MONTREAL – It is the fleeting, flirty dance partner at this time of year, in a tight embrace one moment before spinning off to hook up with your biggest rival the next.
The Montreal Canadiens and the Philadelphia Flyers have been the best practitioners of the dance with momentum this spring.
The Flyers, of course, affected the biggest momentum shift in the last 35 years with their rally from a 3-0 series deficit to come back and beat the Boston Bruins in the second round.
The Canadiens came back from being down 3-1 to the top-seeded Washington Capitals in the opening round and 3-2 against the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins in Round 2.
And now we have this.
After getting thumped by a 9-0 combined score in the first two games of the East final in Philadelphia, the Canadiens dropped what Philly captain Mike Richards rightly termed “an old-fashioned ass kicking” on the Flyers in Game 3 at the Bell Centre.
Now, what do we get in Game 4 Saturday afternoon?
What will be the pushback from the Flyers now that momentum is once again holding hands with the Habs?
The Flyers were in a prickly mood Friday – Dan Carcillo criticizing Montreal’s Mike Cammalleri for sticking his tongue out at him in Game 3; Richards a little miffed over the Canadiens trotting out their top power play late in a game that had pretty much been won.
It might have been their way to try and change their emotional setting for Saturday.
Change is at the heart of courting momentum.
Canadiens coach Jacques Martin, who, in his years with the underachieving Ottawa Senators was characterized as inflexible and unimaginative (and that’s from former players who liked him), is now being lauded for adjustments that have helped swing momentum.
He has juggled his lineup and lines, shortened his bench and embraced the input and ideas from his staff and former GM Bob Gainey and successor Pierre Gauthier.
“I think he’s been good. I’ve got nothing but good things to say about Jacques. I would say that he’s probably adapted a little bit more than people expect,” said Canadiens winger Mike Cammalleri, who broke the shutout string of Flyers goaltender Michael Leighton to open the scoring in Game 3.
“Sometimes an experienced coach, you usually find that they’re pretty set in their ways and I think Jacques’s been very open minded as far as adapting ideas and things that might work. We’ve made lots of adjustments as things have gone on.”
Of course, it hasn’t hurt that Martin has a more veteran group here assembled by Gainey compared to what he had in Ottawa with Gauthier. In the pre-lockout days, the Senators were on a budget under the ownership of Rod Bryden. It was a group of young players who grew together over 10 years, but lacked the presence of proven winners to help them get through the inevitable dark moments when momentum flips her hair and turns her back.
“I think I’ve said it before, I felt that our leadership here has been a big factor, not to knock down the leadership in Ottawa, because I had good leadership there,” said Martin. “But it’s a different leadership (in Montreal) from the standpoint that people like (Brian) Gionta, (Scott) Gomez, Travis Moen, Hal Gill have won the Cup, and they’ve won through the process, and I think these individuals have been really helpful to the team in these times.”
The Flyers will look for their own help within their walls. Wash “the dirty taste” out of their mouths, as Richards put it.
“Well, the game was bad. I don’t want to dismiss the game, you know what I mean?” said Flyers coach Peter Laviolette, who could have forward Ian Laperriere back Saturday. “The playoffs, you have to continually move on. You have to leave the good and the bad behind.”
Who will dance with momentum Saturday?
chris.stevenson@sunmedia.ca
