Montreal Canadiens vs. Pittsburgh Penguins (Gm 4)

Musings and In-Game Scribbles playoffs

My English is as good as yours, I just write these in a stream-of-consciousness mode that I insist excuses me from small things like rules of grammar or general etiquette. Let’s call it conversational English, hopped up on beans. You know what kind of beans (no, Carl Mellesmoen, not the magic ones).

Montreal Canadiens
host
Pittsburgh Penguins

Thursday, May 6th, 2010

Round Two – Playoffs (Pittsburgh leads series 2-1)
Game Four (score posted following scribbles)

Missed it? Musings capture the game in writing. A written transcript typed during the game, posted and edited about thirty minutes afterward. Based on the RDS French telecast of the Montreal Canadiens game, Musings take about 20 minutes to read. More detailed than an article, fresher than a looping highlight and good with morning coffee. Or late-night chocolate. A unique way to re-experience the game.

Ninety-one.

Earlier today, Jacques Martin discussed his reinstatement of Andrei Kostitsyn with his usual regular season linemates, Tomas Plekanec and Michael Cammalleri.  Martin hopes that the offence will improve without any lineup changes rather through line changes.  Lines three and four have been shuffled and Martin said the resulting combinations are “two energy lines” as opposed to line three being a defensive one and the fourth being an energy line.

The leaning is towards better conservation and use of energy.  Line four will be stronger but the team’s lack of a true defensive line will be the concession.

In an email to me earlier today, Rejean Houle validated that we are all, myself and himself included, crazy.  Crazy fans.  And fanatics.  Et bien.

Vos.  Nos.  Tous.

I watched the Heritage Classic again last night, a game from the 2002-03 season and I was surprised by a number of things.  In seven short years, the game has changed a lot.  Again.  Today’s game is even faster than before.  Some of this is athletic and kinesiology driven but some is related to better, lighter and even more efficient equipment.

I also re-experienced the excellent rapport between RDS’ play-by-play impresario Pierre Houde and his former, astute and frank colour-man, Yvon Pednault.  Their warm, quick and same-page chemistry reminds me of that between Francois Gagnon and Alain Crete.  It’s the sort of pairing (le chimie) that every network must cherish when they have it.

Benoit is steadily improving but he is not at the Pednault level yet.

Halak and Fleury are your goalies and I am your goofball.

Paul Devorski and Shane Heyer are the refs.

First Period

Gomez line is on first against Malkin and Fedotenko.  Talbot, too.

Fedotenko picks it up and dumps it down.  In the corner to Halak’s left a two-on-two battler results in the third Canadien, Pouliot picking up the disc and starting a decent first possession that lasts nine seconds before a backhander along the boards pushes the Habs out.

Plekanec line is on next.

Plekanec has it in the neutral zone.  To Cammalleri.  In the corner.

They lose it.  Pens pick it up.

Mark Eaton.  Long puck is called for icing.

Crosby is on the ice now.  No points in both of his last two games.  Yeah, top twenty.

Faceoff.  Long shot from Lapierre.  Moore is on with him as well as Mathieu Darche.

Neutral zone swirling.  Pittsburgh can’t establish control.

Canadiens stay ahead of their opponent.  Left side entry.

Pass.  Dump.  Picked up from the corner and shot from a queasy angle.  And it goes in.  How?

Through the five-hole.  Lucky goal.  Tom Pyatt.

Montreal 1, Pittsburgh 0

It’s Tom Pyatt’s first playoff goal in NHL playoff history.

Bouchard is down at the bench area and, thumbs out, he gestures with both arms while explaining his observations; the team was surprised by the goal.

Puck leaves the zone.  One man falls.  Subban.  Two on one.  Two on zero.  Forehand to backhand.  Through the pads.  Talbot.

Well done.

And well met.

Pittsburgh 1, Montreal 1

Some booing sprinkles through the arena.  The 21,000 auxiliary refs feel a call was missed.  Not sure I agree.

Plekanec line is on.

Dupuis is in on the right.  Leans.  Off-wing.  Backhander very close to Halak.  Gill gets called for holding.  Halak, paddle down, turtles down and covers the puck.

First wave features Malkin.  Plekanec and Pyatt are the first kill pairing.  Crosby has it underneath following a long wide blast by Gonchar.

Back to the blue.  To Gonchar.  To Crosby.  Cross-ice pass.  More halcyon.  Canadiens are in place.  Halak, too.

Now the puck is cleared.

Crosby trips Hamrlik on the under circle.  Ucalled.  And they score moments later.  Halak lost his balance.

Crosby’s whining has worked.  Papa-Dada Hockey League is listening.  So are the officials.  I shake my head.

They will review the goal.  Brunet says that he agrees with the quick decision awarding the goal.

Kunitz.

Pittsburgh 2, Montreal 1

Disney Crosby.  The kids can stay in the living room.

They will go to the headphones and a check-in with Toronto for a ruling after all.

Two replays don’t show anything intentional.

Third replay is suspicious.

Cindy saw.  Cindy ca.  Cindy got.

It’s a goal.

Crowd boos for about one point five seconds.

Moore line is the response trio.

O’Byrne and Bergeron are on together again.  Two turnovers.  One great chance.  Finally they move it out.  Halak made the save on the slot giveaway.

Cooke comes up with it at centre ice and shoots weakly on Halak.

Jordan Staal, back in the lineup after missing last game, takes a shot.  Ponikarovsky gets away with tripping Gorges now.  This is the worst first period I’ve seen all season from the refs.  Overall, as a group, they’ve had their best season in years.  At least in Montreal games.

Tsk, tsk.

Malkin shoots.  Save.

Brunet says that Subban’s having a rough start to the game.

Malkin was shaken up.

Crosby is on.  Moves from under the end-line and effects a jam.  Stopped.

Montreal entry.  Two seconds.

Shots on goal are 11-2 in favour of Pittsburgh, we are told.

Moore line is on.  They work outside the Pittsburgh blue.  It’s messy.  Missed sticks, waggling puck and ice lanes sheared without care.

Now Bergeron carries it up from end to end.  Leaves it behind the Pittsburgh net.  Wobbles back to position.  Near slot chance results.

Canadiens have to regroup.

They get another sequence.  Hamrlik shoots from the point.  Right into a Penguin ten feet away.

Now Malkin has it for Pittsburgh on the other end.  In the corner.  Works his way around the end boards.  Still has it.  Backhander.  Houde says Malkin is strong.  Save is made.

Plekanec line.  Plekanec goes around the net with the puck.  Passes it to the Pittsburgh slot.  Cammalleri can’t enough of it.

Slow change sees big ice for a moment but Pittsburgh dumps it in for their own line-change.

Moore misses a puck along the boards.

Kennedy nearly creates a two-on-one but leaves the puck behind.  Lapierre overskates the unexpected free puck.  Habs clear it out.

Pens are back in on the right side.

They get a puck to the point.  Shot.  Wobbles over the net harmlessly.

Habs need to settle the pace.  Pyatt and Moen are on and manage to slow down the Pens but can’t get them out.

Hamrlik and Ponikarovsky struggle on the boards to Halak’s left.

Halcyon and heyday mayday.  Puck to the slot.  Across the slot.  To the point.  But no tough Pen shots arrive.  Just over six minutes left.

Canadiens are very nervous.

Markov’s tusk engine presence is missed.

Finally three short passes give Montreal a semblance of peace.  But Andrei Kostitsyn is hit as he crosses the blue line and Houde says it was close to a head-shot.  Crowd’s booing crests much higher this time and lasts much longer.  No call.

It’s a poor job of officiating.  It’s disappointing and surprising.

Carbo would be smiling that I can’t believe it smile.  Gainey would be stoic.  Therrien would be ballistic, Julien would be mouth open and arms out and Vigneault would be calm.

Martin will mention it, I’m sure.

Replay on the Malkin shakeup.  He hit the end boards after an offensive thrust.

Martin’s mouth is a tight, thin line.  Hands in pockets.

Il est fache.

Metropolit line is on.

Halak retrieves behind his net.  Puck is moved out along the left boards.  Sent right back in.  Gill picks it up in the corner.  Twice.

Up for Moen.  Short pass to Pyatt.  Little dump-in for a line change.

Interception deep by Gomez.  Big hawk in.  Shoulder-drop.  Shot.  Nope.

Gionta gets a chance.  Nope.

Sequence ends on the boards after three more seconds.

Gomez remains on the ice.

Has it.  Tries to weave through the neutral zone.  Two guys.  But stopped at the blue line.

Crosby’s helmet is off.

Plekanec chases a puck into the end boards.  Pens stay ahead of the play.

Yeah, it’s a weird phrase.  I kinda like it.

Lapierre line.

Action has slowed and moved to the boards and neutral zone more.  Penguins are slowing down.  They do this at the end of periods.

They come alive.  Crease chance falling.  Halak is across.  Metropolit line.  Some nice stickhandling.  Pass.  Long shot.  Fleury handles a moderately difficult shot for the distance.

Habs retrieve.  Bergeron sends a long puck that pinballs to the endboards on the other side.

Go Habs Go chant starts.  It has more emotion and less routine to it.  It sounds like a Nordiques series tone.  (I did not enjoy typing the “N” word and I apologize to those who need it.)

Period ends with the puck in the corner to Halak’s left.  Someone breaks Crosby’s stick in the closing seconds.  Gill.  Crosby’s arms are out.  Again.  He stands like a spoiled child waiting for his teammates to exit the ice.  Some guys shouldn’t be given captaincy.

Pittsburgh leads on shots 15-6.

First Intermission
Pittsburgh 2, Montreal 1

Read your press releases enough and you might come to believe them.

I’ll take Paul Kariya and Joe Sakic instead, son.

I’ll take Art Monk and J.T. Smith instead, son.

I’ll take Tom Clements and Roy Dewalt instead.  Son.

Francois and Alain both have new haircuts.  Gagnon is giggling about something.  They begin discussing Boston’s Miroslav Satan.  But first, says Francois, let’s talk about Marc Savard.  Not a fan.  The injury hasn’t changed my sympathies.  He’s the same guy.

But Bwaston is good.  And no Flyer should hang his head in shock and depression.  The truth sets in like heat over the horizon.

Philadelphia lost last night to fall behind 3-0 in the series.  Only two teams in NHL playoff history have overcome a 3-0 deficit to win the series.  Toronto in 1942 and New York Islanders in 1975.

It may happen again but not in this series.  Out west, however …

Second Period
Pittsburgh 2, Montreal 1

Penalty will last the full two minutes.  Crosby line starts.

Crosby is booed.  Loudest boo against Crosby this series.  Pens first entry is rebuffed.  Second one ends after a long shot by Malkin.

Pens reset.

Malkin has it on the blue line.  Advances.  Winds up.  Slapshot.  No.  And an exit.

Forty seconds in the penalty.  Pens move it up.  Letang.  To the right.  For Letestu.  Pens control on the end boards.

To the point.  Across to the hash.  Some trouble controlling allows Halak to get across.  He is up high and so is the puck.  Held for a faceoff.

Pens win the faceoff.  Gomez and Gionta are the kill pairing.

Good puck movement.  Huge net.  Sprawled defender.  Halak isn’t ready.  The net is.  But the puck is bungled.

Penalty ends.

Cooke is on.

Cammalleri has a mind to impress himself on the game.  Enters.  Quick, quick.  Flit.  Left.  In.  Shot.  Big rebound on a dangerous shot.

Now Andrei Kostitsyn imposes himself.  From behind the net.  Nice moves.  Backhander.  Houde’s voice rises.  Fleury is there.  Canadiens are playing with desperation.  Five minutes left in the third-type desperation (ed note: I have no idea what was meant there).

Pouliot’s demeanour is different.  He will ignore his numbers and give what he can.  Whatever that might be.

Another chance in front of Fleury.  Moen line created it.

It’s a game of emotion for the moment.  Pouliot slams a defender on a lost puck.  Gomez line hops on.  Gomez is looking.  Failed entry on a neutral zone pass.

Gionta nearly sends Pouliot in with a long pass.  Just a bit far.  There was coverage but Pouliot had half a stride.

Penguins are being beaten to the puck consistently now.

Cammalleri takes one away.  Kostitsyn falls.  This one is accidental.  But the crowd is no longer of a fair mind.  Houde chuckles.

Stuttering Pens have it behind the Montreal net.  Gorges and Gill are the shutter doors, waiting.  Plekanec is in the crease tying up a man (Cooke).  Tyler Kennedy gets the time.  Puts it into the low slot.  Shot.  Halak gets low and smothers it.  Very dangerous chance.  Net went off as he made the save.

Frat boy break.

Hits are 11-8 in favour of Montreal.

Faceoff to Halak’s left is won by Moore.

Napier, Jarvis, Risebrough and Houle have to be the guys to make the difference now.

Metropolit, Moen, Darche and Moore.

Twelve and a half minutes left in the period.

Cammalleri and a bow tie.  Plekanec and an ice boot trophy.  Kostitsyn and a Cadillac.  Let’s go.

Behind the net.  Gorges pushes Malkin up against the boards.  Malkin works away finally.  To the point.  Shot.  Swift pad.  Rebound can’t be had.  Habs move it out.

Eaton has it in his own end.  Long puck for Talbot is missed.

Gill picks it up.

Delayed call.

Metropolit stickhandles into Pittsburgh in his precise manner.  Whistle goes within seconds.

Call is against Pittsburgh.  Goaltender interference against Malkin.

Brunet suggests that the refs will tighten up after the laissez-faire first period

Plekanec line is the first wave.  Subban and Bergeron are the defence pairing.

When Subban gets the puck one feels anything good could happen.  He is a marvelous offensive player.

Pens reject two entries.  Cammalleri picks it up.  Gomez and Cammalleri share the puck.  Sudden pass to the slot.  Gionta can’t get the acer special.

Interception deep in Montreal ice.  Crosby.  To Talbot.  Automatic.  Automatic.  Halak.  What a glove save.  Bap the puck goes up.

Penalty ends without any further Montreal threat.

Orpik has it.  Carries it down the left side.

Loses it.  The expected three on two or one doesn’t develop.

O’Byrne has it in the corner to Halak’s left.  Up the boards.  Snarled.  It trickles out to a waiting O’Byrne.

Exit and repulsion in mid-ice.

Seven minutes in the period.

O’Byrne has to retrieve.  Gionta nearly takes a puck away behind the Pittsburgh net.

Stoppage soon afterward.

Replay shows that Talbot’s chance was a pad kick-save result.  Fine save.

Gomez is in on the right.  Brakes inside the blue line.   Shoots.  Into a Pittsburgh leg.

Now behind the Montreal net.  Gill looks winded.  His shift ends moments later.

Subban pairing is on with the Metropolit line.

Malkin takes down another player.  No call.  Looked close.

False champs effect a possession.  Crosby.  Malkin with him.  On the boards.  First time they are together in five-on-five this game, I think.

Muller is interviewed.  Why.  Let him coach for Busher’s sake.

Five minutes left in the period.

O’Byrne chuggles down past the Penguin hash and past the end line.  No disaster results.

Pens exit.  Right side.  Full coverage.  Poor-angle shot.  Stopped and held by Heron.  I mean Halak.

Twenty-five and three, eh.

A team and its record.  A team and its goalie.  A goalie and his mask.  Sevigny’s double red and light-blue was a favourite.

Faceoff is to Fleury’s right.

Lapierre takes it after Moore is asked to leave.

Pens send a puck in but can’t retain.

Moore.  Boards.  To Subban.  Glittering shot.  Wide.

Now a puck to the other point.  Hamrlik.  Fleury gloves it.

Moore also sent the pass to Hamrlik.  Both sides of the rink.  Great work from the man with a streak of aluminum.

Gill dives to help end a possession.  Sticks it up to Gionta.  Another pass.  Hab entry.  Hab shot.  Hab possession.  It continues.  Habs much and win.  Whack and look.  Pass and hope.

It ends.  Pens are repelled but come up with a long shot on the second attempt.  Line changes.

Plekanec down the left side.  Supported by Kostitsyn.  Cammalleri sweeps in.  Puck is behind the Penguin net.  Cammalleri hustles in and hits a defender.  Pens exit nonetheless.

Metropolit hooks Tyler Kennedy and gets away with it.  Nary a boo.  Refs are being consistent this period.  Good work.

One minute in the period.

Moen high shoulders in his slow-mo way.  Turnover after some good board work.

Expect a Pen surge.

Crosby takes it.  Along the horseshoe.  He has the surge movements.  Pens effect a brief possession but can’t generate a shot.

Gomez line enters with ten seconds left.  Under the end-line.  Gionta tries a quick slot pass.  Based on time left, rather than good positioning, it comes to nothing.

Period ends.

Shots on goal are in favour of Pittsburgh 10-3.  They lead overall 25-9.

Saku save our eggs.  Somebody.  (Call Saku)

Second Intermission
Pittsburgh 2, Montreal 1

Demers reviews the turnover problems that Montreal has created for itself.

Bouchard throws a few bouquets Staal’s way.

I’ll take Eric Dickerson and Barry Sanders instead.  Son.

Detroit highlights.  They are up 4-0 after one and 5-0 in the second.  There are more conditions in place for Detroit to come back and win after being 3-0 down in a series than in any other case in the past decade.  It will be interesting to see if those conditions are enough.

Plekanec is interviewed by Renaud Lavoie.  Plekanec is inside the oven.  Coals and fumes.  Give us igneous sky-streams.

Third Period
Pittsburgh 2, Montreal 1

This is it.  Could be the series here.  Gomez line starts.  Chanting begins.  Starts slowly.  Rises.  Falls as the Pens keep the puck away from Montreal on the perimeters.  Shadow possessions along the Montreal bandwidth.

Gill veers and backhands an exit pass to start a rush.  Cammalleri enters on the left.  High shot.  Not much more.

Second entry.  Kostitsyn’s stick is broken on an entry and the crowd boos.  Houde notes it and chuckles sympathetically saying that it won’t be called.

Kostitsyn kicked the puck to pass it ahead for Cammalleri.  Well thought, well placed.  No danger.

Lines change.

Moore underneath the end line.  Can’t make it work.  Now Lapierre picks it up in support.  Wraparound.  There’s time.  There’s room.  It’s in.

Napier.

Montreal 2, Pittsburgh 2

Lapierre stays on the ice.

Another chance.  Good one.  Moore finishes with a shot right on.  Three feet in front of Fleury at the side of the net.

The crowd is on and not off.  It’s a bit like game six in 04 against Boston.  That kind of sustained sound.  It’s deep and vibrant.

Cammalleri enters.  Crowd shrieks in one guttural voice.  The deep gravel accompanies a high shot, lifted foot.  Nope.

Now Gionta is in.  Medium-level shot.  Habs are buoyed.  Each line.

Another entry.  Gionta.  Right side.  Pass.  Off Letang.  Into the net.

The crowd gets a little louder.

Montreal 3, Pittsburgh 2

Dawgs, it’s loud.

Moore line follows.  Good choice.

Matt Cooke is called.  Darche, the hothead, remember, has to be moved away from Cooke by Lapierre.  Lapierre’s move is one of the plays of the game.  Cooke goes to the box alone.  What was Darche thinking?  Nothing.  He wasn’t.

It’s been a while since Darche has been so reckless.

Montreal power-play.

Pucks move well.  Gomez closes this sequence with a shot that is gloved and held by Fleury.

Gionta is cross-checked by Orpik after the play.  And was hacked four times beforehand.  Gionta doesn’t react.

Houde says the refs are nervous.  It’s the first time I’ve heard him say such a thing.

The call should have been made.

I’m sure they would have warned Orpik.  Orpik is unsavoury.  Need I provide other examples?

Gomez line stays on.

Gionta hits Orpik in the corner.  And is called for it.  I utter words for the first time tonight.

What myopic officiating.

It was legit.  But why call that and let the other stuff go?

This is the kind of thing that led me to stop watching hockey for fourteen years.  Bush league, Napoleonic, triumphalistic, provincial group of Little Lord Fauntleroys.

Welcome to the Royal Ontario Hokey League where hockey rules are a parody and inconvenience.  Yeah, Hokey.  Or do you have a third version for me.

Pittsburgh moves to a power-play.

They move the puck around the perimeter.

Plekanec and Pyatt are paired.

Gill is knocked down by a shot.  Fallen tree.  Puck goes high.  Gill gets up.  Slowly.  He’s ok.  Puck is in the corner.

And now it’s out.  Penalty is over.

Certain scoring chance.  Pittsburgh.  Oh.  No.  Halak’s halcyon doom makes my tongue extend like a devil’s Jordan.  He makes the save.  Slot murder.

Gomez line.  They get control.  It’s a melee now.

Another missed call.

I swear for my neighbours and Jebus in French.

These referees.  This league.  And now a call against Montreal.

Full bowl booing.

Martin had better write a letter.  Gainey, too.  What blind hogwash.

Pittsburgh will go to a power-play.

Darche.  Tripping.  Lapierre went down as the penalty was called against Darche.  Orpik took Lapierre down.

Referee Paul Devorski is born in Guelph, Ontario.  Second referee Shane Heyer is from British Columbia.

Fans threw stuff on the ice.  Houde says this hasn’t happened before.  He warns the viewers through Brunet that a penalty can be leveled against the Canadiens for this kind of thing.

Martin explains his case to Devorski with aplomb but urgency.

Bob Sirois is right of course.

Halak now saves our flags, our eggs and our dignity, sprawled like Spiderman.  Twice.

One minute.

Moore clears.

Crowd responds.

Letang picks it up.

No more Ontario refs for Montreal games.  They are fans with a fan’s mentality.  Give us American refs.  Somewhere, a sinister Conn Smythe smiles an ashen green smile.

Penalty ends.

Gionta exits.  Great acceleration.  Gets in, covered.  But the coverage is on his left and his right shot finds the net down the middle.  Fleury stops it.

What a mom and pop league.

Too many Canadians involved.  As a group, they don’t know how to run sports businesses.

There are too few exceptions to that rule.

Halak’s save was soaked intelligence.  Just raw fibre and gulp.

Under nine minutes left.  Play like the Salt Lake women did.  How many calls was it?  Eleven?  Twelve?  To zero?

What a shame and what a sham.  Then and tonight.

Plekanec.  Can’t continue the possession.

Habs have to be careful in their play now.  It’s stacked against us.  Yeah, it’s us.  It became us about, oh, you know when.

Pens effort deep.  Houde compliments Hal Gill when it’s all over.  Great work from the hulking defenceman.  Also from Ontario.  One Ontario-born Bob Gainey is worth seventy-five Ontario-born Pat Quinns.

Upper Canada, my bottle.

Six minutes.

Plekanec line is back on.

Action is on the perimeters.  Montreal is carrying the emotional cylinders.  Kostitsyn gets a one-timer from the slot.  Hits a stick and goes straight up.

O’Byrne and Bergeron are on.  Man, we miss Mara.  And Spacek.  O’Byrne shouldn’t be in the game.  Bergeron should be a specialist on the power-play only.

Yes, it’s a long Pittsburgh possession.  Long shot.  Gloved.  Held.

Ad-point.

I feel normal again.  Normal for me, anyway.

Faceoff.  Long puck.  Icing.

Faceoff to Halak’s left.

Bylsma is his usual self.  Calm.

Crosby.  Works on the boards.  Four seconds.

Habs exit.

Long Gonchar pass is intercepted.  Gomez enters.  Long shot.

Exited.

Malkin.  Alone.  Breakaway.  Shot wide as the coverage caught up.  Malkin slides into the end-boards.  Thud but not a heavy one.  He’s ok.

Lapierre is deep.  In the corner.  Moore.

They work the boards.  Darche watches.  Lapierre traps the puck on the boards.  Seconds.  And more.  Took about eight, nine, ten off the clock.

Crowd cheers the effort.

Slot chance for Pittsburgh follows.  One screech.  A second.  The fans.  The crease.  The Cup.  The Goalie.  Halak.  Montreal survives.

Exit.  Re-entry.  Ends on the boards.  Gomez.  Great defensive work.

Letang.  Up for Staal.  He’s so slow.  Puck is taken from him.

PK Subban takes it up behind the Montreal net.  Breakout.  No.

Now a Pittsburgh turnover at center ice allows Subban to enter and shoot.  What a hard shot.  Fleury gives up the rebound.  No sticks reply.

Malkin’s breakaway was a Halak save.

Moen in the slot now.  One chance.  Support.  A second.  A Canadien falls.  Fleury covers.

One minute left in the period.

Pyatt is on.  Plekanec with him.  Gill on defence.

Medium shot.  Stopped.

Long shot.  Stopped.

Gonchar.  Wide.

Behind the net.  Thirty seconds.

Crosby.  To Malkin at the hash.  Cross-ice.  Gonchar.  One-timer.  Nope.  Exited.

It’s back in.  The crowd is in thunder.  The time is running out.  Neutral zone.  Pens can’t.  It’s to Halak.  He clears it.  The clock is shot.  The game is got.

Siren.  The crowd.  The stupid towels.  The signatory goalie.  The congratulations.  The team.  They skate off one by one.  Subban utters an exhausted, victorious oath skyward.

Montreal 3
Pittsburgh 2

Series is tied 2-2.  Next game is in Pennsylvania on Saturday.

HDS Stars: Jaroslav Halak, Hal Gill, Maxim Lapierre
RDS Stars: Jaroslav Halak, Josh Gorges, Maxime Talbot

How Talbot gets a star is up to you to figure out.

Gorges deserves a fourth star.  Halak deserves two extra.

Gaston Therrien asks a very good question.  How much of this is a bubble and how much of it will last?  He is asking about a certain goaltender and I admire his integrity in asking it in such a balanced way.  The ensuing discussion is intelligent, frank and appropriately grey.  Bergeron included.

I’d like to say, not for the last time, how dead wrong I was about Hal Gill.  I am humbled.  Til my next cayenne phrasing.

Related posts:

1. Montreal Canadiens vs. Pittsburgh Penguins (Gm 6) (Delayed Edition)
2. Montreal Canadiens vs. Pittsburgh Penguins (GM 7)
3. Montreal Canadiens vs. Pittsburgh Penguins (Gm 5)
4. Montreal Canadiens vs. Pittsburgh Penguins (Gm 3)
5. Montreal Canadiens vs. Pittsburgh Penguins (Gm 2)
6. Montreal Canadiens vs. Pittsburgh Penguins (Gm 1)