PLAYOFF GAME DAY: Habs @ Sens :: Game 4, Round 1 :: 7:00pm ET :: Tue. May. 7th, 2013

Michallica wrote:Oh the hypocrisy, monsieur therrien

Number Twenty Nine wrote:Cherry called out Walrus on the time out. The Donz and Bob Old need to retire ASAP.

SpezDispenser wrote:

Ev wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:That's beyond stupid though.

well that's how it works in real life, so...

It might be time for the NHL to look at headshots of any kind. Particularly deliberate ones, but hey...it is what it is I guess.

Senators hope to put Canadiens on brink in Game 4
Monday, 05.06.2013 / 9:28 PM
Arpon Basu - Managing Editor LNH.com
SENATORS at CANADIENS <-- umm, that's wrong

(Ottawa leads best-of-7 series 2-1)

TV: CBC, RDS, CNBC

Big story: The fight-filled third period of Game 3 grabbed a lot of the attention, but the more significant development in the Ottawa Senators’ 6-1 win was that they imposed their will and dictated the pace and style of play for the first time in the series. If the Montreal Canadiens are unable to get back to their own style and stick to it, they may return home facing elimination.

Team Scope:

Canadiens: The Canadiens put on a confident face at practice Monday when speaking of the previous night’s blowout loss. The reason cited for that feeling of confidence by most of the players and coach Michel Therrien was the team’s ability to bounce back after bad losses this season.

“We’ve been a team that’s always bounced back when faced with adversity,” defenseman P.K. Subban said. “I have no doubt in my mind that we’ll bounce back [Tuesday].”

That’s partially true. The Canadiens had six losses in the regular season by three or more goals. Their record in the game after the first three of those losses was 3-0, but after the last three losses they went 0-3.

As for the physical dominance the Senators displayed Sunday, one way the Canadiens could counter it would be to have an effective power play. Montreal went 1-for-6 with the man advantage in Game 3 and did not look particularly effective.

“We need our power play to be a lot more of a threat than it was [in Game 3],” Therrien said. “We need to impose a tempo with our power play.”

Senators: The Senators’ power play had been shut out in the first two games, but with 11 opportunities Sunday it got lots of practice and converted three times to turn the game into a laugher.

It was Montreal’s willingness to play along with the Senators physical style that ultimately got Ottawa all those power-play chances, because eventually the Canadiens got frustrated and lost their composure in the third.

Chris Neil expects the physical play to return in Game 4, and if it does, perhaps Montreal’s lack of discipline will come with it.

“We were physical, but they were physical as well. We had 47 hits and they had 44,” Neil said. “It was a physical game from both sides and it will be the same thing [Tuesday].”

Who's hot: Sergei Gonchar may have been Ottawa’s best defenseman in Game 3, and he had two important assists on the game’s opening goal and the game-winner by Jean-Gabriel Pageau. Pageau is coming off a hat trick in Game 3. … Canadiens forward Rene Bourque has a point in each game of the series with two goals and an assist.

Injury report: The Canadiens are missing Lars Eller (concussion, facial fractures) and defenseman Alexei Emelin (knee). … The Senators are without defenseman Patrick Wiercioch (lower body), center Jason Spezza (back) and center Mike Hoffman (upper body).

OTTAWA (AP) -- The Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators are developing quite a rivalry this postseason.

The Senators beat the Canadiens 6-1 on Sunday night in a fight-filled, emotional game. The teams combined for 236 penalty minutes and nine players were given a game misconduct.

Ottawa has a 2-1 series lead in the best-of-seven quarterfinal series. Game 4 is Tuesday night.

On Monday players from both sides downplayed the events of the game, saying it's just part of playoff hockey and to be expected at this time of year.

The intensity could ratchet up again Tuesday night.

"This is fun," Ottawa forward Kyle Turris said. "It's a great atmosphere, real fun and I don't know if you would call it a hatred on the ice, but it's lots of fun."

Montreal defenseman P.K. Subban agreed with Turris.

"This is playoffs, this is exciting," Subban said. "We knew this being an all-Canadian series that it was going to be a lot of emotion and intensity involved and it's been great so far."

Turris was targeted by a number of Montreal players on Sunday. He fought Subban, and as the final buzzer sounded Montreal defenseman Josh Gorges fired a puck at Turris.

"Taking a slap shot at a guy at the end of the game isn't something that's really necessary if you ask me," Turris said. "I don't think he was trying to get a shot on net."

While neither team expects things to escalate to the same level in Game 4, it's clear the Senators want to continue to play a physical style while Montreal would prefer to wear Ottawa down with its speed.

"Last night was one game and (Tuesday) will be a totally different one," Ottawa defenseman Erik Karlsson said. "They want to come out and win the game, they don't want to win the fights and that's what we have to expect. We know we're going to have to be even better to win Game 4."

The Canadiens say they need to focus on their own style if they want to win the series.

"We have to get back to playing our game," Subban said. "We have to get back to doing the things that make us successful and right now we have a lot of things to play for. We have to make sure that we're doing the right things and we'll be ready for tomorrow."

Emotion will be a key factor for both teams, but in the end it's likely the team that manages to control its emotions best will have the advantage.

"You want to play on the edge and be physical and play our in-your-face game, hard forechecking, but you have to be smart at the same time," Montreal forward Colby Armstrong said. "We took some chippy penalties last game, not in the third, but even before that in the first and second and that was uncharacteristic for our group."

Ottawa's Eric Gryba, who served a two-game suspension for a hit on Lars Eller in Game 1, could be back in the lineup for Tuesday's game.

While he could be the target of some form of retaliation, the Senators aren't concerning themselves with it.

"I think and I hope that they want to play hockey," Karlsson said. "I think they want to win the game and if they throw a couple of extra hits on him it's a part of the game and I don't think it's going to affect our game in any way. We want to come out and be a better team than we were (Sunday).

"I think they're going to dig deep and really try to maintain their focus and I think they want to prove to themselves and everyone else they're still a good hockey team."

Canadiens coach Michel Therrien admitted his team needs to concentrate on playing hockey and not get caught up by emotion.

Therrien didn't go so far as to criticize the officiating, but he felt both rookie forward Brendan Gallagher and Subban were abused at times during the game which in turn led to them taking penalties as they attempted to defend themselves.

"When Brendan Gallagher drops the gloves it's because he was abused. When P.K. Subban drops the gloves it's because he was abused," Therrien said. "There comes a time when a player makes his own law because he's tired and we saw a fair amount of that (Sunday)."

Therrien believes his team will have no trouble focusing on the task at hand Tuesday.

"We have to make sure we play a solid game," he said. "We played two solid games in Montreal, I really liked the way we played and (Sunday) was a bad game for us and the Senators played a good game and deserved to win.

"We've proven in the past that we're capable of bouncing back. We have to bounce back (Tuesday)."

Senators coach Paul MacLean says he has made it clear to his team that they haven't accomplished anything yet and need to keep their focus on the next game.

"The hardest part is yet to come," he said. "We talked about that (Tuesday) is going to be even harder. That's what keeps us on an even keel is that we understand it's going to be hard."

Game notes
Ottawa D Patrick Wiercioch will not be available for Tuesday's game as he has a lower body injury. ... Ottawa F Jean-Gabriel Pageau was still reveling in the effects of scoring a hat trick in Sunday's game and said among the numerous messages he received was one from Philadelphia's Daniel Briere, a role model of Pageau's growing up. ... Montreal F David Desharnais said he needs to be much better in this series. He has just one assist and zero shots on goal. ... Gallagher, who was celebrating his 21st birthday Monday, was selected a finalist for the Calder Trophy. ... Therien said his unfavorable opinion of MacLean calling a timeout with 17 seconds left in Game 3 hasn't changed, even after hearing MacLean's reason for doing so.

wprager wrote:Wiercioch is not available (LBI -- probably a groin pull); expect Gryba to draw in and face some music. You know they've got to do it, even if that's the last thing they should worry about, being down 2-1.

wprager wrote:PK downplayed his argument with Pacioretty, laughing it off and telling reporters that they are focusing in on the little things, while they are focusing on the big, important things.

Umm, like picking a fight with a toothpick at the end of the game. Yeah. Big, important things.