As the opening round series between the Montreal Canadiens and the Ottawa Senators shifted back to Ottawa, the Senators hoped to take advantage of the energy provided by the home crowd. For almost 55 minutes of hockey, it worked like a charm. Players and fans seemed to feed off each other, becoming a perpetual motion machine of noise and energy.
The Senators played like they had been given adrenaline IVs. They dominated the physical play, seemingly determined to hit everything that moved.
They had 27 hits in the first period alone, finishing the game with 61.
For the third game in a row the Senators took a 1-0 lead in the first period, and for the second game in a row it came off the stick of Clarke MacArthur. MacArthur took a feed from Mark Stone off to the side of the Montreal net, then walked in front and tucked a backhander just inside the far post for his second goal of the playoffs at 11:28.
Entering the second period down by a goal didn’t seem to faze Montreal. After being outshot 12-9 in the first by the Senators, the Canadiens dominated the shots 19-6 in the second. Only some stellar play from Craig Anderson (making his first start of the series) managed to hold Montreal off the scoreboard. In doing so, they managed to buck the trend of the series so far.
In the prior two games, Montreal had outscored Ottawa by a 6-2 margin in the second period.
In Game Three, the second period ended as it had begun, with the Senators holding a 1-0 lead.
The physical play continued into the third period.
Carey Price outlasted Craig Anderson in OT win – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
Montreal managed 12 shots on goal to Ottawa’s 9, but Anderson was able to thwart every attempt until 14:13, when a scramble in front of the Senators net left Anderson down and out of position. Canadiens winger Dale Weise, the playoff OT hero from last year’s series against the Lightning, managed to bat the puck out of the air in front of a wide open net. He fired it home before anybody in a red jersey could react to it, tying the game and quieting the Ottawa crowd for the first time. Each team had opportunities to break the tie, but both goalies held on to force overtime for the second game in a row.
The teams exchanged scoring chances in the overtime period, but it was Dale Weise who again proved to be the hero. He walked down the left wing side, looked cross-ice, then fired a wrist shot inside the near post to beat Anderson and win the game, staking Montreal to a commanding 3-0 lead in the series.
Anderson faced a total of 49 shots, stopping 47 of them in the loss. Carey Price stopped 33 of 34 shots for the win.
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