MONTREAL — Exactly 13 seconds after the goal by No. 13, the TV timeout could not have come at a better time.
Not sure what commercial you were watching at home or what else you might have been doing during this particular pause for a cause at 10:58 of the second period in Monday’s Eastern Conference semi-final between the Habs and Penguins, but 21,273 at the Bell Centre were going absolutely bonkers.
The three-minute screaming ovation that came after Mike Cammalleri’s second goal of the night was repaid by the Habs, who pulled into a 3-2 lead on Jaroslav Spacek’s perfect shot 2:17 later. From there, they would never look back.
If an NHL audience has ever been louder than the one that lifted the Habs into their second Game 7 against a vastly superior team, no one we checked with on press row can remember when.
Neither can Tom Pyatt.
“That was the loudest I’ve heard a crowd,” he said. “It was unbelievable.”
“You can’t give the crowd here enough credit,” added Scott Gomez — unable to contain a smile at the topic — moments after the 4-3 victory that sends the series into what should be a hum-dilly of a deciding game Wednesday at Mellon Arena. “You hear so much about it, and ... a lot of us have been through some big games, so we’re like, okay, how good could the crowd be? But that’s as good as it gets.
“I’ve been in a lot of arenas, been at a lot of sporting events, but the people here ... we’re proud of our fans. They’re tough on us too, but they’re behind us the whole way. When you’re playing in front of a crowd like that, if that doesn’t get you going, I don’t know what does.
“It’s good to see that the whole city is behind us. Hopefully, we can get another game here.”
That sure would be something to see.
STARTS AND STOPS
The Sidney Crosby temper tantrum at the final buzzer saw the Penguins superstar try to get at Tomas Plekanec, then Josh Gorges. If Montreal fans only hated Crosby before, it’s a good bet they totally despise him now. Cheapseats: Sidney, was it a particular incident that angered you at the end of the game? Crosby: “No, I mean, no ... it’s just Plekanec. It’s better to get that stuff out of the way anyway. We’ve got hockey to play in Game 7.” .... The hard wind that blew outside the Bell Centre before the game came from the direction of the Forum. I’m not poetic or anything, but could it have been the arrival of Habs ghosts? How else do you explain Montreal still being in this game early in the second period, and two hit goal posts by the Penguins during one power play and another right after it? ... The Penguins jumped to the attack from the opening faceoff and completed a very strong first shift, but with no shots on goal. Cammalleri, meanwhile, scored on the second shift and the game’s first shot on goal. The Habs sniper has to have the coolest goal celebration in the league. The simple fist pump says, “I’ve been there before.” ... Gorges will have more than a few aches and pains Tuesday morning. The guy threw himself in the way of everything moving and even into something (the boards) that wasn’t, while trying to fool the refs into calling a checking-from-behind penalty on Crosby.
THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO HMMM...
Don’t blame the players for continuing to play through offsides in the second period. Someone needs to come up with a louder device than a whistle to be used at playoff games in this place ... Through the mask you could see Jaroslav Halak smile and shake his head after a inexplicable clearing attempt up the middle went right to Pascal Dupuis, who failed to take advantage of the gaping cage. No, the giveaway was not by Marc-Andre Bergeron, but Halak himself .... One of the game’s biggest saves was by Travis Moen, off Evgeni (If I hear one more reporter call him “Geno” I’m gonna puke) Malkin. The point-blank, power-play chance came just seconds after Halak made a great glove save off Malkin ... Thought they were going to have to grab Gomez and carry him by the elbows off ice after the Habs centre missed an open net in the last ticks of the second. He stared at the net in disbelief after the blown chance that even had teammate P.K. Subban holding his head in agony.
BETWEEN PERIODS
Jordan Leopold is not dwelling on the Andy Sutton hit in Game 1 of the series with the Senators that kept him sidelined until Round 2 with a suspected concussion. “I didn’t look at the replay too many times,” the Penguins defenceman said. “You just try to get back as soon as you can. I saw it maybe twice. Reporters ask all the time, ‘what do you think of (the hit)?’ It’s a done deal ... I have to move forward, and our team moved forward, too.” Wait Jordan, Cheapseats said. It matters to me what you think. “Of course, that’s you’re job,” he replied. “You guys are analysts, opinion-makers, that’s your job to make an opinion, but not mine. I’m not going to give you that satisfaction.” At least he didn’t call us experts ... The Senators lost the flip for first pick in the 1992 draft and took Alexei Yashin when they really wanted Roman Hamrlik, who the Lightning snapped up. Tough to compare an offensive centre to a two-way defenceman, but it seems Hamrlik was the right choice. He has played 1,232 regular-season games to Yashin’s 850, and his assist in the second period gives him 29 playoff points (in 84 games) compared to Yashin, who had 27 points in 48 playoff games. Of course, Hamrlik didn’t have Mike Peca shutting him down.
LAST CHANGE
The last five times the Penguins closed out a series, it was on the road. The last six times the Habs were eliminated, it was on home ice. All the numbers said this one should have ended Monday .... Hours before game time, it was mentioned to Pascal Dupuis he had the chance to end the dreams of two Canadian teams in back-to-back playoffs. Got another series winner in ya, Pascal? “Why not, ah?” Dupuis said with a big grin.
