This just in ... According to Puck the Media, the NHL Network will carry Montréal-Boston Game 6 from the Bell Centre. Coverage begins at 7 pm Eastern. The feed will reportedly come from the CBC. Good for the NHL. Smart move.
"The worst playoff collapse in NHL history..."
This is what they will say if Vancouver can't find a way to put Chicago away later tonight at Rogers Arena. Even if the Canucks somehow pull off a Game 7 win on its home ice, this will still go down as the worst collapse to almost be the worst collapse.
The Game 7 matchup is the second half of a doubleheader involving Canadian-based teams. Montréal returns home in its potential elimination game against Boston. The Canadiens and Canucks have combined to lose 6 straight games after opening the playoffs with 5 wins in a row.
In hockey, as in life, momentum is the key. Right now, Vancouver and Montréal have no momentum. Besides losing 3 straight (each), they have lost 3 of the last 4 in overtime. Theoretically, this means the games were close. But closing out wins is what tough playoff teams must do in order to win the Stanley Cup.
Vancouver has a laid-back reputation as a city, especially in the United States. Seattle is also considered laid-back, but Vancouver seems Canadian laid-back. Wonderful in terms of a living environment, but bad for sports teams. The BC Lions have won Grey Cups, but the Vancouver Canucks, Seattle Mariners, and Seattle Seahawks have never won their respective championships.
Chicago has a reputation of being thuggish in its sports, in the spirit of Al Capone (rat-a-tat-tat). Living in Chicago, I know that some of this is true, but the city is mostly not like that. But we are talking about the ice, not the streets.
Chicago has had its way because they are rough, tough, and mean with cheap shots and they get away with it. The refereeing has been particularly lopsided in the Chicago-based games.
This isn't just about the Canucks getting out of the first round, or the Canucks getting the monkey off their back, or even avoiding the worst collapse in NHL playoff history. This is about establishing Vancouver as a city where its inhabitants can be seen as rising to the occasion when the chips are down.
The non-sports fans must be howling over this obsession on a simple hockey series. The Vancouver Canucks have been around since 1970 with two Stanley Cup finals appearances; this is the best team the Canucks have ever had, and the best finish has been getting to the second round the last two years, losing to Chicago both times. Third time better not be the charm.
Montréal fans are remembering the recent past: 2006. That year, as the #7 seed, the Canadiens won the first two games in Carolina, then proceeded to lose the last four. The Hurricanes went on to win the Stanley Cup that year.
In 2011, Les Habs won the first two on the road, and have lost three straight, the last two in overtime. The Canadiens haven't been able to put away the Bruins when they have had to do so. But unlike the expectations laid on the Canucks, Montréal wasn't expected to win this round.
The last two survivors of the Eastern Conference playoffs, the severe underdogs of 2010, are struggling in the first round. Philadelphia forced a Game 7 tonight, which leads us to the next point.
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Game 6 of the Montréal-Boston will not be on television unless you live in Canada, have access to the CBC, or you get NESN. Game 7 of Philadelphia-Buffalo is the Versus game, and the current contract allows only one game at a time. Really.
Versus and CBC will carry Game 7 of Vancouver-Chicago at 10 pm Eastern. The CBC will switch the BC folks if the Canadiens go to overtime. In Chicago, Game 7 is relegated to CSN Chicago Plus (check your cable listings in the Windy City).
You can watch the Montréal-Boston game via Center Ice. if that won't work, the NHL Network will peek in every so often. Iif that isn't viable, the NHL Network will show a rebroadcast at 4 am Wednesday morning and 2 pm Wednesday afternoon. The last time we went through this (in Game 3), the NHL Network showed the CBC feed.
If the Canadiens pull this out and force a Game 7, Versus will carry Wednesday night's game back in Boston; look for a 7 pm (all times Eastern) start. If not, it will be the 7th straight loss by a Canadian-based team in the playoffs, the end of the season for Les Habs, and will put a lot of pressure on the (in that scenario) last Canadian-based team to not make that 8 straight losses.
The last time Canadian-based teams were shut out of the second round: 1996. Montréal, Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg (remember the Jets), and Toronto all lost in the first round. So it can be worse.
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