Montreal Canadiens forward Devante Smith-Pelly (21) celebrates after scoring a goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning during the first period in game five of the second round of the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Bell Centre.Eric Bolte
In case you're wondering what it's like to be on the ice when you score a playoff goal in home colours at the Bell Centre, here's Devante Smith-Pelly to tell you.
"Pretty deafening, you really can't hear much. You kind of just black out," he said with a chuckle.
The Montreal Canadiens, who have not been very good at scoring goals in the Stanley Cup playoffs this season, got a vital one from their bruising winger just over the midway point of the first period on Saturday.
He didn't initially realize his violent wrist-shot from the left faceoff circle had squeaked past Tampa Bay's Ben Bishop's left shoulder (possibly via defenceman Andrej Sustr's stick).
"If you watch it again you can just sort of see me skating around the net like nothing, and finally the ref pointed. I thought maybe it went in, but I wasn't really sure," he said.
And when the red light went on?
"I got goose-bumps, I usually don't during the play. But as soon as they said it was a goal, it was a crazy feeling," said the Toronto native.
When NHL coaches make a decision to insert one player over another into the lineup they usually invoke something along the lines of "I pick the guys who give us the best chance to win."
In other words: he's pretty much awful right now.
Smith-Pelly was a healthy scratch for a pair of games after being acquired from Anaheim at the trade deadline.
Fellow right winger Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau was handed a press box seat for three of the first four games of the playoffs – after being scratched for four games in the regular season and missing 21 more through injury – and only returned because the Habs' lack of scoring had become a case of force majeure.
In his French-language bench-side interview after being named the game's first star, Parenteau said "see you here (Thursday)" – the scheduled date for game seven.
"I think it's the attitude we have to have. When we got down 3-0, we were in the locker room and all down. We had a team meeting right after, we told each other that the way the game went we really believed in ourselves," he said. "Sometimes you're down 3-0 in a series and you know it's over, but it isn't the case this time around, we know we have a chance."
Who could have foreseen Parenteau and Smith-Pelly, unheralded, yo-yoing through the lineup, would lead Montreal to a second straight elimination-game victory over the Lightning?
Down 3-0 as recently as Thursday evening, the Habs are now trailing the series 3-2 – it almost felt after Saturday's nip-and-tuck 2-1 win that they're the ones in the driver's seat.
After Steven Stamkos tied the game in the third on a physics-defying falling chop at a puck that went off the post and past Carey Price, the Habs didn't fold.
Instead, with just over four minutes to play, defenceman P.K. Subban made a delicious little skill play at the opposing blue line to swivel past Lightning forward Alex Killorn and set up Parenteau in the high slot. His one-timer of the rolling puck fluttered past Bishop's catching glove and caught the crossbar on the way into the mesh.
"This is a group of guys that refuses to die. They battle hard. There was no sense of panic even though they scored that goal. Even we got better when they scored that goal," said Montreal coach Michel Therrien. "You want to put the pressure on Tampa Bay. It's not easy, we've been there two weeks ago, when you have a three-game lead. Now more you play those games and you don't get the fourth one, you feel the pressure. We're going to do everything that we can to force Game 7 in Montreal, that's for sure."
The Habs are an authority on being up 3-0 and losing two straight. They were eventually able to close out the Ottawa Senators on the road in game six – a point Stamkos was quick to emphasize after this game.
It's true Tampa has the advantage of history (only four teams have ever made it all the way back) and of playing in its building.
Montreal has an advantage called Price.
The Team Canada netminder was in peak form on Saturday, his blatant theft of Valtteri Filppula with a frankly preposterous glove save a few minutes before Stamkos scored had the fans out of their seats (and his own bench gasping).
Subban had engaged in some cheeky gamesmanship after game four, suggesting that Montreal has been the better team in the series and that Bishop has been "sitting on a horseshoe at times".
Bishop vowed to let his game do the talking, and while he was good in this game, he wasn't good enough.
When Subban was asked if he was at all concerned about providing bulletin board material to the opposition, he said this: "Well, address it. I'm on the ice, so someone can address it. You've got a problem with me saying that, address it. I'm here, I'm not hiding from anybody. All I said was he's played some good hockey in this series, but he's had some luck. Hey, Carey's had some luck."
That's a true statement. Price was indeed lucky to stop Brenden Morrow's point-blank shot in the second period with his pad – Morrow had lots of net to look at but sent the puck into the goaltender along the ice.
But Bishop was far more fortunate; once again the Habs pinged
"I'm getting tired of hearing 'ding, ding, ding'," said Therrien.
"We might be wearing out the posts," quipped Max Pacioretty.
Subban has led the field in catching iron – his drive off the crossbar during a suddenly-menacing Montreal power-play in the second period was his fourth post of the series.
He is also among the league-leaders in gamesmanship.
Teammates don't mind his occasional provocative statements, mostly because Subban has made a habit of delivering his finest performances after talking a little trash – it was certainly the case in game five, where he was all over the ice and led all skaters with 26:07 in ice time.
After this game he doubled-down, saying "I expect Bishop to be a lot better" in game six.
And at the final horn, he mixed it up with his childhood pal Stamkos, touching off a minor melee.
In the dressing room afterward, Subban's media scrum set up an interesting little tableau that sets up game six.
Reporter: "What led to that scrum after the final buzzer there?"
Subban: "Nothing. Steven got a little face-wash, that's all."
Reporter: "You were about to get a penalty."
Subban: "Was I?"
Reporter: "Hand was up. Good thing you didn't touch the puck."
Subban: "I didn't do anything. I just finished my, uh –"
Reporter: "You never do anything?"
Exeunt.