Price hurt, Canadiens hurting

Source : Montrealgazette.com

It’s a judgment call on the part of NHL linesmen as a puck slows in its journey down the ice having been shot from the other side of the centre red line, toward the goal line and a potential icing.

If the linesman believes the defending player, usually the defenceman, isn’t giving honest pursuit, he can wave off the icing call.

But twice in the final 90 seconds of regulation time Tuesday night at Scotiabank Place, over a span of 31 seconds, highly questionable icings were whistled down, keeping fatigued Canadiens defenders on the ice.

Ultimately, Ottawa’s Cory Conacher scored the equalizer 31 seconds after the second icing call, 23 seconds from the end of regulation.

And 2:32 into overtime, Senators’ Kyle Turris gave the home team a come-from-behind 3-2 win over the Canadiens, putting the Habs on the brink of elimination.

Down 3-1 in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarter-final, the series resumes Thursday at the Bell Centre in what could be the Canadiens’ final game of the 2012-13 season.

“I just want everything to be called the same way, no matter which way it’s called,” said Habs defenceman Josh Gorges, who was one of five Montreal skaters on the ice trying to defend goalie Carey Price.

Forwards Tomas Plekanec, Rene Bourque and Michael Ryder were out with Gorges, as was fellow defenceman Andrei Markov.

“I couldn’t care less if (officials) called them all off or called them all,” Gorges added generally of icings. “As long as it’s consistently done.

“I know in the first period (the Senators) put one behind me and I stopped for a ref to go by, so he waved it off because I stopped skating. The explanation was, as soon as I stopped moving my feet, it was no longer an icing.

“So I asked the same thing as to why it didn’t happen (to the Senators twice in the dying moments of the game).

“But that’s not why we lost. I’m not saying it is. They make their calls, we live by them, and that’s a part of hockey.”

The Canadiens could have pointed to the instep-booted goal of Ottawa’s Mika Zibanejad, the Senators’ first of the night coming 11:55 into the third period, the Habs then up 2-0.

The NHL war room reviewed the goal on video and let it stand, saying that the puck was directed into the net off the skate of Zibanejad, rather than having been put there with a kick.

A coin toss when you look at the overhead video.

The Habs could point to the location of the faceoff before the Zibanejad goal, the wrong spot based on where the previous play had frozen the play.

And the icings …

The Senators iced — pardon — this victory when Turris beat Canadiens backup goalie Peter Budaj with the home side’s second shot of overtime. Budaj was replacing starter Carey Price, who limped to the dressing room at the siren ending regulation with what was announced to be an lower-body injury, perhaps hamstring or groin.

“When your starting goalie goes down … it’s tough to lose him and it’s tough on the guy who has to come in,” Gorges said. “He’s been sitting there for two-and-a-half hours and we expect him to go in there and be stellar. It’s a tough position to be in, and it’s unfortunate it unfolded that way.

“Plays get thrown to the front of the net,” he added of the scramble that produced the winning goal, “and a lot of times it’s a 50-50 puck. We have to be stronger.”

Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said his team “came to play” and “certainly deserved a better fate.”
Killing the end of a penalty to P.K. Subban to begin the third period should have been a lift, but the Canadiens fell back as the Senators poured it on, outshooting Montreal 13-4 and outscoring them 2-0 over the final 20 minutes.

Ottawa coach Paul MacLean couldn’t resist keeping alive what Therrien says is a lack of respect, that is, the Senators boss referring to Canadiens players by numbers only.

What did MacLean think, he was asked, when he saw Budaj skate into the Habs net to begin overtime?
“He’s a good goalie. What happened to the other guy?” he said with a playfulness that will be lost on the Canadiens.

“What number is Budaj? Thirty-one? No? He’s goalie No. 30? Obviously, the shot at the end of the period for goalie No. 31 gave them some discomfort. We didn’t know what to expect but we weren’t surprised certainly that he was there.”

And being up 3-1, the Canadiens on the ropes, changes nothing for the Senators.
“Thursday just gets harder,” MacLean said of Game 5, the potential clincher. “That’s what the Stanley Cup playoffs are all about. That’s the beauty of it.”