Senators 1, Canadiens 0
(Montreal leads best-of-seven series 3-1)
The Ottawa Senators train is still running.
And that train will be taking the Senators back to Montreal for a Game 5 on Friday as the Senators avoided elimination by winning a tight, tense 1-0 goaltender’s duel between the Senators’ Craig Anderson and the Canadiens’ Carey Price at Canadian Tire Centre in Game 4 Wednesday.
Mike Hoffman’s goal, with 9:05 remaining in the third period, broke the scoreless tie. Hoffman’s shot, with Mika Zibanejad creating a perfect screen in front of Price, sailed over Price’s trapper.
The game wasn’t quite over, though.
Anderson needed to be sharp in the closing stages to steal goals away from Game 3 hero Dale Weise and Anderson finished with 28 saves for his third career playoff shutout.
Anderson and Price exchanged save after save through the scoreless first 49 minutes, setting the stage for a tense third period, where questionable hits were everywhere and the referees’ whistles were nowhere.
It was an impressive performance for the Senators, given the must win pressure.
At the very least, the Senators gave their home fans one last blast of glory. When the Senators skated off the ice following the victory, the fans were on their feet, holding out hope that the Senators can knock off the Canadiens in Montreal Friday and be back again for a Game 6, keeping alive a playoff comeback even more improbable than their regular season run.
Heading into Wednesday’s game, Mark Stone promised the Senators wouldn’t go away easily, that they were having too much fun to say goodbye.
They’re not leaving for the summer just yet.
There are long odds, ridiculous odds and then the kind of odds that are so tiny nobody even bothers to take bets on them. The Senators chances of winning the series were in the latter category as they took the ice for Game 4.
Only four times since 1942 have NHL teams rebounded from a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven series. The Canadiens, in their long and storied history, entered the game a perfect 32-0 in series in which they had won the opening three games. Only twice have teams down 3-0 extended a series against Montreal to six games.
Accordingly, for the Senators, Wednesday was all about achieving small goals in order to win just one game. In the morning, Cameron talked about playing “three first periods”, alluding to the fact the Senators had led after the first period in Games One, Two and Three.
The Senators couldn’t even gain much confidence from their own history in elimination games, either. Before Wednesday, the Senators had been down 0-3 on four previous occasions. Only once had they extended the series to five games.
Since their first playoff appearance in 1997, the Senators owned a record of 5-14 when on the brink of elimination.
The counter argument to all that is that this is a different team and a different year.
No team in history had ever erased a 14-point deficit to make the playoffs. Until, that is, the Senators went 21-3-3 to close out the regular season to earn a post-season spot.
Most of that, of course, was achieved while Andrew Hammond was in goal.
Hammond was on the bench Wednesday, as Cameron opted for Anderson in his belief that gave the Senators the best chance to win.
Turns out, it was the right call.
On Wednesday, both Anderson and Price were outstanding in keeping the game scoreless through two periods. The Canadiens held a 21-20 shots edge.
Anderson’s best stops came on special teams. He robbed Brandon Prust on a shorthanded breakaway, fully extended as he kicked out his right pad to prevent Prust from tucking the puck in. During a controversial Canadiens’ power play earlier in the period – the Senators were signaled for a face-off violation – Anderson held his ground to stop both Brendan Gallagher and Alex Galchenyuk.
Price came up big on a Senators’ power play late in the period as Patrick Wiercioch and Mika Zibanejad were buzzing around the Canadiens’ net. Price stopped a Kyle Turris backhand on the play leading to the penalty. Clarke MacArthur was also left shaking his head following a Price pad save.
It was all about the goaltenders in the first period, too.
For the first time in the series, the Senators didn’t lead 1-0 after the first period.
The Canadiens had the early scoring chances in the run-and-gun opening 20 minutes, but the Senators gained momentum following a failed Canadiens’ power play.
Erik Condra rifled a shot off the post behind Price. The second line, featuring Zibanejad and Bobby Ryan, had some jump with Hoffman shifted up from the fourth line. Milan Michalek was moved back to a fourth line alongside Zack Smith and Chris Neil.
kwarren@ottawacitizen.com
Twitter.com/Citizenkwarren
