 |
MONTREAL - So, now Cinderella’s glass skate is kind of on the other foot.
The Montreal Canadiens were the upset darlings of the first two rounds, wearing the underdog’s label like a security blanket.
Now?
Whether they are playing the Boston Bruins or the Philadelphia Flyers, who have a seventh-game showdown Friday night, the Canadiens aren’t going to be surprising anybody when they show up to the ball.
Part of what will be interesting to see now is how the Canadiens handle the shifting burden of expectations. They were huge underdogs in each of their first two series, first against the Presidents Trophy winning Washington Capitals and Alex Ovechkin and then to the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins and Sidney Crosby.
Outside of the Canadiens’ dressing room, they were not many people who thought the Habs could beat either team and probably half of those who tell you they picked them to win are lying.
The Caps ran away with the league, but they lost to the Habs because they were inexperienced, relied too much on offence and lacked the killer instinct when they had the Canadiens down 3-1 with Game 5 on home ice and couldn’t get the job done.
There’s no way the Canadiens would get away with their bend-but-don’t-break approach against the ruthless Stanley Cup champion Penguins, right? The Penguins wouldn’t let them off the hook when they had them down 3-2.
The Canadiens thrived on that dynamic.
They wrapped themselves up in the comfort of nobody expecting them to win. The mantra in the Canadiens dressing room in both those series was “All the pressure is on (the Caps/Penguins). They’re supposed to win. We weren’t even supposed to be here.”
That won’t be the case this time around.
The Canadiens had no problem selling that to themselves or anybody else who was listening, but even though they are still the eighth seed and won’t have home-ice advantage in their first Eastern Conference final since 1993, they are going to be no worse than co-favourites against either the Flyers (seventh seed) or the Bruins (sixth seed).
You can make the case the Canadiens should now be favoured, regardless of their seeding, given the enormity of the two upsets and the quality of the two teams they left vanquished. The Canadiens were simply the better team in both series.
In the big moments, against big teams and big players, it was the opponents who flinched first.
As you might expect with the defeat of two such heavy favourites, the Canadiens are making some history along the way here.
They became the 11th team since the seeding format was introduced in 1994 to win two Game 7s in the same playoff year. Of the previous 10 teams to accomplish the feat, six of them went on to win the Stanley Cup.
Interestingly, the Canadiens have three players on their roster who were part of those teams that won two Game 7s and went on to win the Cup.
Forwards Brian Gionta and Scott Gomez did it with the New Jersey Devils in 2003, eliminating the Ottawa Senators in seven games in the East final and then needing the distance to win the Stanley Cup against what were then the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.
Canadiens defenceman Hal Gill, who was so dominating against both Ovechkin and Crosby in the first two rounds, was a member of the Penguins team that won two Game 7s last spring, including the final against the Detroit Red Wings.
Good omens?
Perhaps.
They should take what they can get since they don’t have surprise on their side anymore.