Did you see Alex Galchenyuk’s heroics Sunday for Team U.S.A.? The Habs rookie scored the goal to tie the shoot-out and then went and scored the winning goal, to give the U.S. the bronze medal at the World Championship, with a 3-2 win over Finland.

Check it out. And look forward to seeing this superstar-to-be playing for the Canadiens for years to come. And wonder why kindly ol’ coach Michel Therrien never had the confidence to play Chucky late in tight games, as my Twitter pal Rich Thorpe underlined.

- Brendan

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Jay Baruchel, Marc-Andre Grondin and the Stanley Cup. That’s a shaved head under that toque if you’re wondering! Top Shelf photo by Brendan Kelly.

Marc-André Grondin and I have been having a good-natured argument about Carey Price for a couple of years now. As you know, I’m a #Halak kind of guy. And Grondin – one of Canada’s better actors – is a Price man.

Well the whole Price debate was re-ignited in recent days, both by the goalie’s inconsistent performance in the Senators series and the already-famous ‘hobbit in a hole’ comments.

On the weekend, after the Sens sent the Habs to an early summer vacation, Price talked about the pressures of playing in Montreal.

‘I don’t even go the grocery store anymore,’ said Price. ‘I hardly do anything anymore. I’m like a hobbit in a hole. I just don’t do anything anymore.’

I was talking to Grondin – whose film credits include C.R.A.Z.Y., Goon and L’homme qui rit – about how tough it is to play that position for the Habs and I was opining that Carey needs to learn to deal with the pressure.

‘I think he just cannot relax,’ said Grondin. ‘It’s really bad.’

Grondin thinks the team’s management should be making sure their star goalie is doing okay off the ice.

‘If a guy has a drug problem, they take care of him,’ said Grondin. ‘Well they should do the same with a guy who needs a little more liberty.’

I said I thought – from Monday’s presser – that Habs GM Marc Bergevin is sensitive to Price’s dilemma and he’ll likely try to do something about it. I can see Bergevin talking Price out to dinner for a heart-to-heart, something that is not even imaginable with previous GM Pierre Gauthier.

‘If I had one thing to say to Carey Price, it would be shave your head and grow a curly moustache,’ said Grondin. ‘And no one will recognize you. It worked for me.’

Grondin dealt with his own stardom issues by shaving his head and growing a curly moustache!

Now I really like Marc Bergevin – as does every self-respecting Habs fan – but let’s be honest here. The jury is out on this dashing man – where does he buy his pink ties? – who is one of three finalists for the General Manager of the Year award in the National Hockey League. (As Warren Zevon put it in a very different context – I believe he was talking about a werewolf – ‘I’d like to meet his tailor!’)

The journeyman player, who underlined that he was never a finalist for anything in the more than two decades he toiled in the League as a player, is up for that hardware because he took one of the worst teams from last season and brought them to the No. 2 spot in the Eastern Conference.

But the way the season ended tarnished that achievement. The last couple of weeks of the regular season was a disaster for the Habs and losing to the No. 7 seed in five games is pretty damn bad. Bergevin made some great moves, notably bringing in a solid management team, snaring the great Brandon Prust, bringing back the heroic Francis Bouillon, and sending Scott Gomez packing.

But he made some major mistakes too – most notably signing wee David Desharnais to a four-year $14 million contract in the middle of the season (effectively sending DD on summer vacation a couple of months early), signing the sleepy Travis Moen to a big deal, and reaching out to bring in the useless Colby Armstrong. All bad moves.

Still early to make the ruling on Bergy – but I’m betting he’ll do us all proud. What I liked the most Monday is he made it clear he was not satisfied with that quick first-round exit. There was none of the crap we had to put up with every season-end in the G&G era where the underachieving bosses would make every excuse to explain the team’s mediocrity.

Bergevin doesn’t just want to make the playoffs. He wants this team to go all the way. He talked about Brendan Gallagher’s character. But the boss is showing some character too and I like that.

- Brendan

It suddenly dawned on me that I hate the Leafs more than I hate the Bruins. First off, Boston is the better team. That’s not even up for debate. But also we just live with a lot more resentment towards the Leafs because we live in a media universe – hello Hockey Night in Canada, hi there Toronto Sports Network – that just can’t control its Leafs boosterism.

Did you watch the Leafs-Bruins game Sunday night on Hockey Night in Canada? I mean the boys on the show couldn’t control their enthusiasm, waxing eloquent about James Reimer – who was amazing, I’ll grant you – and losing themselves in poetic reveries about their beloved Leafs. Don Cherry appeared in a blue-and-white Leafs wig – I swear, I’m not making this up! – and predicted that “WE” would win 3-2.

Now when I noted this on Twitter, some defended Grapes saying we all know this is part of his routine but c’mon man. Just imagine this happening in the States. That John Madden while working a Super Bowl broadcast takes sides in the game. Exactly. It’s unthinkable.

So I’m pulling for the Bruins just to p— of all the Leafs fans in the Toronto media. But once the Bruins finish off the Leafs – which they will Monday night, mark my words – I’ll be back to hoping they’re humiliated by whoever they face next.

Then I’m moving back to the team I loved as a kid in the ’70s in Montreal – the mighty Chicago Blackhawks. I’ll be cheering on the Hawks – along with great Scottish novelist Irvine Welsh, who is one of the Blackhawks’ most vocal fans.

But for today, it’s – Go Bruins Go!

So the dream is over. You remember that blog from a few weeks back when Montreal went off the rails – after they made the playoffs – and I suggested that maybe the first 35 games were “all just an illusion to me now” Well that’s ringing truer than ever now.

The Canadiens have not played with any kind of consistency since they clinched a playoff berth with that win in Buffalo. They were playing above their talent level all year and once they made the post-season, they just had nothing left in the tank. And yes they were more like last year’s team than we ever thought.

There were some great additions this year. Short version? The kids are alright. Brendan Gallagher, of course, was the sensation and that’s why he’s up for the Calder. Alex Galchenyuk is going to be amazing, probably as early as next year. And what do you say about P.K. Subban. Well you say what I said when Marc Bergevin was playing hardball with him during those negotiations – he’s a superstar and you better sign him up for as long as you can.

Bergevin made a mistake refusing to sign him for more than two years and I’m pretty sure he’ll correct that mistake by inking a rich long-term deal with the Norris finalist this summer.

The other major plus was Brandon Prust. This guy is the team’s real leader and I’d give him the ‘C’ in a heartbeat.

That’s the good news. Then there’s the rest of the team. The sad-sack regular-season end and even-worse playoffs does not reflect well on a bunch of guys. David Desharnais hasn’t played a good game since he signed that big deal. He should be ashamed of himself.

The only silver lining with Michael Ryder is he’s no longer under contract with the Canadiens. He looked bored over the past month. Now you get why teams don’t hang on to Ryder. Travis Moen? See the comment about Desharnais above. Colby Armstrong? See comment about Ryder above.

Then there’s my bete noire, Carey Price. Look he’s not the main reason Montreal lost the series. Montreal lost because our forwards were worse than the Senators’ forwards.

But Price wasn’t good enough in this series. Again. The guy in the mask at the other end delivered a truly great performance. Price was inconsistent. Again. How long are you going to keep saying next year will be his year?

But maybe the most depressing thing about the series was how Paul MacLean out-coached Michel Therrien from game-one on. The Walrus played Therrien and Therrien never seemed to understand he was being played. Take the famous end-of-game time-out that so enraged Therrien. Mr. Walrus did that to upset Therrien and get him off his game, and it worked a charm.

Instead of looking long and hard at how to make his team better, Therrien got hot under the collar about MacLean. That was the idea. The Walrus got inside Therrien’s head.

So sure it was a surprisingly good season in some ways. The team finished second in the conference. But it was at least partly an illusion. They weren’t really a second-seed team, a fact proved by their whacking at the hands of the seventh-seed in this series.

And yes there are lots of positives. For the first time in years, there’s a core of young stars in Gallagher, Galchenyuk and Subban. But Bergevin has his work cut out for him in the summer. And guess what? The most important piece of the puzzle missing is a big, strong talented first or second-line centre. Sound familiar? Bergevin is facing the same problem that’s dogged Habs GMs for 20 years.

And no there will be no 20th anniversary Cup. Sigh.

Then the refs decide it’s okay to kick in a puck on the first Senators goal and when things get tight in last couple of minutes, the same officials call two straight bogus icing calls on the Habs. Then Ottawa ties it up. Carey Price gets injured and those same Sens win it in overtime with a blooper goal.

But I’m not going to lay the blame on the refs for this one. They were crap but they’ve been crap this entire series. No the real goat is the Habs and just maybe Habs coach Michel Therrien. They sat on that 2-zip lead throughout the third and that’s just nonsensical Jacques Martin-style hockey.

You know Montreal can easily blow a two-goal lead. Just ask Ted Bird about the dreaded two-goal lead. So you gotta go for that third goal. And they didn’t.

Was that Therrien’s call? Or the players’? If I was Marc Bergevin right now, I’d like to know the answer to that question. Because that decision has likely ended the team’s season.

Bad calls, bad luck, whatever. It’s 3-1 Ottawa and if that’s the case, it’s cos they’ve been the better team. If you ask me, the biggest factor here has been the coaching. Paul MacLean has out-coached Therrien. He did it again tonight.

Look, on paper, Montreal is the better team. And that better team is going back to Montreal facing elimination. So who you gonna blame?

This is a heartbreaker. One of the toughest losses for Habs fans in a couple of decades. I’m just devastated. Gobsmacked. Effed. I even used the F word on Twitter.

You know what this proves? Life is not fair. Maybe you knew that already. Well I didn’t.

So I’m furious with the bad calls, upset about the injuries to our team but mostly I’m just totally and utterly depressed.

Michel Therrien. Courtesy of RDS.

There’s been a lot of talk about just how ugly the Habs made the game Sunday night in Ottawa.

But isn’t it odd how few people are pointing the finger at kindly ol’ coach Michel Therrien? ‘Cause if things degenerated – and they most certainly did – it was “thanks” to Therrien.

As Arpon Basu points out in his nhl.com piece, Therrien sent out Ryan White, Colby Armstrong, Travis Moen, Francis Bouillon and Jarred Tinordi for that fateful face-off in the third, throwing down the gauntlet to Sens coach Paul MacLean. So it was Therrien who set the scene for the dumb goony brawl.

It was a bone-headed move and not just because the Montreal guys lost all the fights. (Eds. note: Of course they did. They are not a team of fighters!) That’s not Montreal Canadiens hockey. That’s the kind of crap you expect from the Bruins or Leafs.

It was a huge mistake. And it was Therrien’s mistake. He obviously wanted a full-on brawl and you have to wonder why. What’s the strategy here? I don’t think there was any strategy. It was an emotional move from a coach who lives with the knock that he’s too emotional.

Then things got out of control. Now did Therrien want that? If so, that’s an even bigger mistake. If he didn’t want that, the only other conclusion is he lost control of his players. It’s hard to think which hypothesis is worse.

Either he lost his cool and ordered his guys to go out and punch it up. Or his players went rogue on him. Neither scenario makes me feel very good about the coach or the team.

But……and it’s the biggest ‘but’ of the season, this series ain’t over. Like what’s with Montreal fans today (Monday)? It was full-on panic. It was as if people here forgot what it’s like to be in a playoff series.

I mean I’m the Nabob of Negativity, the Habs Homer of Doom and Gloom, and even I found the Habs’ fans despair nonsensical. Yeah it was a horrible game Sunday – see above – but it’s only 2-1 Ottawa. As CBC sports reporter Doug Gelevan pointed out in our tweet exchange, everyone was saying, pre-series, that it was going to go to seven, so that means the Sens have to win three games.

So it’s far from finished and the Habs are far from finished. But they need to up their game significantly from game three. Ryder, Pacioretty, Desharnais (!!!!), Gorges…..all have to be better. Heck they have to show up.

But Therrien also has to take back control of his team and the series. He’s been out-coached since game one by Paul ‘I am the walrus’ MacLean. Therrien has to start acting rather than (emotionally) reacting.

Oh yeah and Carey Price has to bring his A game Tuesday, not his aw-shucks-I-let-in-six-goals game.

So it’s not over. At least I hope it’s not over. As Aislin memorably put it – Everyone take a valium!

But I do need to throw in a word about Carey Price this morning. I was so busy last night talking about the Habs’ failed thuggery in that humiliating 6-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators that I didn’t have a chance to discuss young Mr. Price.

That was the most goals ever scored against him in a playoff game and he looked bad on at least half the goals. No the loss wasn’t his fault. That was a team effort. But he simply has to be a lot better than that if this team is going anywhere. We’re three games in and he’s looked good in one of those games.

Just saying.

Yes the Canadiens defense left him out to dry on most of the goals but he has to make the big saves at the big moment the way Anderson has been doing since game one. Michel Therrien didn’t talk about Price after Sunday’s game but if he had, he’d have to say the same thing he said after game one – Anderson was the better goalie.

Not good.

Look. There is a big Price debate on right now. Jack Todd sums it up quite nicely in his column. There is just no agreement between the two camps. He’s either the saviour or the guy who’s holding the franchise back from glory.

I don’t think he’s either. He’s most certainly not the Dryden/Roy/Plante hero but he also hasn’t ever had a great team in front of him. But I’m tired of people blinding defending Price and suggesting us critics are putting too much pressure on him. He’s a big boy. Heck he’s a big boy who’s paid millions of dollars. Gainey coddled him for years and that’s part of the problem.

Those days are gone. Which is why Price has to be amazing Tuesday night. No pressure. Just steal the game Carey.

That pretty nicely sums up game three of the Senators Canadiens series which Ottawa won 25-2 or something like that. With the game long gone, the Canadiens tried to go all goony on the Sens resulting in a Slapshot-like brawl involving all 10 skaters on the ice.

Here’s how Hockey Night in Canada called it. Garry Galley says – “Now we’re gonna have a war in the centre ice zone.” And Bob Cole replies in classic Bob-Cole fashion: “Holy cow, you are telling me.” (Eds. note: Do people still use the phrase ‘holy cow’ in 2013?)

So everyone is punching it up and from what I can see, Montreal loses most of the fights. And of course they do – because they’re not a particularly tough team.

A little digression here – those Senators players making a big show of playing it up for the crowd after they won their fights? That makes me sick. I didn’t much like the fights but that was just the worst sort of caveman/macho/bully behaviour on the part of the Senators players and you know what, it may well come back to haunt those clowns. End of ranty digression.

This is not Montreal Canadiens hockey. This is not how Les Boys win hockey series.When Brendan Gallagher gets into a fight, there’s something wrong with this picture.

“It got a little stupid in the end but that’s hockey,” said Paul MacLean.

No that’s Slapshoot or Goon Mr. Walrus, that’s not hockey. And it’s most certainly not Habs hockey. From the Flying Frenchmen to the Smurfs to today’s hybrid team, the Canadiens have always been about speed, skill, great goaltending and heart. Think of that seven-game Bruins-Habs series two years back. You had the Beantown thugs on one side and the Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah speedster Habs on the other side. Sure the goons won but just by one shot.

Michel Therrien used his ultra-brief post-game presser to get all emotional about how “classless” it was for MacLean to call a time-out with 17 seconds left in the game. But the fashion victims – NOT! – on L’Anitchambre were right. The kindly ol’ coach was stalling for time so as not to talk about the real issues.

To talk about how David ‘Yes I love my new contract’ Desharnais hasn’t had a shot on goal in the series, how Michael ‘Can I go back to Newfoundland now’ Ryder is lost in a major St. John’s fog, how Max Pacioretty is just not the Patch we knew and loved last year, and most importantly how Carey Price simply hasn’t been good enough. Price had a good game Friday but one good game and two not-good games is simply unacceptable especially when the guy between the pipes on the other team is doing a pretty good imitation of Patrick Roy.

So instead of playing good hockey, they go all goon on us. What a joke. This is not going to work with this team, a squad that has way more grit than a year ago but still can’t compete in the heavyweight category with most teams in the League.

If Montreal plans on winning this series – and they still can – they’re going to win it by playing better hockey than the Senators. The Habs are the better team. But they most certainly didn’t look like the better team tonight. And they also didn’t look like the tougher team.

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Ryan White

Patrick Roy got it right on L’Antichambre.

“Carey Price va à Ottawa avec le momentum,” said the last goalie to lead the Canadiens to a Stanley Cup.

The whole team heads to the nation’s capital – or make that Kanata – with all the momentum on their side after winning 3-1 Friday at the Bell Centre. All day, all I heard was dark talk from Habs fans. Price was weak in the first defeat. Oh my God, Eller, Pacioretty and Gionta are out. Life is over as we know it.

Then the chatter stopped and a hockey game broke out. And who would’ve thunk it. The Senators sleepwalked through game two and Montreal generally looked amazing.

And I’m not afraid to say it – Carey Price had a very good game. He lost teeth, made huge saves and only let in one goal.

But mostly I just loved the fact that tonight Ryan White decided it was just the right time to play his best game ever in a Habs uniform. He laid on big hits, scored a beautiful goal, the first of the night, which brought the Habs to life, and then ended the game with style yapping at Guillaume Latendresse, with The Tenderness looking visibly irritated. (Am I the only one who just has this instinctive distaste for The Tender One?)

It was a character game. Price dealt with his demons, Michael Ryder actually scored (for the first time since Newfoundland joined Canada), and Brendan Gallagher showed the same character he’s shown every time he’s taken to the ice in the past year.

And what a great way to end a great night, with coach Michel Therrien taking a few nice shots at The Walrus (aka Senators coach Paul MacLean).

Many – with good reason – were upset by MacLean’s comments Thursday night’s after Sens D-man Eric Gryba’s ugly hit on Lars Eller, which left the Hab lying in a pool of blood on the ice. MacLean basically laid all the blame on Habs defenseman Raphael Diaz for making a suicide pass to Eller just before the hit.

“The player I would be mad at is 61 (Diaz),” said MacLean. “That’s a dangerous place to be.”

Like he doesn’t know who Diaz is after spending several days preparing for the Habs series!

Prust was not amused.

“We don’t really care what that bug-eyed fat walrus has to say,” Prust said at practice Friday morning.

Therrien said MacLean’s comments rubbed him the wrong way.

“It was not about the hit….it was the comment,” said Therrien in his post-game press conference Friday. “When I saw the comment, I was pretty upset.”

Then he got off a good shot at The Walrus, when talking about how Diaz had another good game Friday.

“And No. 61, by the way, is Raphael Diaz, in case sometimes they don’t know.”

Did you get that Mr. MacLean? Want us to spell the name for you? Classic.

Tonight it’s the Habs making the jokes not the bug-eyed walrus.