PITTSBURGH — First the Capitals, now the Penguins. The Canadiens, the worst-record team in the playoffs, keep sending home the NHL’s best.
Brian Gionta had two power-play goals, Mike Cammalleri scored his seventh goal of a series in which he upstaged Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and Montreal built a stunning four-goal lead before beating the Penguins 5-2 in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semi-final series Wednesday night.
Believe it, Canadiens. Dis-believe it, Penguins.
Montreal, about the last team anyone would have picked to beat the top-seeded Capitals, much less the reigning NHL champion Penguins, accomplished what no team had done since the current playoff format was adopted in 1994. And that’s beat the Presidents’ Trophy winner and Stanley Cup champion in successive rounds as an eighth-seeded team.
When it ended, the Canadiens crowded around goalie Jaroslav Halak, who made 37 saves in a performance not quite as dominating as that in Montreal’s 2-1 elimination win over Washington, but one that sent the Penguins home and shut down the NHL’s oldest arena.
The Canadiens move on to the Eastern Conference finals against Boston or Philadelphia. The Flyers beat the Bruins 2-1 to force Game 7.
“I don’t claim we’re this great team, I don’t claim we’re perfect and I don’t claim that everything we do is on purpose,” Cammalleri said. “I think we’re just finding ways to win.”
As remarkable as the upset was — the Canadiens trailed 3-2 in the series before rallying to win the final two games — was how they did it. They silenced the standing-room crowd of 17,132 in the last game played at 49-year-old Mellon Arena by seizing a 1-0 lead with only 32 seconds gone after Crosby took a penalty for driving Josh Gorges into the boards on his first shift, then built it to 4-0 with barely 25 minutes gone.
“I was stunned,” Crosby said. “I don’t know how that’s a penalty 10 seconds into the game.”
Gionta scored on that Crosby-created power play, Dominic Moore made it 2-0 later in the period and Cammalleri scored his playoff-leading 12th goal at 3:32 of the second.
“Who would expect it? Nobody gave us a chance and here we are,” Halak said.
