To be perfectly honest, you need to sell this one a little better.
People, a.k.a. hockey fanatics in Eastern Canada, are absolutely clamoring for a return to (and of) the ‘Battle of Ontario’ in the post-season. You know – the time of year when the intensity ramps up and the stakes grow higher.
Really?
After watching Ottawa face off with Toronto for, oh, about the past five or six years, it’s like rooting for a corpse to reanimate. A truly dull corpse.
There’s simply not much of a pulse in this rivalry. Excepting for one minor run-in last season when Ridly Grieg went dum-dum and Morgan Rielly followed suit, the provincial battle has been a wet blanket.
Lifeless and pretty uninspiring hockey. And this year it’s been one-sided as Ottawa’s managed the Leafs with what appears to be ease.
Now, switch up ‘Toronto’ with ‘Montreal’ . . . and bingo, you’ve got me salivating (and clamoring).
As the Habs were saying prior to last night’s 6-3 pasting of the Senators, Ottawa is their ‘least-liked’ opponent from right across the league. The Senators and their fans, meantime taking a different tack, might contend they’d enjoy re-kindling that over-hyped ‘Battle of Ontario’ more than anything. (Dreams of Tucker versus Neil dancing in their heads).
The evidence though tells us a different story.
Ottawa versus Montreal has the heat right now; has the juice; has the appeal, big-time.
The Habs despise the Senators. The Senators abhor the Habs.
This one’s been gathering steam for a while but really didn’t arm wrestle away the spotlight until this season’s exhibition slate when the likes of Arber Xhekaj and Brady Tkachuk produced heat and hate.
You’ve heard this one before, right – hockey with hate is indeed a good thing? Montreal scrapping for the puck and positioning with Ottawa is currently the real carnival of spite. And while last night’s game didn’t feature any major penalties (that would be: fights), the abrasiveness was in full feature mode from the opening draw.
This is good stuff people.
Really good stuff.
The trouble with wanting this right now is that it is not going to happen.
The good news is represented in the fact that both the Senators and Canadiens are locked into playoff spots. The sour news comes in the form of where those spots rest. Ottawa is in the first wild-card role at present while Montreal, with last night’s win, hangs precariously on to the final rung of that ladder.
Both would need to, a) hang on to their positioning, and b) stage a couple of gigantic upsets each in the playoffs to set up the meet-up.
Like me pining for a date with Halle Berry, it isn’t going to happen.
Well, at least not now.
But down the road?
This will be worth waiting for.
As for those playoff spots, here’s where the two Canadian clubs stand:
Thanks to its recent run (up until Tuesday night), Ottawa seems home and cooled. The Senators are four points up on Montreal (both with 67 games played) and five ahead of the New York Rangers – with two games in hand. Detroit and the Islanders and Columbus are all seven points back.
Unless Ottawa suffers a large stumble, the team is in. Frankly, the way they’ve played since the beginning of the month, the Senators won’t be missing out.
Montreal’s victoire, demain soir, puts the Habs temporarily into the last wild-card role. They have a one-point edge on New York, with two games in hand. The Islanders (they never freakin’ die) and Columbus pose the biggest challenge. Both sit three behind Montreal and all three have 15 games left in the regular season.
This will be tense.
And before we take our leave here, for this week, a quick thought on Tuesday’s tilt between the two post-season birds pecking away at the Bell Centre.
First of all, that’s just what it was – a tilt. The banging, crashing and pacing is just what these parts have been dying to see for nearly a decade. This was a playoff-esque affair staged in the best arena in the game for atmosphere.
Everyone was hitting. Everyone bought into the importance of the game.
“Seeing the support of the crowd, it gives you goosebumps,” Montreal forward and game star Josh Anderson said to the Gazette. “It makes you want to play in the playoffs so bad. It’s been a tough three years they’ve (the fans) patiently waited. We’re going to do everything we can as a team to make a push. I really love the compete level in this group.”
And while it was Anderson saying it, really, the words could have come from anyone on either side.
Could we please have a little more?
OTTAWA SENATORS WEEK AHEAD:
Thursday, March 20: Colorado at Ottawa (7 pm)
Saturday, March 22: Ottawa at New Jersey (7 pm)
Tuesday, March 25: Ottawa at Buffalo (7 pm)
thegrossgame@yahoo.com
PHOTO: Courtesy Postmedia
