- A regulation win and Montreal clinches. But it’s not a desperate situation that is going to see them pull Samuel Montembeault in a tie game late. One point is still a big result.
First period
- Just 28 seconds in the Senators have a 1-0 lead. Kaiden Guhle lost his stick in a board and went to pick it up, and that made him a second late getting back to the crease to do anything about Shane Pinto’s shot.
- Montreal can now start the comeback, as they prefer to do.
- Dylan Cozens makes it 2-0. Maybe Montreal doesn’t want to be in the playoffs after all.
- A scrum erupts at centre ice. It’s three Montreal forwards versus … seven Ottawa Senators players. Montreal ends up with an extra penalty after taking on a rugby formation.
- Brendan Gallagher got shoved from behind into the end boards by Tim Stützle, with not call. Josh Anderson gets some retribution by blowing up Stützle.
- The Canadiens are going for big hits now and getting out of position. Ottawa is getting chances by taking advantage of its opponents flinging themselves into the boards. Montreal needs to refocus before this gets to 3-0.
- Montreal finally gets a prime scoring chance as the puck bounces right to the top of the crease to … Michael Pezzetta. He missed the net by some margin.
- The Senators not only whack a dropped stick away from a Habs player trying to pick it up, they then shoot that stick toward the puck-carrier at the blue line. Two automatic penalties, zero calls from the refs.
- I guess there are too many Canadian teams in the playoffs already.
- At least Montreal didn’t give up 24 shots in that period, but it may have been even worse than the one versus Detroit.
- The Canadiens do average three goals per game, so they can score two in 40 minutes. One point is the new aim for tonight after that poor start.
Second period
- It took 1:05 for Ottawa to score in the second period. So much for regrouping in the intermission.
- Patrik Laine drops his shoulder and powers to the slot to make a cross-crease pass. He has the ability to do that when he wants to.
- Christian Dvorak gets that third goal back on a breakaway to make this a two-goal game once again. Without his late-season run, the Habs would have probably already been eliminated. Quite the run for him.
Christian Dvorak gives the #Habs some life in the second period, 3-1.
— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) April 11, 2025 at 9:13 PM
[image or embed]
- Anderson gets run into the end boards this time. It looks like it take murder to get a power play in this game.
- Montreal is really struggling with the cycle of Ottawa’s third line. They can’t seem to decide if they’re going to try to steal the puck or hit them.
- It didn’t take murder after all. Just a cross-check to Anderson’s face by Tyler Kleven.
- A good shift from Montreal’s top unit ends when the linesman decides to blow the play dead for offside on a puck that didn’t even partially cross the blue line. Laine is upset, and he should be.
- Montreal is going right back on the power play with Drake Batherson off for hooking.
- You can’t say Montreal hasn’t had its chances now. Two squandered power plays.
- At least they’re starting to play well enough to earn some in the offensive zone.
- But they allow a fourth goal as Batherson doubles down with a tip that then goes off the back of Alex Newhook’s leg and in.
- Montreal is very good at getting the game from a three-goal deficit to just two. Nick Suzuki’s 87th point is the 4-2 goal off a great pass from Juraj Slafkovský.
Juraj Slafkovsky throws it out front, and Nick Suzuki makes it 4-2, giving the #Habs some life again.
— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) April 11, 2025 at 9:44 PM
[image or embed]
- Pezzetta and Hayden Hodgson drop their gloves right off the faceoff and just start throwing. Pezzetta lands several blows and scores the takedown, but appears to have a mangled finger as he goes off.
- Joel Armia looks at a potential stretch pass, but all he can do is take a golf swing at the puck. He doesn’t seem to have full use of his wrists at the moment, and I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that end of the season that one of them is broken.
- Suzuki goes to the box for just the fourth time this season for a stick lift that hit a glove.
- Dvorak plays the entire PK without a stick, but the Canadiens survive.
- A better period from Montreal, but that two-goal deficit they faced after one period is still on the scoreboard after two.
Third period
- Montreal has to kill of a penalty early in the third period as Laine is caught holding Claude Giroux’s stick.
- The Habs aren’t really playing like they intend to complete a comeback here.
- A rare two-on-one with Newhook and David Savard almost connects to the lumbering defenceman. But only almost.
- That inspired a great shift that was prematurely ended when the ref lost sight of a loose puck. Montreal has had two great shifts cut short by the officials tonight.
- In the second half of the period, Montreal is beginning to see a lot of possession in the Senators’ zone.
- The broadcast keeps mentioning great Ottawa defence. I see players just throwing high cross-checks every time they lose body position.
- Pinto will seal this game for Ottawa with a empty-net goal to make it 5-2. Each game of the season series was decided by three goals.
- Clinching will have to wait, but now the Canadiens are down to three opportunities.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) I agree with this, but mostly because he’s a batter option than Savard
2) What’s the status of that second team in the GTA?
1) Just a few more days until that story begins
