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The longest two minutes and 59 seconds of Shea Weber’s hockey life seemed to take forever.
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He sat in the penalty box at the Bell Centre, clearly uncomfortable, unable to be where he was needed most and the seconds clicked away slowly. They always do. From almost three minutes to two minutes. From two minutes to one minute.
The Tampa power play in overtime to win the Stanley Cup, to end the miracle run of the forever battling Montreal Canadiens. It was all there, all set up to end that way. With Weber sitting off for high sticking Ondrej Palat for the final 61 seconds of regulation time.
And then almost three minutes of power-play time to begin overtime.
The Stanley Cup was in the building. The Lightning needed a power-play goal from the best power play in hockey. The championship was all ready to be won — except Carey Price wouldn’t let it happen, and the terrific Montreal penalty killers, minus their giant leader on defence, somehow found a way to kill the clock, even get a shorthanded opportunity or two, before Weber returned and Montreal went on to do what its done four times before in these Stanley Cup playoffs.
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This is a dangerous Habs team when they’re hanging on the ropes, still throwing punches, just a goal, a bounce, an overtime marker away from shaking hands and saying goodbye. Three times in the first round, the Maple Leafs had to do nothing but win to knock Montreal out. They didn’t face an elimination game in Round 2 or 3 of the playoffs. Monday night in Montreal, with the dream barely alive, with this unlikely and incomparable story so close to ending, the Habs did it again.
They got up off the mat. They killed the final 61 seconds of regulation time and the first two minutes and 59 seconds of overtime – a shorthanded eternity, really – and they found a way, as they’ve done all playoffs long to win in overtime. To win scoring the first goal of the game. To prevent elimination. At least until Wednesday night.
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It has been rather spectacular to watch the old men of the Canadiens, Weber on defence, Price in goal, the stalwarts of Team Canada’s past, being what they need to be on the biggest of hockey nights. Price hadn’t had a great Stanley Cup final until Montreal faced elimination.
Then he looked rather Price-like. Impossible to beat. Sharp and on angle and with the kind of goaltending that indicates one of the oldest axioms of the game: Your goaltender has to be your best penalty killer. The goaltender was in the final minute of regulation and in the 2:59 of overtime, especially with man-mountain Weber in the box, unable to do anything but watch in frustration.
He hadn’t been watching earlier in the night. He was pounding people, those all dressed up in Tampa Bay colours. He was all over Brayden Point, who has the most goals in the Stanley Cup playoffs yet none in the four games of this series. You don’t want to fool with Weber at the best of times – his kind of game can be rather frightening for anyone who dares to challenge him – and even the referee Kelly Sutherland, who was right beside Weber when his stick bloodied Palat’s face, didn’t want to make the penalty call.
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No one wants to make a call against Weber. Not then. Not at that time. As obvious as it was. You play the way he does and respect grows year after year.
“You can’t ask for a better teammate,” said Brendan Gallagher, who would seemingly take on the world to keep the Canadiens playing. “We could have killed (the penalty) for anyone.”
And then he said without clearly saying it.
It meant more because it was Weber in the box. Because he doesn’t lose games, he finds ways to win them. “He’s been a rock for us,” said Gallagher. “The physicality he brings, you expect from him every night. He’s a pain. We’re happy to have him on our side.”
You don’t reach the Stanley Cup final and move into a fifth game and get this far after that kind of wonky regular season unless some kind of magic happens. Hockey can be rather remarkable that way.
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Josh Anderson had his line changed by coach Dominque Ducharme, who should be getting a contract of significance when this series ends. A new line for Anderson and he scores the game’s first goal and the overtime winner. Tampa hasn’t won a game it hasn’t scored first in and hasn’t won a game this playoff season that went to overtime.
Everything was set up well for the Canadiens if being shorthanded for almost three minutes to start overtime is setting up well. Ducharme changed lines and Anderson became the hero of the night. He changed lines and rookie Alexander Romanov, who scored one goal this season, scored a playoff goal in an elimination game. The Romanov goal was assisted by Jake Evans, who was also part of the roster re-construction by Ducharme.
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Almost every move Ducharme made worked out for Montreal. Which has been part of their playoff story. No part more important than Montreal’s superb penalty killing, which is hitting historical marks this post-season. Led usually by Price and Weber.
“The guys have done a great job in the playoffs and we’re playing against a power play that’s pretty dangerous.” He then talked about the character of his team, the way coaches always do after a win.
And he talked about the penalty kill that kept this season alive. The penalty kill that didn’t have Shea Weber on defence. “That shows how much we care about our captain,” said Ducharme. How much all of them care.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMia2h0dHBzOi8vdG9yb250b3N1bi5jb20vc3BvcnRzL2hvY2tleS9uaGwvc2ltbW9ucy10aGUtb2xkLW1lbi1hbmQtdGhlLWMta2VlcC1oYWJzLWFsaXZlLWluLXN0YW5sZXktY3VwLWZpbmFs0gGZAWh0dHBzOi8vdG9yb250b3N1bi5jb20vc3BvcnRzL2hvY2tleS9uaGwvc2ltbW9ucy10aGUtb2xkLW1lbi1hbmQtdGhlLWMta2VlcC1oYWJzLWFsaXZlLWluLXN0YW5sZXktY3VwLWZpbmFsL3djbS81MWFlZmZlNS03ZTQzLTQzZTEtYjllOS1kYjIxMjAxMDc0OTgvYW1wLw?oc=5
2021-07-06 11:29:15Z
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