underdogism

april 21st, 2025 | MTL @ WSH: 2-3

well, well, well. in the mix no more—we are officially in the playoffs. against, of all teams, the washington capitals, who are indeed the top team of the eastern conference. the odds are stacked against us, so how are we going to respond? let's get into it, shall we?

the very start of this game wasn't particularly encouraging. i mean, right out the gate gally gets a cross-check to the face that doesn't end up as anything, classic gally. and these sticks seem weirdly slippery. but to my relief we didn't end up punished for the fumbles early in the period, all thanks to our boy monty. he was locked in this game, i would say he was playing really well all game. things would've been very different if not for him! but the shots evened up, and i'm very grateful for that. i would've hated to see the habs team that gives up 20 shots in the first—i wanted the GOOD canadiens. and we did get that, i would say.

yes, we didn't score on our powerplay, but we had some good looks, and i'm glad to see patty taking shots from the circle again. for a while it seemed like they were shying away from that too much, and i get it, i do! it's too predictable, too easy. but we can't just abandon such a weapon—we just need to work With it...

but, of course, things can't be sunshine and rainbows forever. there were a lot of penalties in the first, things getting feisty and a little messy at times. the caps play a VERY physical game, so much so that i was kind of like "dude what the fuck." like... one dude punched lane hutson. lane hutson! the little mousy boy! who even DOES that!!

and, well. who else scored a powerplay goal but........ [looks at smudged writing on my hand] freaking... [sigh] mr big goal scorer himself.... i'm sooo over it. they were replaying his tie-breaking goal the other day in between the canes-devils & leafs-sens game and i rolled my eyes like, ugh, the moment is done, brother, move on! i'm with ivan here. i like malkin way more.

we go to the second period and things don't really get much better. shots are still even, but then about halfway through the game, the caps score again—it's anthony beauvillier with a goal that slips past monty. y'know, i Totally forgot he was on this team until he jumpscared me in the opening anthems.

sooo, okay. we're down 0-2 in the third, and their guys have been hounding us all night. but y'know what we say to that...

NEVER LOSE HOPE!

guess what! we get a powerplay of our own and GOAL CAUFIELD picks up the rebound off a patty laine shot and scores! see! see!! we NEED to try and set up patty's signature shot as much as we can—and play off of that. the goalies might be able to make that first save, but his shot is so powerful—they can't always glove it down, plus he can always pass it to slaf in front of the net. and we Do have options when the puck bounces away, like nick and lane and cole. being predictable isn't Necessarily a bad thing. if we can push the opposing PK a certain way...

ahh but im getting ahead of myself. 'cause you wanna know what happens 5 minutes later? that's fucking right baby: A NICK SUZUKI GOAL TO TIE THE GAME AND SEND US TO OVERTIME!!! OH MY GOD!!

i was buzzing i was squealing i was looooooosing my mindddd. wow!!! wow wow wow! what could be better than this, huh? i was THOROUGHLY having fun at this point. so. hey. overtime hockey!

thiiiis was a little short lived, actually. ot gwg by... guess who again. 🙄 AND it's his first apparantly. classic! oh well. it is what it is.

look. i'm not mad about this game. yes, we lost—but remember: we were never supposed to be here in the first place. other teams have gotten off to worse starts: the stars lost 5 to 1, the devils had a slasher film of a game one with guys getting killed off one by one, the sens played big and mean and lost 2 to 6, and as we speak, the oilers are losing 1 to 4. the habs could've easily started off on a bad foot, and well, we Did, yes—but we didn't get humiliated. we came back to send it to overtime, against the cops, sorry i mean the caps. it's not so bad, eh? it's fun!

and that's all i really wanted, to be honest with you. yeah, i know marty said he didn't want the team to just settle for being IN the playoffs, but hey. i'm not a hockey player. to me, this is all bonus hockey, because we are NOT a contending team. not yet anyway...

so yeah, that's game one. and it was very habs, but the not-so-bad habs. let me just say, i am very much looking forward to seeing them in the bell centre! until next time, everybody!