TRAIKOS: Canadiens one win away from reaching Stanley Cup final after Game 5 victory
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Nearly one month ago, the Montreal Canadiens were one game away from being eliminated in the opening round of the playoffs. After a 4-1 win against the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 5 on Tuesday night, they are now one win away from reaching the Stanley Cup final.
What are the odds? What a story.
This is what makes the NHL playoffs so great, so unpredictable. A team like Montreal, which was practically left for dead after going down 3-1 to the Maple Leafs in the first round, should have no business being here. They were the lowest-seeded team in the North Division. In fact, there were three non-playoff teams that finished with more points during the regular season.
At the start of the post-season, oddsmakers had given Montreal a 50-to-1 shot at winning it all.
But that doesn’t matter anymore. None of it does.
The underdogs are not underdogs anymore. Not after coming from behind and beating the Leafs. Not after sweeping the Jets. And not with a 3-2 series lead against the Golden Knights.
“I think at the start of the playoffs, a lot of people were counting us out,” said Nick Suzuki, who finished with a goal and two assists. “We’re a really confident team right now.”
Game 6 is in Montreal on Thursday, where the Habs have a chance to return to the final for the first time since they won in 1993. Based on how they played in Vegas on Tuesday night, it’s no longer looking like a long shot anymore.
Now, it is the Golden Knights, who finished with the second-best record in the NHL this year, who are on the ropes. All the Canadiens have to do is deliver the knockout blow.
“I think we’ve been through a lot of adversity this year,” said Montreal forward Philip Danault. “Even the first playoff series to Toronto, we were down 3-1 and we came back. That showed our dedication in the room. We want to keep it going.”
It won’t be easy. This series, which has gone back-and-forth and featured two overtimes, seems destined to go the distance. As poorly as Vegas played on Tuesday, you know they have more to give and more tricks up their sleeves, particularly when it comes to their goaltenders.
It had been somewhat surprising when Vegas replaced Marc-Andre Fleury with Robin Lehner in net for Game 4. But following Lehner’s 25-save performance in the 2-1 overtime win, it was just as surprising that the Golden Knights went back to Fleury for Game 5.
Whether it was a sign of loyalty from head coach Peter DeBoer or just a hunch, the move made little to no difference.
This game wasn’t lost because of Fleury. It was lost because of the players in front of Fleury. This was easily Vegas’ worst game of the series. It was a game where the Golden Knights looked slow and lacked urgency. It was also a game where Montreal seemed to do almost everything right.
The Canadiens were the better team in every category. They received contributions from their rookies and their veterans, as well as from the power play and the penalty kill, which has been perfect throughout the series.
When there were shots, Price was there to make the save, as he showed on a backdoor save on Reilly Smith late in the third period. But for once, he wasn’t needed to be the hero.
Montreal took a 1-0 lead midway through the first period on a perfect breakout that saw every Habs player touch the puck as it went the length of the ice. It was the kind of play teams work on all the time in practice, but rarely get right in a game. This time, however, it went exactly as planned.
A couple of quick passes between the defencemen, then up to the winger and before Vegas knew what was happening, Jesperi Kotkaniemi had sprung Josh Anderson for a breakaway. Fleury initially stopped Anderson on a backhand deke, but Kotkaniemi followed up the play and swept in the rebound for his fifth goal of the playoffs.
The Canadiens’ ability to move the puck efficiently up the ice continued in the second period, with Suzuki finding Eric Staal alone in the slot to make it 2-0 following another high-speed breakout.
A few minutes later, Montreal was on the power play when Vegas captain Mark Stone got stripped of the puck while clearly trying to do too much, leading to an odd-man rush goal from Cole Caufield.
It was like this all game.
At times, it looked like the Canadiens were two steps — or two passes — ahead of the Golden Knights, who constantly found themselves running around the defensive zone, unsure where the next pass was coming from. It was as though Montreal had finally found a crack in its opponent’s armour.
“I thought we played a great team game,” said Suzuki. “All four lines were contributing.”
For Vegas, it was a frustrating performance.
The Golden Knights spent most of the games chasing the play and looking for answers. DeBoer swapped Max Pacioretty with Jonathan Marchessault on the top-two lines, hoping for a spark. In the third, with Pacioretty now on a line with Alex Tuch and Nicolas Roy, the former Habs captain made it 3-1 on a wrist shot off the face-off win.
With Vegas’ net empty, Suzuki put the game out of reach.
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