MONTREAL — Open up the call lines.
The Ottawa Senators are back in fret mode this morning — thanks to a 7-5 loss to the Montreal Canadiens that drove one goaltender from the net and would have driven the second off the ice if there'd been anyone else available.
The Canadiens, not so long ago not even expected to make the NHL playoffs, are in first place this morning, the first Eastern Conference team to guarantee itself a playoff spot.
The Senators, who reached the Stanley Cup final last year and only last November were being called one of the best teams in NHL history, are worried about getting there at all.
Related Information
- Detroit Red Wings
- Montreal Canadiens
- Ottawa Senators
- Philadelphia Flyers
- Ray Emery
- Martin Gerber
- Mikhail Grabovski
- Dany Heatley
- Tom Kostopoulos
- Maxim Lapierre
- Martin Lapointe
- Andrei Markov
- Carey Price
- Cory Stillman
- Antoine Vermette
"We want to prove that we can play against these guys," Montreal forward Tom Kostopoulos said.
And prove it is exactly what Montreal did — Kostopoulos applying salt at the end of the second period with a short-handed goal, against replacement Ray Emery, to put the Canadiens ahead by six.
The score, as the cliché goes, was hardly indicative of the game.
The Canadiens, hockey's greatest surprise this season, went into the game carrying the burden of having lost five of six matches to the Senators.
In fact, it had been Ottawa's splendid 3-0 victory here only two weeks earlier — after the dismissal of head coach John Paddock — that had been taken as a sign the once-dominant Senators were back under Bryan Murray, the general manager, who felt forced to take over the coaching duties at the end of February.
They're back, all right — back to the goaltending controversy that has now dogged this team the entire season.
Emery, described all year as a "distraction" for his sulky play and lazy practice habits, was back in Ottawa's net to begin the second period after the temporary No. 1 goaltender, Martin Gerber, let in three goals to start the game.
Gerber had fumbled badly, seeming nervous and out of position on Andrei Kostitsyn's first goal and failing to cover the puck on the young winger's second.
Chris Higgins also scored on Gerber, putting in his own rebound.
Emery had started strong in the second period — particularly on a glove save against Montreal's Maxim Lapierre, but he had not played in 11 games and soon looked as inept as the man he replaced.
The Ottawa goaltending, a disheartened Murray said at game's end, is simply "not good enough" for a team still bearing Stanley Cup ambitions.
While Antoine Vermette scored early in the second period to bring the score down to 3-1, Emery was soon at the mercy of the swirling Montreal forwards, with François Bouillon, Andrei Markov and Mikhail Grabovski all scoring before Kostopoulos scored short-handed to put the game seemingly beyond reach.
"When you're up 7-1," Montreal captain Saku Koivu said, "you kind of think the game is over."
It was, but Ottawa did score four more times on rookie Carey Price, who had looked calm and smooth through the first two periods. Dany Heatley scored twice and Martin Lapointe and Jason Spezza each got a goal as the game wound down.
Goaltending, however, is not an issue in Montreal, with Price's name being happily chanted by the 21,273 in attendance and Jaroslav Halak considered a more-than-adequate backup should he be required.
Such is hardly the case in Ottawa, where goaltending has been in question all season and today will be the talk of town with precious little confidence in either Emery or Gerber.
As Murray's brother, Terry, once put it while coaching the Philadelphia Flyers, "You only go as far as your goaltender takes you." In Terry's case, trying to decide between Ron Hextall and Garth Snow in the 1997 final against the Detroit Red Wings cost him his head-coaching job.
By nailing down a playoff berth first, the Canadiens' prospects in the Eastern Conference now seem excellent.
"We're finally there," a relieved Montreal head coach Guy Carbonneau said. "The guys can be proud of what they have done."
There remains, however, a formidable journey if Montreal has any hopes of being the first Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup since the Canadiens did it in 1993.
The Western Conference is considered so strong that, if the NHL did not stick to its current playoff format, it is conceivable both the final and the semi-final would belong exclusively to Western teams.
With only 10 points separating the eight playoff-bound teams in the East heading into last night's game, it is a mug's game trying to predict which teams might meet — though an Ottawa-Montreal series remains as possible as any.
Until the puck dropped last night, nothing would have made Ottawa happier.
As of the buzzer last night, however, such a prospect could only send shivers up Highways 40 and 417.
"It's important for us, mentally," Carbonneau said, "to overcome the bad luck we've had against them."
Montreal forward Chris Higgins cautioned, however, reading too much into this nearly effortless victory over the Ontario rival.
"They can play really good hockey when they're on the same page," he said.
Unfortunately for the Senators, that same page hasn't been read much lately.
