The 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs: Halak's Heroics
The Montreal Canadiens finished the 2007-08 season by winning the Atlantic division, and had started to see diminishing regular season and post-season success ever since. They finished with 11 less points in the year after and lost in the first round.
And then the Montreal Canadiens managed to squeak into the 8th and final seed in the Eastern Conference, coming behind the Philadelphia Flyers based on a win tie breaker. Which meant that the lowly Montreal Canadiens needed to play the Presidents' Trophy winning Washington Capitals.
The Canadiens came into the series with a serious goaltending question, between two young goalies in Jaroslav Halak and Carey Price. The first game went Montreal's way, with Halak allowing 2 goals on 47 shots, and Tomas Plekanec, coming off his best regular season, scored the overtime winner.
However, Halak struggled the next game, and despite and Andrei Kostitsyn hattrick, the Capitals won 6-5 in overtime. The next game was not much better, with Halak being pulled about half way through the game and the Habs losing 5-1. So Price got the start for game 4, and allowed 4 goals on .889 S% and the Canadiens were looking at a predictable early playoff exit.
But then Halak went on one of the greatest tears in recent memory. A must win in Game 5 was shut down with Halak making 37 saves on 38 shots and Cammalleri, who had a fantastic playoff of his own, scoring his third of the round.
Game 6 was Halak's magnum opus. 54 shots, 53 saves. Mike Cammalleri scored 2 goals and the Habs sent the series back to Washington for Game 7. It was an absolute shame that Halak never got a shutout in this whole playoff run, but he held the Capitals to one goal for the final three games as the underdog Habs won the first round, and made a date with the reigning Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins.
The first game was rough, with Halak being pulled, and it seemed that the depth of the Penguins would be too much. However, the Habs found their legs and met the Penguins punch for punch and traded games until they reached Game 7.
And in Game 7, just 32 seconds in after a Pittsburgh penalty, P.K. Subban's shot was tipped by captain Brian Gionta and the Habs never looked back, beating the Penguins 5-2 and matching up against the only better comeback story that year.
The Philadelphia Flyers finished 7th in the East, tying the Canadiens in points but had won more games, giving them the higher seed. They handily beat the second seeded Devils in 5 games, but went down 3-0 against the Boston Bruins, only to win three straight and force a game 7. And then Boston came out with a 3-0 lead in game 7, only to collapse and lose 4-3.
So the 7th seed and 8th seed met in the Eastern Conference Final. There wasn't much to say about that series, especially from the Montreal side. The Habs were shutout 3 of the 5 games, and the Flyers took on the Chicago Blackhawks, who beat them in 6 games to win the Stanley Cup.