Montreal Canadiens: Game 1 Score Doesn’t Tell The Whole Story

Take a deep breath everyone. It’s only one game.

Trolls and keyboard warriors were having a field day before last night’s Game1 was even over.

“They suck! They don’t deserve to be there!”

“Haha! Typical Habs.”

“Tampa in 4”

“We don’t stand a chance!”

Those are just some of the examples you’re going to see in the comment sections all over social media.

The playoffs, particularly championship series, is a whole different beast regardless of the sport. The bandwagon fans show up because this party is the talk of the town and they need to be a part of it so they can flaunt it on Instagram. The casual fans who watch maybe a handful of games during the regular season, are suddenly experts and will suddenly post something about the team on their social media so everyone can see how deep and informed they are. Not to mention the bipolar fans who will defend their team to the last breath when they win but at the drop of a hat, will trade everyone away after one loss.

Watching the bickering is entertainment on its own.

I suppose I fall under the die-hard fan category. I’m old enough to remember the 93 run and the subsequent downfall of the team as the calendar turned to the new millennium. Even during the awful years of the early 2000’s, i’d attend live games, and still watched as many games as possible. Even to this day as i’ve grown up and juggling work and family, I still immerse myself in the world that is the Montreal Canadiens. It’s in my blood. It’s in my DNA. My dad proudly wears his Guy Lafleur shirt and won’t shy from reminding the world that he was one of the best. I still remember the joy and bright light in my grandfather’s eyes when he would talk about Maurice Richard and how much he meant to this city. Even my mother gets excited talking about Patrick Roy or Yvon Lambert.

I know when not to wear the rose-colored glasses and call it as it is. Heck, if there’s someone that has called out Marc Bergevin and his crew more than once this year, deservedly or not, it’s this guy. Sometimes I was right, other times I admit, I was wrong.

So how do I see last night’s game? Honestly? That 5-1 on the scoreboard doesn’t tell the story at all. There were a lot of things that the Canadiens did that most teams on the losing side would have stopped doing.

First thing that needs to be said and put out of the way is let’s be frank here, there were jitters on the ice. The Lightning are looking to score back to back Stanley Cups. Something the 15-16 and 16-17 Pittsburgh Penguins are the only ones to have done since the Detroit Red Wings in 1997 and 1998. They were foaming at the mouth and they know on paper that they have the better team.

On the bleu-blanc-rouge side, you just saw from the national anthem that the players were nervous. Shea Weber and Carey Price said more than once that this might be their only shot. Philippe Danault looked like he was going to pee himself while Cole Caufield was even more wide eyed than he was in his NHL debut.

It took about 10 minutes for the jitters to start settling in, which would essentially be after the Bolts’ 1st goal.

https://twitter.com/TheReplayGuy/status/1409672242263298052?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1409672242263298052%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.danslescoulisses.com%2Ffr%2Fle-canadien-echappe-le-premier-match-de-la-finale%2F

Alright so clearly there was miscommunication between Petry and Chiarot and that led to the puck bouncing all the way behind Price. Not much to do there. However, that’s when Montreal started hitting and boy were they hitting hard. The Lightning are already an aggressive team but some of the hits the Canadiens were dishing out stung a little harder. When the intensity goes up, so does Carey’s game.

https://twitter.com/TheReplayGuy/status/1409684873904672778?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1409684873904672778%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.danslescoulisses.com%2Ffr%2Fle-canadien-echappe-le-premier-match-de-la-finale%2F

Wanna talk about Gourde’s goal that made it 2-0? Fine. Gallagher fell all over the place, Merrill got confused seeing Chiarot go play the man and puck, once again bouncing, deflected off the stick and once again, not much you can do.

https://twitter.com/TheReplayGuy/status/1409685883528257536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1409685883528257536%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.danslescoulisses.com%2Ffr%2Fle-canadien-echappe-le-premier-match-de-la-finale%2F

We know what happens after. Chiarot gets one for his 1st but then the Lightning open things up and run away with Game 1 with a 5-1 score.

Cue the internet screaming.

Let’s talk about a few things that needs to be addressed though and how about we start with #11.

Brendan Gallagher has blatantly showed up until last night that he wasn’t 100% recovered from his injuries. The worries were put aside as he played like a warrior. Constantly in the face of his adversaries and trying to play mind games. Also finally crashing the goalie on a consistent basis in order to try to get that garbage rebound, something he’s done his entire career.

The only thing however is that no one seemed to be there to reign him in and help him shake off his intensity in order to adapt to a more intelligent shift. Getting into Barclay Goodrow’s head to draw the penalty was classic Gally, but the subsequent wrestling match with Sergachev that led him to accidentally fall on his head, because yes it was an accident, and cut himself open rendered him invisible for the rest of the game. This is where having our head coach behind the bench would’ve helped strategy wise.

Jake Evans played his game in his first outing since the incident of Game 1 against Winnipeg. He didn’t look out of place and despite what many claim, having Armia out wasn’t that big of a game changer.

Once the game was getting out of reached I noticed the veterans with actual Stanley Cup experience play it cool. Perry, Staal, Edmundson and Toffoli all skated hard but didn’t take any physical risks. They know that at this point in the series, players are tired and beat up but all the marbles are on the line. So you lead by example and you send a message to the opposing team that hey, even though we’re down 5-1 we are not going down without a fight. That’s why Josh Anderson went charging into Tampa’s zone with 30 seconds to go in the game. You work until the final second and that’s exactly what this team did.

Granted the Toffoli-Suzuki-Caufield line is the one that struggled the most. Benefiting from the last change, Jon Cooper sent out the Point/Kucherov duo against them since Danault’s line was stuck facing Tampa Bay’s checking line. Call it good coaching strategy on that one and while we’re on the topic of being honest, Luke Richardson got out-coached on that one.

The bottom line is sure, Wednesday’s game is a must win. Especially against a well oiled opponent like the Lightning. However, go check your social media and look at the comments when we lost 4-1 in Game 1 against Vegas. Pretty similar. Also fun fact:

I don’t want to hear anything about the North Division being weaker and thus allowed us to have an easier path to the finals. Everyone in the NHL played the same insanely condensed schedule and the best teams made the playoffs. Funny also how many people omit that Montreal beat 2 Stanley Cup favourites in Toronto and Vegas.

This isn’t David vs Goliath. Forget that Tampa is 18 million over the cap. This isn’t an “aw shucks, we’re just happy to be here” moment. The Montreal Canadiens deserve to be where they are and despite getting their teeth kicked in on the scoreboard, they’re playing their hearts out and deserve to be recognized as such.

Fly your flags, wear your shirts and jerseys, wear the Canadiens colours with pride and soak up every moment of this year’s run.

Les Canadiens Sont La.