final, the Edmonton Oilers made their way through Tropical Storm Alberto, then defeated the Carolina Hurricanes on the road to bring the series back to Edmonton, where they won to force the series to Game 7.
After what the Canadiens have accomplished in these playoffs, you bet against them at your own peril.
Great article Ken!