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MONTREAL — There was plenty of good reason for whining and moaning at Bell Centre Thursday night, and not by Sidney Crosby.
The Habs were screwed over big-time by the refs in the first period of what would become a stunning 3-2 victory over the Penguins. Up 1-0 on the softest goal given up by a netminder in these playoffs, Montreal held the lead for all of 53 seconds — until Ruslan Fedotenko’s tackle of P.K. Subban at the Penguins’ blue line allowed Max Talbot to make good on a breakaway.
“I knew Fedotenko would make a contribution at some point this spring,” mused one Pittsburgh writer.
A half-minute later, Hal Gill was sent off for holding, and with the Penguins on the power play, Crosby tripped Roman Hamrlik in the Habs’ zone.
Now, it could be argued that Hamrlik was guilty of some embellishment, but it wasn’t blatant embellishment. It could have easily been called and, with Paul Devorski and Eric Furlatt having ignored the Fedotenko takedown, it should have been.
The thundering “Referees Suck” chants started up after Crosby banked a pass off both of Chris Kunitz’s feet (what, Sid didn’t mean to do that? Please.) to put the Penguins up moments later, and picked up again when Mark Eaton clotheslined Andrei Kostitsyn without being called for it with five minutes left in the period.
“We battled through a lot tonight,” admitted centre Dominic Moore. “We weren’t getting a lot of bounces early in the game.”
That’s a diplomatic way to put it. The fans finally had enough in the third, when Mathieu Darche was given a penalty 1:40 after the Habs, bravely clinging to a one-goal lead, had killed off a boarding call on Brian Gionta. They tossed onto the ice wave towels and anything else they could get their hands on, but while the customers lost their composure, the Habs maintained theirs.
They killed that penalty, too, and hung on to even the series and ensure at least one more game at Bell Centre this season.
“It’s part of playoff hockey,” Gionta said of forging through the adversity. “You’ve got to keep your emotions in check. You can’t worry about things that you can’t control.”
Even the rookie Subban, who struggled early in his eighth NHL game, showed remarkable maturity.
“To be honest, I didn’t see whether the guy grabbed my leg or not. I’m not going to debate that,” he said. “It’s playoff hockey. You’re not going to get the calls every time. I’m not saying the ref missed a call or anything like that. You’ve just got to stick with it. The game carries on. There’s lots of hockey to be played at that point. It’s a challenge for me to learn these things and how to battle back from things like that.”
It’s a good thing the Habs came back to win this one, or it could have been a busy night for Montreal police. In a playoff season that has seen 27 too many men on the ice penalties called, the Habs had to beat not just the defending champions, but also two referees.
Starts and stops
G Jaroslav Halak shrugged at the final buzzer after having just watched his clearing attempt off the side boards slide by the empty Pittsburgh net. He was already first star of the game, so a goal there would have made him ... God? ... Jason Spezza’s buddy Mike Cammalleri shaved Thursday morning. That’s worthy of mention only because it’s playoff time, when most players leave their razors in the medicine cabinet. “I didn’t do it this year,” the Habs star said of growing the traditional, post-season beard. “I said, you know, let’s change it up. I did it last year and it didn’t work out. I don’t grow much of a beard anyway. I don’t look very good with it. So I said I’m going to go with the clean, fresh maintained look this year in the playoffs.” Other Habs have followed Cammalleri’s lead. Apparently, it is possible to have playoff success without looking like Grizzly Adams ... Have a hard time believing Jordan Staal really did suffer a sliced foot tendon in Game 1 when he comes back to play in Game 4. If he in fact did, it’s an even more impressive comeback than Montreal rebounding from a 3-1 series deficit to eliminate the Caps, and that which Detroit is going to pull off by knocking out the Sharks next week.
Between periods
n attendance and looking like a million bucks was none other than Alexandre Daigle. The former first overall draft pick (1993) of the Senators is living in Switzerland and has two kids. Now 35, Daigle played on three different teams in the Swiss A league this season, scoring nine goals and 21 assists in 31 games ... A good week for scalpers in Montreal continues even with the Habs in Pittsburgh. One such entrepreneur says it’ll cost $350 just to get in the door (and plop into the cheapest seat) for UFC 113 — featuring Lyoto Machida’s light heavyweight title defence vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua — at Bell Centre Saturday. Why wouldn’t you just go to a bar?
This 'n' that
Only in Montreal does the P.A. announcer have to run down the list of Americans on the home team and remind fans that it’s not cool to boo during The Star-Spangled Banner ... A veteran hockey writer, upon hearing the “Crosby Sucks” chants: “I can’t believe all these people have interviewed him.” The Pens captain has lots of game but still very little of interest to say ... Crosby’s dad Troy apparently wasn’t impressed with the Habs fans picking on his boy in Game 3. Says Mike Cammalleri: “I would say for them to be flattered by it. Just shows you what kind of impact he has. Montreal fans ... the same thing happened with the U.S. anthem. It’s just their excitement over their team. They don’t mean to put anybody down. If Wayne Gretzky or Sidney Crosby is playing against the Montreal Canadiens, then they suck. But I’m sure when he had a Canada jersey on, every one of those fans cheered for him.”
LAST CHANGE: Matt Cooke just can’t help himself from trying to hurt people. At the Penguins morning skate he jammed a stick in between Staal’s legs while his teammate was on a line rush. Come on Matt. Staal’s out there with a torn foot tendon. Apparently ... Halak was looking merely mortal until the third period, when he somehow managed to get across his crease in time to block Crosby’s shot at an open side and again later, when he stopped Evgeni Malkin on a breakaway.