What the Puck: Resilient Canadiens fans roll with gut punch of another crushing OT loss
This really is a new generation of Canadiens fans.
Back in the day, it was the Stanley Cup or nothing. But the people on Avenue des Canadiens outside the Bell Centre for the watch parties are mostly in their teens and 20s, and they’ve never had even a whiff of a Cup victory.
The Habs teams they’ve known or heard about have often missed the playoffs entirely or gone out early. And even the couple of times they made it deep into the post-season — in 2010, ’14 and ’21 — it was clear to everyone that these teams were on one-off runs. After reaching the Cup final in 2021 with a little help from the wonky COVID rules, the team finished dead last the following season.
So these younger fans love the surprising run this spring. Sure, they’re bummed out that their team lost a second consecutive 3-2 overtime game to the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday, letting the Canes jump out to a 2-1 series lead in the best-of-seven matchup.
These folks are down, but not out. First off, they all believe the Habs can bounce back — or bounce forward, to use one of head coach Martin St. Louis’s favourite phrases. It is true that they’re only trailing 2-1. If Montreal wins Wednesday, you essentially reset the counter and it becomes a best of three.
Even better, two of those three games would then be in Raleigh, and given Montreal has a 2-5 record in its own barn in these playoffs, playing on the road is an advantage for the Canadiens.
The other reason fans aren’t in panic mode is because they all believe this team has a bright future and they’re right. Still, for some of us older, grumpier types, we’re living in the not-so-bright present, where the Canadiens just lost two games in part because they seem to have become allergic to taking shots. They only have one total shot in two overtimes!
People keep telling me shots don’t matter, that they’re overrated, which underlines how they’ve bought into how St. Louis looks at this team. During the 1970s or ’80s, if the team lost a game, fans would just see it as a step back. Today, they’re more philosophical, just like the coach they love.
“This whole experience, it’s part of our learning,” St. Louis told reporters after the game. “There’s always learning in failure. We lost tonight. We’ll learn from it. That team over there is very good, very mature. I don’t know if we can match their maturity, but we’re going to have to elevate that.”
It’s all part of the process that the fan base has completely bought into. They bought into the rebuild, and now they’re buying into the bumps in the road that come with a team making its way from rebuilding to building.
Still, as folks milled around Avenue des Canadiens after the loss, there were things to grumble about.
Many were none too pleased with the refereeing.
“The refs are the issue,” said Nick Andrew. “They ran into (Jakub) Dobes, and they found a way to give both sides penalties. That’s ridiculous. Every team has tried to hurt Dobes. But Dobes is the god. We pray to him. They’ve tried to hurt him so many times and Dobes keeps coming over and over again, and he keeps stopping everything. We say, ‘In Dobes we trust.’ He’s the wall.”
“We need to change something,” said Mitisse Chawky. “Montreal is going to win when they change something. I don’t know what.”
I suggested to Chawky that that’s why he isn’t coach of the Canadiens.
“You need to ask Martin,” said Chawky.
He’ll say something very philosophical, I said.
“Yeah, like, ‘Joue ta game dans la game,’ ” said Chawky.
Or, “Take the right chair,” I added.
He agreed.
Or, “Bounce forward,” I said, citing one of St. Louis’s favourite phrases.
That one, though, was a little too esoteric for Chawky.
“And where’s the first line?” I asked.
“Go ask Martin. I don’t know where the first line is,” said Chawky.
AJ was not feeling it.
“We’re heartbroken. We came all the way from Toronto to watch the game,” said AJ, who drove to Montreal with his four children. “I’m a Habs fan. I was born and raised in Montreal. Moved to Toronto 20 or 30 years ago. My kids were all born there, but they’re all diehard Habs fans because they inherited it from me. It’s going to go on for 100 generations.”
“Put more shots on net. Suzuki had a breakaway in OT and he didn’t get a shot on net,” said AJ’s son Jar. “(Carolina goalie Frederik Andersen) is not that good of a goalie, so you have to put a lot of shots on him, and you’ll get some through. Carolina has a very good defensive structure. They have very good sticks and you have to find a way to break through that. Win puck battles, get space and get shots on net. They have to do what they did in Game 1. Catch them by surprise and get a lot of shots on net. Catch Freddy off-guard and you’ll beat him.”
Johanne Sherry and her friend Leah Newberry drove from Prince Edward Island for a girls weekend and they’ve had a good time even if the Habs lost.
“It was a close fight and it could’ve gone either way,” said Sherry. “We’re going to come back.”
“We’ve got this,” said Newberry.
And maybe they do. Montreal had two middling games, both with ridiculously low shot totals, and yet both times they made it to overtime. Things could’ve gone the other way if Suzuki had not missed the net on that breakaway early in the overtime.
So they’re close, but St. Louis’s squad had a curious lack of intensity Monday. And if the first line doesn’t start putting up numbers, it’s hard to see how they can reach the Cup final. But it’s simple really: Just win Wednesday. The fans believe. They’ve done their part every night. Now, it’s up to the players to follow suit.
