BUFFALO, N.Y. — This was a redemption story.
For Jakub Dobes, who started by giving up three goals on the first four shots he faced before finishing by stopping the next 31; for Ivan Demidov, who took a step back Tuesday only to take a massive one forward Thursday to produce the most decisive plays; for a power play that went one-for-seven in its last outing but scored on both its attempts on this one; for the Montreal Canadiens as a whole — a team that has now followed up each of its last nine losses with wins.
Their resolve, their heart and their mental clarity through utter chaos at KeyBank Center sent them home with a 6-3 win in Game 5 and a chance to dispatch the Buffalo Sabres from the Stanley Cup Playoffs in Saturday’s Game 6 at the Bell Centre.
Those qualities showed once they erased a Buffalo lead just 4:31 after Jason Zucker scored two minutes into the first period. And then again, just nine seconds after Josh Doan made it 2-1 Sabres at the 7:54 mark of that frame.
Just when you thought a Konsta Helenius sifter that leaked through Lane Hutson before sneaking by Dobes for a 3-2 Sabres lead would break the Canadiens, they eventually snapped back to attention and redeemed themselves.
“I think we just try to not care about what the score is. We try to stay focused with our game,” said Juraj Slafkvosky. “You’re going to go down, but it’s about how you answer and about how you get back up.”
Dobes was down, but the Canadiens’ coaching staff picked him back up.
Martin St. Louis, who’s admittedly not a goaltending expert, looked down his bench after Helenius scored 10:15 into the first and asked assistant Trevor Letowski to radio up to goaltending coach Marco Marciano.
“He made the call,” said St. Louis. “It was a very quick call, too, so it was, ‘OK, let’s move on.’”
Dobes did. And when the Canadiens continued coughing up pucks to feed the Sabres’ offensive push early in the second period, he came up with the save that changed the game.
Tage Thompson came flying into Montreal’s end in possession of the puck — and with every Canadien on the ice chasing him. The big, rangy right-hander swept through the crease, went from backhand to forehand, and got stuffed by Dobes.
“Huge save,” said Nick Suzuki. “We got hemmed in there, my line. Guys were trying to get off the ice and they transitioned really quick there. That could’ve probably changed the game in their favour, and he comes up with a huge save.”
It came 3:49 into the second period and gave the Canadiens the wind for their huge push through the end of the game.
They tilted the ice over the next four minutes and Josh Anderson tied it up 3-3.
The talented 20-year-old had been snuffed out by the Tampa Bay Lightning through the first seven games of these playoffs. After leading NHL rookies with 19 goals and 62 points in the regular season, he was held to just one assist in Round 1. And all the momentum he seemed to gain through the first three games of Round 2 suddenly evaporated as he forced pass after pass on the failing Canadiens power play in Game 4.
But the chances kept coming for Demidov early in Game 5 until he finally capitalized on one to sneak the puck through Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
Jake Evans tucked that home for a 4-3 Canadiens lead 16:15 into the second period. And after Suzuki scored the late-second-period-power-play goal that ultimately chased Luukkonen from the game to start the third, Demidov beat Alex Lyon for his first goal of the playoffs.
His belief it was coming never wavered.
“Every game I’ve had 100 per cent chances to score,” Demidov said. “This game, Hockey Gods decided I have to score.”
The Canadiens took care of the rest.
“Really happy that they stepped up when they needed to,” said Dobes, “and obviously I’m really proud of myself, too, for not giving up and (continuing to make) saves.”
Dobes was 13-2-2 directly following losses in the regular season. He was a perfect 4-0 with a 1.49 goals-against average and a .948 save percentage directly following losses in these playoffs. And it seemed impossible he was going to improve on that after the way he started Game 5.
But not to the Canadiens.
“I just think he’s super confident in himself. I think he puts in the work off the ice to have his mental training where it needs to be,” said Suzuki. “He’s a fighter, he wants to be in the battle with the guys, and he’s got the perfect kind of attitude in a goalie.”
And the Canadiens have the right one in front of Dobes, which is precisely what enabled them to redeem themselves after such a jittery start.
That, and the calm that overtook them following Dobes’ save on Thompson.
“Honestly, I can’t say exactly how long it lasted,” said St. Louis, “but it was for about 12-13 minutes in the second where we got momentum, and as far as just how well our team is able to play, we hit that high level of execution and our collective game and then we were able to score some big goals…”
The Canadiens didn’t allow the early ones to rattle them. They fought back.
Now the chance to play the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final is right in front of them.
“We saw against Tampa it takes a lot to close out a team,” said Suzuki. “We have another opportunity to do that. I’m sure the crowd’s going to be into it hours before the game starts, and it’s going to be rocking. So, we’re ready for that and we’re excited for the opportunity to close it out.”
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