A Winning Habit
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Montreal Canadiens: Looking Back at Their Last Playoff Series Victory

By Ken MacMillan

OTTAWA, ON - APRIL 26: Milan Michalek #9 of the Ottawa Senators skates past Max Pacioretty #67 of the Montreal Canadiens as he celebrates a goal by teammate Brendan Gallagher #11 (not pictured) in Game Six of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2015 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Canadian Tire Centre on April 26, 2015 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The Montreal Canadiens eliminated the Ottawa Senators by defeating them 2-0 and move to the next round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
OTTAWA, ON - APRIL 26: Milan Michalek #9 of the Ottawa Senators skates past Max Pacioretty #67 of the Montreal Canadiens as he celebrates a goal by teammate Brendan Gallagher #11 (not pictured) in Game Six of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2015 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Canadian Tire Centre on April 26, 2015 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The Montreal Canadiens eliminated the Ottawa Senators by defeating them 2-0 and move to the next round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /
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OTTAWA, ON – APRIL 22: David Desharnais #51 of the Montreal Canadiens (Photo by Jana Chytilova/Freestyle Photography/Getty Images)
OTTAWA, ON – APRIL 22: David Desharnais #51 of the Montreal Canadiens (Photo by Jana Chytilova/Freestyle Photography/Getty Images) /

Game 4

The Canadiens entered the fourth game of the series looking to sweep the Senators and book their ticket to the second round early. This would have given them a nice break before moving on to face a difficult Tampa Bay Lightning team in the second round.

First, they needed to find someone other than Dale Weise who was capable of putting a puck past Craig Anderson. Game 3 was a low scoring affair with Weise tying it at one late in the third period and then winning it in overtime. 2-1 in overtime is about as low scoring as it gets… isn’t it?

The only lineup change that the Habs made was to bring in Greg Pateryn in favour of Nathan Beaulieu. He was injured and missed the rest of the series after averaging about 12 minutes in the first three games of the series. Pateryn would only play 7:48 as the Habs leaned heavily on their top pairing. Markov played 27:44 and Subban was on the ice for 27:35.

As things turned out, Game 4 would be an even lower scoring game than Game 3. Both teams came out trading chances and firing pucks at Price and Anderson. However, both goaltenders were equal to the task early on. And later on.

Price stopped 31 of the 32 shots he faced in the contest. The only goal came from Mike Hoffman halfway through the third period. Cody Ceci made a nice play to keep the puck in at the blue line and found Hoffman open in the slot. He turned a fired a wrist shot that we have become accustomed to seeing from him and it gave the Sens a 1-0 lead.

As it turned out, that was enough to win the game. As good as Price was, Anderson was one better. He turned aside all 28 shots the Habs fired at him and the Senators avoided a sweep at the hands of the Habs.

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