Ottawa Senators goalie Craig Anderson and Chris Neil celebrate defeating the Montreal Canadiens in Stanley Cup NHL playoff hockey action in Ottawa on Wednesday, April 22, 2015.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
There are a great many things to fear on an NHL rink: sharp metal blades, flying pucks, devastating hits, public embarrassment.
In the buildup to the fourth game of the first-round series pitting the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens, Habs forward Dale Weise added to the list.
"It's a scary thing when you give a team life," the Game 3 overtime hero said.
There was no sense Weise was exaggerating as he said it.
Heading into the first elimination of this spring's playoffs, the Habs spoke about wanting to mimic the Sens' sense of desperation and end the series at the first opportunity.
For a time they did, but now the fear expressed by Weise may be at hand.
The Senators are very much alive. The spark came from an unexpected source.
Ottawa winger Mike Hoffman has trouble playing consistently well in the postseason – the 27-goal man opened the series on the fourth line – but at the nine-minute mark of the third period in a scoreless game, the puck landed on his stick as he stood to Montreal goalie Carey Price's right.
It had arrived there thanks to a terrific play by Sens defenceman Cody Ceci, who captured a clearing attempt by Habs defenceman Tom Gilbert as it caromed off the glass.
Hoffman fired a pinpoint shot just as linemate Mika Zibanejad materialized in front of Price to shield his view.
Catharsis. Bedlam. Relief.
Ottawa's 1-0 victory – Craig Anderson stopped all 27 shots he faced – extends the team's season to Friday, when the Habs will attempt to put away an opponent that's given them fits.
That the Habs went 0-for-3 on the power play and have scored just once in 16 opportunities will be a cause for worry.
So, too, will the Sens' resolve and togetherness – to a man, the players insisted before the game they simply aren't prepared for their season to end.
They also talked about the need to play hungry, desperate hockey – they put together their most listless first period of the series.
Ottawa dominated the opening frames in the first three games and coach Dave Cameron had said his instruction was, "Let's play the first period three times."
Which makes all the stranger that the club staring at its own playoff mortality wouldn't register a shot for more than seven minutes.
Ottawa kicked off game three with a body-checking onslaught (the Sens would register 60 in all), but in this one the nastiest hits were thrown by the Habs – Jean-Gabriel Pageau was clearly a target, he was hit heavily by at least four Montreal players in the game.
It took a Montreal power-play to provide Ottawa's first serious scoring chance – a bad bounce off a stanchion that nearly fooled Price.
Later, the teams settled in and played a seven-minute stretch without a whistle, the highlight of which was an Ottawa three-on-one break; Mark Stone couldn't find a way past Price despite a couple of close-in chances.
In the second, it was time for the goalies to take centre stage.
Ottawa came out of the intermission with more determination, Price was tested early by Hoffman but was able to trap the bouncing puck with the Ottawa forward on the doorstep.
Then the Sens earned their first power play – David Desharnais hooked Ceci before he could unload on what would have been a decent chance – and started throwing the puck around.
Stone made a sumptuous pass to Clarke MacArthur, who was alone in the slot but shot the puck directly at Price. The Team Canada goalie isn't the sort of player who needs to rely on luck, but in this case the fortunes smiled on him.
Anderson made 47 saves in a losing effort in Game 3, and when Hoffman was whistled for a faceoff violation – a rare, but not unheard-of penalty – he was almost immediately called upon.
Montreal penalty killer Brandon Prust latched on to a breakaway pass from defenceman P.K. Subban and laid a sweet deke on the Ottawa netminder, Anderson read it all the way and sprawled to seal the post with his right skate.
It lifted the crowd and appeared to do likewise to his teammates. The Habs have dominated the second period against Ottawa – they outshot them 52-26 in the second frame of the first three games and outscored them 6-2 – so the Sens' slim 11-10 shot advantage counts as progress.
The odds of the Senators triumphing in the series remain vanishingly small.
It doesn't matter – their season isn't over yet.