It promised to be a great evening. A clash between the Canadiens and the Maple Leafs on a Saturday night is hard to beat. There are always many Blues fans who come to the Bell Center. Which inevitably adds to the atmosphere.
What was also good was that for a rare time, there was something at stake for both teams. Except for the 2021 series showdown, over the past 25 years, every time the two teams have faced each other, there has always been a bad side.
It was off to a good start. Especially after the first period. The Habs led 3 to 0, Patrik Laine had scored another goal on a power play, Arber Xhekaj had just sent Ryan Reaves away.
The party was quiet, except for the many silent Leafs fans.
But the wind has shifted. In the medium term, apart from that. The Torontonians scored seven unanswered goals (the last in an empty net), en route to a 7 to 3 victory. At the end of the game, only blue jerseys remained in the stands, those of the Maple Leafs, we understands. At the sound of the siren, it’s Go Leafs! Go! which resounded in the four corners of the amphitheater.
It is the equivalent of planting your flag on the lands of a conquered people.
There was something to brag about. It was only the third time in their history that the Leafs managed to overcome a three-goal deficit against the Canadiens, a first on Montreal soil.
A semblance of disaster
It’s been a long time since the channel arrived. In fact, that hadn’t happened since the 9-2 thaw suffered at the hands of the Penguins on December 12. At that point, in the 29th game of the season, the Habs had allowed the opponent to score four unanswered goals on nine occasions. It didn’t happen again until Saturday night.
However, unlike the previous scares, Martin St-Louis did not see this as a catastrophic scenario.
“We lost that match, but there were still positives. We led 3 to 0. We could have led by three or four goals,” said the Habs head coach.
-“We still had opportunities to score in the third period,” he added.
The Laval resident is not wrong. The first trio continued to hum. Cole Caufield had his share of shots (10 in total), Nick Suzuki missed a virtually empty goal, Kaiden Guhle wasted a golden opportunity.
The difference is that Joseph Woll was superior to Samuel Montembeault in the second portion of the match.
“I should have been better in third, making the stops at the right time, to try to keep the lead,” said the Canadian’s masked man, engaging in a self-flagellation session.
Montembeault was probably talking about William Nylander’s goal, on a breakaway, following a feint on which he bit like a rookie, then that of Oliver Ekman-Larsson, where he seemed to have a weakness in the glove.
Two goals scored in a row which transformed the slim one-goal lead into a one-goal deficit.
A missed opportunity
By losing to their Ontario enemies, the Habs missed the opportunity to join the Senators and the Bruins in eighth and last place giving access to the playoffs in the Eastern Association.
Too bad after all the trouble the St. Louis team went to to get back into the race, despite their grueling 15-game streak during which they changed cities on each occasion. She still came out of this incredible portion of the schedule with a record of 12-3-1.
Against the Leafs, the balloon deflated. Let’s hope there’s enough air left in it for the Rangers’ visit.
