NHL Franchise Boys

Brendan Kelly  •  Montreal Gazette  •  Publishing date: Aug 10, 2020

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Never mind the phrase ‘anything can happen’. Since that inspiring first-game overtime victory against the Pens, everything is happening. Many of us have had a grand old time laughing at Marc Bergevin’s favourite catchphrase, quite rightly noting that yes in theory anything can happen in the playoffs but in reality most of the time the best teams do the best in the postseason. But all bets are off this year. The Edmonton Oilers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Toronto Maple Leafs are all on the golf course today and the 23rd-place Chicago Blackhawks, the 24th-place Montreal Canadiens and the 14th-place Columbus Blue Jackets are all set to begin the quest for the Stanley Cup.

Habs fans (and Nick) need to stop forever yapping about Alexis Lafrenière and just enjoy the moment. Only in Montreal would fans be so conflicted and, frankly, neurotic. This was an amazing week for the team and anyone who doesn’t get that is simply not paying attention. Two things to keep mind for those still aching over a chance at the No. 1 draft pick: If Montreal had lost, they would’ve had a 87.5-per-cent chance of NOT getting the No. 1 overall pick; and, more importantly, who knows what the future holds? When will the Habs next be in the playoffs?

Live the moment. Carey Price and Shea Weber sure are. Both had monster series against Sidney Crosby and his band of underachievers. Price finally silenced his critics and delivered a playoff performance for the ages, even if in the stupid language of this tournament this was a ‘play-in’ series. And Weber had his greatest week since he arrived here four years ago in that controversial trade that sent The Other Guy to Nashville. He just demolished anyone who came near Price, which is what we’ve always wanted him to do. Price and Weber both know it’s close to now-or-never for them. Price turns 33 on Sunday and Weber turns 35 on Friday. They need to contend in the very near future.

Those two old friends were the heart-and-soul of that upset victory, but there was no shortage of surprise heroes, from the oft-maligned Artturi Lehkonen who scored that beauty of a winning goal in Game 4 to Brett Kulak who was mostly astonishing to Ben Chariot who was a force of nature. For those obsessing over the draft, just remember, young players absolutely need playoff experience.

The kids need to win and lose in crucial playoff games in order to properly develop, and that’s the single most important thing about what’s going on right now. Just think of the experience Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Nick Suzuki have picked up in the last 10 days. It’s invaluable for these two 20-year-old centres, and they’ve risen to the challenge.

Many of us who looked at the lineup last summer and said this wasn’t a playoff team, and we were right. This wasn’t a playoff team. They were in 24th place when COVID shut down the National Hockey League and it had been another crap season. But then something happened. They somehow snuck into the tournament. Then something even crazier happened: They beat a team that was supposed to easily crush them. Yes, there is clearly something very wrong with this Penguins team — they looked only mildly interested in this series — but give the Habs credit. They got the job done. It’s all just so Habs-like. That’s what the Canadiens do. They beat the best teams and lose to the worst teams. They come back from 5-0 deficits. They get lucky in their match-ups like they did in ’93.

It’s just never normal and boring. When they’re bad, they’re exceptionally bad and when they’re good … they beat the Flyers … right Masella?