Montreal Canadiens left wing Alexandre Texier, left, celebrates his goal against the Buffalo Sabres with defenseman Alexandre Carrier (45) during the first period of Game 5, on Thursday.Jeffrey T. Barnes/The Associated Press
What if they had a playoff game and the defences agreed to take the first ten minutes off? Interesting idea. Montreal and Buffalo tried it on Thursday.
The clock had just ticked over ten minutes from the start when the goal total hit five. At that point, Buffalo was hitting like Ted Williams - three goals on five shots.
In fairness, it probably should have been five for five. Montreal’s structure going backward had begun to resemble Tetris once it speeds up. Too many squares and not enough space. Canadiens goalie Jakub Dobes - the one who has inspired ‘Stop’ signs in Quebec - was flashing green.
In another playoff game elsewhere, this thing was already over. But not in this series. These two teams, so young and so promising, have ended the tactical portion of their encounter, and entered the wild swinging phase. It isn’t attractive hockey, but it is magnetic.
After staking the Sabres to a small lead and a massive psychological advantage, the Canadiens began exerting pressure in the opposite direction. This happened so gradually that you almost didn’t notice that Buffalo was suddenly bent over backward as Montreal loomed over them. It became clear when they snapped after the sixth Montreal goal. That’s when their fans gave up.
The greatest insult was preferred in the final seconds. Buffalo finished on another fruitless power play, while the Montreal supporters on hand - quite a few of them - Ole Ole Ole’d their team to victory. It ended 6-3.
A great deal has been made in this series about how great a hockey town Montreal is. I guess it’s been so long (one pandemic blip notwithstanding) that we’re all supposed to pretend we forgot.
But how about Buffalo? It’s been a long time since they featured in the post-season imagination. What kind of hockey spot is the Queen City these hopeful days?
During the first intermission gameshow segment, a fan who looked like a real-life pirate won tickets to see Journey, and he was over the moon. That kind.
It’s the sort of place where you rock up to get your credential and, upon seeing your ID, the woman at the desk says, “Congratulations on the first pick!” And she actually means it.
Ivan Demidov of the Montréal Canadiens celebrates his goal in the third period.Joe Hrycych/Getty Images
It’s where they’ve reduced the national divide that separates hockey to its essence - a billboard alternating an image of chicken wings with one of poutine so that the crowd can show it knows how to boo on cue.
This is an honest-to-God hockey town. So it’s a little sad to see Buffalo lose this series.
To be clear, nobody’s been finished off yet. Up 3-2, Montreal can close it out on Saturday night. If not, they’ll have another shot back here on holiday Monday.
But you don’t lose games the way Buffalo lost this one and shake it off with a hard practice. You’re familiar with a statement win. This was a statement collapse.
“I actually thought the start of the second period was pretty good,” Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said afterward. That sentence contains the tell that all NHL coach’s share - the one where ‘actually’ means ‘didn’t actually’.
Ruff directly followed that thought with: “And then I thought they had a pretty good push there for seven or eight minutes.”
You mean where Montreal scored three straight goals as your team began to fold in on itself? I suppose that was pretty good.
Not every bad loss is a statement collapse. Just getting your doors blown off isn’t the measure of it.
A statement collapse comes right after you were starting to feel good about yourselves, as the Sabres were. It happens in a game you should have won, but didn’t, as the Sabres did. It is not followed by disappointment, but by dead-eyed claims that getting turned upside-down at home didn’t bother you that much.
Ruff was at his blasé best - this man could sound bored narrating his own car going off a cliff - but it didn’t wash. This was a textbook statement collapse. I am from Toronto. I know.
The wrinkle in the statement collapse is that, in rare instances, it can be transmuted into a statement win. In most arenas, the Sabres woud have all of Game 6 to make that happen.
It would require a dangerous stratagem in which the Sabres stake Montreal to a substantial lead and then force their own breakdown. The physics of it are difficult, never mind the Sabres’ tendency to try suplexing goalies while the officials are looking. But it can be done.
Given the way the Bell Centre will be jumping, I’d say Buffalo has the length of the first period of Game 6 to get that plan in motion. If they’re not set up by the start of the second, it gets very hard to think in there what with all the blood trickling out of your ears.
However this turns out, you do get the sense here that you are watching the rivalry of the future today. The animus in this series appears to be real. If the deciding game gets out of control, score-wise, it’s likely to be a running brawl. Those sorts of insults are remembered for years, especially in these two towns, where every bad turn is a folk song waiting to be written.
It’s almost a shame that either one of them has to play Carolina next. That series could be great hockey and great drama, but it won’t be anywhere close to this sloppy and soapy as this one.