Lamenting losing battle
Canadiens failed to deliver the KO
MONTREAL - The Canadiens stopped competing in Game 5 long before the Bruins silenced the perpetually sold-out Bell Centre with a four-goal outburst in the third period.
Despite their fans' fervent hopes of celebrating another playoff series conquest of the Bruins, the Canadiens squandered the momentum of a 1-0 lead after Alex Kovalev fashioned a highlight-reel goal midway through the opening period.
Montreal came out strong, outshooting the Bruins, 12-6, in the first.
"I thought the first period was good," coach Guy Carbonneau said. "We were skating. We were using our speed. We had a lot of good chances. They had a little chance there at the end of the first period, but in the second period, we just stopped skating. We thought it was going to be easy. Maybe we thought that Carey [Price] was going to make all the saves and that at 1-0, everything was fine. Then they got that little gift and scored the second goal and then the gates just opened."
A 5-1 win was just about as good as it could get for the Bruins, who now face a 3-2 deficit in the best-of-seven first-round series.
The Bruins' chance at the end of the first was a bit of foreshadowing of the "little gift" on which the game turned in the third.
Price's aggressive style was at the heart of both chances. In the first, the 20-year-old rookie pushed forward a puck that struck David Krejci and caromed back toward the net, striking the right post before Price spun around to swat the puck from Milan Lucic's reach.
Price wasn't as fortunate in the third when he gloved the puck and dropped it in front of him for Maxim Lapierre, not knowing Petteri Nokelainen and Glen Metropolit were right there to pounce on the surprising opportunity.
Zdeno Chara, Marco Sturm, and Vladimir Sobotka scored after Metropolit broke the 1-1 tie to send the Bruins back home with the confidence they can get to the Canadiens' latest goaltending phenom.
"After the first 20, being up, 1-0, you've got to learn to keep your foot on the gas," Canadiens center Bryan Smolinski said. "That's the way this league is. You give a team that's got their backs against the wall a chance, they're not going to quit. They're going to keep going and they're going to try to bury you, and they did."
It had to be a disappointing effort for the Canadiens general manager and coach to witness, considering the hard-earned playoff experience both Bob Gainey and Carbonneau acquired during their careers.
Carbonneau gave the Bruins credit for a solid effort in desperate circumstances while calling out his team for backing off when presented with an opportunity to go for the kill.
"I wouldn't say that all the games we didn't work, but tonight we didn't work," Carbonneau said. "They were good. They did what they had to do, but we didn't work. We didn't work as a unit, which we did most of the year."
That's what it will come down to for Montreal tomorrow night.
Some Canadiens fans will make the trek to Boston in an attempt to throw their support behind their team at TD Banknorth Garden, though tickets may be harder to come by with the Bruins bandwagon ready to take on all comers.
With Price allowing four goals in the third to bolster the Bruins' flagging confidence in their scoring ability, how will Montreal counter the momentum that has clearly shifted?
"That's the big question," Smolinski said. "I think you've got to give them a lot of credit. They hung in there, they got the first one, and then they kept going. They played desperate, but at the same time, I can't say they played a very good game. I think we gave them a lot of chances, obviously. They had a few odd-man rushes they capitalized on, their power play was good, so taking those penalties really put us behind the 8-ball."
