MONTREAL — The Montreal Canadiens surrounded and embraced their goaltender a little longer than usual in their postseries celebration Monday night.
The Canadiens were proud of the way they rebounded as a team to claim the seventh and deciding game 5-0 against the Boston Bruins, but especially satisfied with the way their 20-year-old rookie goalie, Carey Price, responded after taking a couple of backward strides in the two previous games.
"It was a rough couple of games," admitted Price, who earned his second shutout in his first Stanley Cup playoff series after yielding 10 goals in the fifth and sixth games. "We knew it had to turn around eventually.
"It showed a lot of character to come back. But dealing with adversity builds character."
Montreal Canadiens defenceman Mark Streit, right, jumps into the arms of teammate Francis Bouillon after scoring against the Boston Bruins during Game 7 of their Eastern Conference quarter-final game in Montreal on Monday. Montreal won 5-0. (Christinne Muschi/Reuters)
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- Boston Bruins
- Montreal Canadiens
- New York Rangers
- Philadelphia Flyers
- Washington Capitals
- Christopher Higgins
- Saku Koivu
- Mike Komisarek
- Andrei Kostitsyn
- Sergei Kostitsyn
- David Krejci
- Maxim Lapierre
- Petteri Nokelainen
- Tomas Plekanec
- Carey Price
- Marc Savard
- Mark Streit
- Marco Sturm
- Tim Thomas
The Canadiens exhibited plenty of character in disposing of the Bruins in the series finale. Besides Price's stingy 25-save performance, the Canadiens outhit their opponents, 38-24, blocked more shots, 23-12, and were perfect in penalty killing, 6-for-6.
They learned a valuable lesson before advancing to the second round.
"Obviously, to be up 2-0 [in the series], we didn't want it to be a long series," said Montreal captain Saku Koivu, who missed the first five games with a foot injury. "We learned that it's never going to be easy. Hopefully, we learned that we can't get away from our game plan and that we have to fight to the end.
"Mentally, this is the toughest round to win because you haven't won anything yet."
The Canadiens deserve credit for returning to their game plan Monday night. They brought their physical side, as they did for the first two games, and they reverted to their blue-collar worth ethic by dumping the puck in deep and using their speed to get to it first.
The Canadiens' Guy Carbonneau also earned his stripes in his first tour of duty as a head coach in the Stanley Cup playoffs. He made a clever move by yanking skilled forward Alex Kovalev off his line and placing him alongside Koivu and Christopher Higgins. Sergei Kostitsyn, who had been playing with Higgins and Koivu, took Kovalev's spot on the line with his older brother Andrei and Tomas Plekanec.
What this did was get the Kostitsyns and Plekanec away from Kovalev's watchdog, Boston defenceman Zdeno Chara. Andrei Kostitsyn not only scored twice, but his brother also put one behind Boston goalie Tim Thomas.
"We wanted to play a tough game and use our speed to get in on the puck like we have done all season," Carbonneau said.
Canadiens defenceman Mike Komisarek scored early in the game when his shot from the point deflected off the stick of Boston forward Petteri Nokelainen. Boston then poured on the pressure, but Price was in fine form.
Montreal's Mark Streit scored a dandy goal midway through the second period to give his team some breathing room, then the Kostitsyns went to work.
The Canadiens will meet either the Philadelphia Flyers or New York Rangers in the NHL Eastern Conference semi-finals. If the Flyers prevail in their series against the Washington Capitals, it would be the Flyers. If the Capitals complete their rally, the Canadiens would have a date with the Rangers.
The atmosphere outside the Bell Centre was festive before the game, but there was a sense that the insistent faithful were ready to disown the Canadiens if they lost their third games in a row and the series.
Inside the building, the capacity crowd of 21,273 produced an ear-splitting level of cheer. They chanted "Go, Habs, go" throughout Charles Prévost-Linton's rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner and there was a smattering of boos when it ended.
During a television timeout late in the second period, the crowd went bonkers and crooned their staple "Olé, olé, olé, olé" and turned up the volume before action restarted.
"It got so loud you had to cover your ears," Price said.
While the Canadiens move on, the series will be invaluable for the young Bruins. They took the regular-season Eastern champs to a seventh game without two of their best players, Patrice Bergeron (concussion) and Chuck Kobasew (broken leg).
"Give the other team credit," Boston coach Claude Julien said. "I think you saw a better Montreal team out there."
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