Dark and unspeakable things happen in front of an NHL net: The closer you look, the grislier the spectacle.
It gets worse in the playoffs.
Higher stakes mean rougher play – the sneaky cross-checking, hacking, helmet tipping, forearm shivering and outright knocking over are tolerated to a greater degree by officials in the postseason.
This typically works in the favour of defencemen and presents a thorny problem for forwards such as Montreal Canadiens winger Brendan Gallagher.
The undersized, fiery Gallagher has been a primary target for the Ottawa Senators defence, perhaps because he is the Montreal forward most willing to endure punishment near the opposing net.
"The rules are called a little more loosely and they're taking advantage of it like any other team."
"… I'm not complaining. It's part of playoff hockey and something you have to battle through and find a way," Gallagher said. "You have to battle every single shift. It definitely wears on you, but it's a matter of working through it … shift after shift, you have to go back; eventually you'll get your break."
While Montreal's role players have done their part in the goal-scoring department in this series (five have come from the third and fourth lines), the two top units have been comparatively discreet (three goals).
Gallagher and linemates Alex Galchenyuk and Tomas Plekanec have been largely bottled up over the past three games (Gallagher has only one point in the series; the line has generated two goals, both in Game 1, although the second was the overtime winner).
Max Pacioretty, he of 37 goals in the regular season, hasn't quite looked like himself since returning from an injury (widely thought to be a concussion). He scored a power-play marker in Game 2, but hasn't found the net since. On Thursday, he and goalie Carey Price brought out a bucket of pucks before the team's optional practice and, dressed in tracksuits and ball caps, fired dozens of shots at an empty net.
After an opening two games in which the teams combined for a total of 12 goals, only four have been scored in the past two.
Since Ottawa coach Dave Cameron turned to goalie Craig Anderson, the veteran stopper has saved 75 of the 77 shots he's faced (.974 save percentage) – he recorded a 28-save shutout with the Sens facing elimination; it wasn't the most challenging goose egg of his career.
The Habs were largely ineffective on the power play, and Montreal's forwards had trouble getting to the net because of a determined defensive effort.
At the other end, Price has stopped 64 of the 66 shots he's faced in the past two games (.970 save percentage), and 93 of 97 in his past 10 periods.
Give even a semi-competent NHL coach room to work, and a series will shortly devolve into a goaltending battle.
"Both teams made adjustments both ways to slow down the other team's offence, especially Game 4. It's tight out there … we're so familiar with each other and with what the other team's going to do – there's not a lot of scoring chances," Gallagher said.
The fact Price is in the Montreal net may explain the confidence in the Habs locker room despite wasting a strong effort from their netminder and missing their chance to close out the Sens in four.
One of the adjustments the Senators made in the two games in Ottawa was to station their forwards closer to the Montreal net.
The gambit is roughly as old as the game itself, but it paid off in crunch time in the third period when Mika Zibanejad was able to shield Price's view of Mike Hoffman's zippy wrister from the left faceoff circle.
The Habs understand they must do likewise if they are to beat Anderson.
"If we just dig in and just make it happen I'm sure we'll get there," said burly forward Devante Smith-Pelly, who made a nuisance of himself in front of Hammond in the first two games, but found the slogging tougher in Ottawa. "It's execution, just doing it. We did it the first three games; it's not like we've never done it before. A lot of the playoffs is just doing it. Everyone is trying their hardest; everyone wants to win."
It barely qualifies as analysis to say a team needs to crowd the net. What's interesting is the ways in which teams try to thwart the effort.
In Ottawa's case, it has involved making Montreal's forwards take a circuitous route to the opposing end – clearing the net starts with the fore-check and setting up speed traps in the neutral zone.
On the power play – another area where Montreal could stand to improve, having gone one for 16 in the series – the Sens have aggressively pursued forwards on the side boards and denied shots from the point – the Habs have tried to get the puck to the front of the net, but Ottawa has been deft at cutting off the supply routes.
The Senators clearly benefited from having the final line change on home ice, an advantage that falls to Habs coach Michel Therrien on Friday.
That means Cameron will have more trouble shielding his third defence pair of Eric Gryba and Mark Borowiecki – big, mean defenders who show a propensity toward taking penalties (six minors between them) – from the Habs' top offensive players.
As Therrien moves his chess pieces around the board in Game 5, Anderson may expect a more challenging evening at the office.
The 33-year-old told reporters in Ottawa on Thursday he's ready for it, and that "I feel 25 again," adding that "when you're breaking into the league, and backing up guys … you have to be prepared at any time."
That sort of talk might make Ottawa fans reach for a bottle of antacid.
When Anderson turned 25 in May, 2006, he had just completed a 6-12-4 season as Chicago's backup goalie, with a less-than-sterling .886 save percentage.
In Florida the following year he appeared in just five games. His win total that year: one.