Habs Stunner: Your 5-Point Guide To Coping With Game 3’s Loss

May 6, 2015; Tampa, FL, USA; Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Jason Garrison (5) defends Montreal Canadiens center Alex Galchenyuk (27) during the third period of game three of the second round of the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Amalie Arena. Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Montreal Canadiens 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

5. Blame Game

This isn’t new. No one wants to accept the tough truths. Not about oneself, not about our loved ones, not about our favorite team.

So we look for something, someone to blame. After all, it’s easier to point fingers than resign ourselves to a difficult reality.

I saw it all. Every player who was on the ice – and even those who were not. The coach. Believe it or not, they’re blaming Carey Price. Up one side of the bench, down the other, blame was laid upon every head employed by the Montreal Canadiens.

People – we can’t do that. Sometimes it isn’t about blame at all. Sometimes there isn’t one person to blame.

Twitter still has coach Michel Therrien fired, Marc Bergevin let go, Tomas Plekanec, Max Pacioretty and Alex Galchenyuk hitting the auction block.

Blame everyone? Well, let me know how that works out for you.

4. Avoidance.

I tried that (see Introduction).

It’s never the best strategy. Especially as a Habs fan who hangs on every piece of news that comes out of the camp.

It’s not easy to be a Habs fan when the chips are down, but avoiding their failures (even just writing that word made me cringe) doesn’t work either.

Instead, I absorbed the initial pain, with everyone else. Sulked in silence for a while after the game was over. Pretty much hated every other person who tweeted about the game.

And took time to let it percolate before putting the written word to the digital page.

3. Hope

Too many people have the season marked “Done” in their books. Reality – whether or not you believe it will be the final nail – there  IS a game tonight and you can choose to watch or you can decide it isn’t worth your while.

Some won’t watch out of avoidance. Not sure that will be doable even for those who have decided they will find something else to do this evening.

I will watch. It’s in my nature, it’s in my blood, and I am with this team till the bitter end – even beyond.

I’ve been called everything from delusional to nauseatingly optimistic. Let me address that:

I’ve no delusions about the Habs winning the Stanley Cup this year. I can see, very clearly, what is happening on the ice and how other teams stack up against the Canadiens.

Scoring wins games. The Habs have scored only 9 goals in their last 7 playoff games this season alone. If goals had been the system to rank teams, instead of points for wins, the Habs wouldn’t have cracked the top of the pack.

So no, I’m not living in a dream world.

But does that mean I just give up on the team? Let me enlighten you on something: if the Habs had given up on the season already, they would not have played the game they did Wednesday in Tampa Bay.

They played to win. I’m sure they’ll play to win in Game 4 too. We saw teams, in the regular season, check out emotionally, go through the moves and just play because they had to.

Not the Habs. They may be down, but until the Bolts get their 4th win, the Habs aren’t out.

And as long as they are active, my hopes for a win will never dwindle. Otherwise, what would be the point of watching?

So it’s okay to remain hopeful – as long as realistic thinking is part of that equation.

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