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 26: Max Pacioretty #67 of the Montreal Canadiens (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
OTTAWA, ON – APRIL 26: Max Pacioretty #67 of the Montreal Canadiens (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /

Game 6

The pressure was on Montreal heading back to Ottawa for Game 6. Yes, they held the series edge but they were up 3-0 in this series and now they held a one game advantage and were back on the road. Allowing Ottawa to force a Game 7 would be disastrous.

Putting more pressure on the Habs was the fact they had only put three pucks past Anderson in the three games he started. Could they find a way to score more than one goal on the Senators goaltender?

No, they couldn’t. But it didn’t matter, because this was Carey Price at the height of his powers, remember?

Parenteau was back healthy and returned to the lineup after missing four games. This resulted in Game 1 hero Brian Flynn being a healthy scratch.

Gallagher opened the scoring late in the first period when a point shot from Pateryn hit him and then Gallagher batted it out of the air and into the net with an incredible display of hand eye coordination. It seemed to be the only way the Habs could beat Anderson in this series. It took an incredible “impossible to repeat” type of move that caught him off guard.

The Habs could only do it once per game, but it was enough to win Game 6 and finally close out the series. The Habs finished the game with just 20 shots, but Gallagher’s proved to be the game winner and a last second empty netter from Pacioretty made the final 2-0.

The Habs breathed a sigh of relief, but really they should have just been thanking Price. He was unbelievable all night, stopping every one of the 43 shots he faced and showed why he was the winner of just about every trophy in the league a couple months later when they were handed out.

It was a frustrating series at times for fans with the Habs offence a major issue throughout. However, they stuck to it and snuck through to the second round. It was the last time we saw them come out on top in a series. Hopefully, we don’t have to wait much longer before we get to see it happen again.

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