Wilde Horses
Rene Bourque with 3 goals and could have quite realistically had 5.
He hit the iron on one deflection and he missed the empty net (with Talbot out for an extra attacker) by a foot.
All I keep thinking about now is all the people who said Bourque didn't care when he was struggling.
They care. They almost always care. They're in the NHL.
They didn't get to the best hockey league in the world and last in it because they don't care.
But Bourque has suffered dark days in dark rooms with headaches and worries he might never be the same man.
His concussions so severe they lasted for months.
He needed to put that fear behind him before he could play his best hockey again.
I asked him after everyone was gone where that game ranked.
He said "It would have to be the best night of my life."
This, now, after wondering last year if the constant headache would go away and the room would stop spinning.
Redemption stories. They're the best stories in sports.
I am happy for Bourque today.
I hope he leaves the game on his own terms one day, healthy and with a strong memory of the night he took the Montreal Canadiens on his back and carried them to New York City.
Lars Eller. Another mammoth night for this player who I might be the only one in the Montreal media that doesn't have to eat crow over.
Many said to me that Eller is the best Habs forward in the playoffs when the other day I said it was Desharnais.
How about we agree in a tie?
Eller has the perfect make up for the playoffs: A big body that is hard to push off the puck; He wins puck battles and checks opponents off their feet.
Eller has gone from a dismal season where many gave up on him to a cornerstone player now for the franchise future.
One day it will be Galchenyuk, Desharnais and Eller down the middle.
Plekanec will be an aging memory.
Eller will be the new Plekanec.
He will fill that role well.
Fewer goals but a better playoff performer and dare I say it... A better shutdown guy.
Alex Galchenyuk said the morning of game 5 that he had more to give and could do more.
And he did.
Galchenyuk with a gorgeous deflection for a big goal early.
Galchenyuk also seemed to be getting his faith in the contest that he could hold the puck more and was tough to take off it.
It is always a sight to watch that discovery in a player.
I remember talking privately to Eller about it one day last season.
The twinkle in a player's eyes is priceless when they realize they have learned the balance and the positioning to win puck battles.
Galchenyuk is finding a new level right now.
Excellent growth in the playoffs so fast after the knee injury. 20 years of age. He's 20. Look out NHL.
Max Pacioretty also said that he could give more, took a personal responsibility for not doing more in game 4, and he too delivered a big game 5.
Pacioretty with the five hole marker.
Found the front of the net more too.
Challenged himself and delivered.
Dale Weise. What a warrior.
How did John Tortorella hate this player? What the hell was he looking at? How is it possible?
Seriously.
I know I got my initial evaluation wrong but that was off how Weise was thought of in Vancouver.
Vancouver led me astray but what is Vancouver's excuse?
They looked at him skate every day.
They looked at his work in the corners every day.
They looked at his feisty attitude.
They saw his pride.
They saw his finish.
I don't know. Frankly, no wonder that Canucks organization sucks and has had to clean house.
Weise took a huge hit early from John Moore.
No whining. No disappearing. Got back up and played hard and looked for his spot and got it.
Laid out a superb hit.
Set up Bourque for his hat trick goal on a beautiful pass.
Sadly his night ended on a cheap shot that the league will look at: Moore with a late blindside hit to the head.
Brutal hit and Weise was groggy on his feet.
Moore should get a three-game suspension.
The hit was worse than Prust on Stepan.
Weise needed to go to the quiet room. More on that below.
Nathan Beaulieu is a great skater and has an outstanding first pass.
He makes smart offensive decisions.
He still makes the odd cover error in the defensive zone and that's too bad because Therrien can't see the world without fear of rookie mistakes.
A Beaulieu error means he doesn't play much.
A Bouillon error means another shift.
Beaulieu has an excellent future with a 3 or 4 D ranking and perhaps even a spot beside Subban on the top pairing.
Brendan Gallagher was his usual buzz saw.
He made the line go with Desharnais not having his best night.
Wilde Goats
Dustin Tokarski gets the W.
There were some good saves.
Two stand out: The one off Hagelin that hit his shaft of the stick, and the third period save where he got his pad across on the far side sweep.
So why a goat?
He is going down on every shot before it is struck.
He wasn't doing this initially in the series and I wonder if it is stress.
Hopefully for the Habs Waite catches it, because the Rangers are going to be firing high even more.
Tokarski needs to correct the problem.
Tough moment for Josh Gorges putting his stick out on the second Rangers goal to deflect it in.
Gorges needs to get away from the big Ranger forwards like Kreider and Nash.
They're making it tough on him.
He's a gamer though. Gives it all.
Just not his best night.
Thomas Vanek.
Injured or not injured?
That is the question.
Wilde Cards
I have been satisfied and relieved that for a long time I didn't have to write these words.
I don't want to have to.
I want to think the Habs will put the player first.
I want to think they'll exercise caution.
I want to think they live by the new concussion motto "If in doubt, take them out."
The Habs are making me write this: There's no way Dale Weise had a full Scat-2 concussion test in the quiet room.
It takes 15 minutes to do the test.
It has skill testing and memory questions on it.
It also has physical exercise tests to confirm balance and coordination.
It takes 15 minutes.
So what was Weise doing back in 5?
You can't just listen to the player tell you he wants to get back out there and forego the test.
I am disappointed in the Habs.
They're like every team.
They didn't take the responsibility away from the player.
A player like Weise who cares so much could be throwing up and tell you he is fine.
He wouldn't be.
It is the doctor who must decide this safety and do the test, not the player.
Not only that but the evidence on the ice was obvious.
He got, as they say, his bell rung.
That is by definition a concussion.
He is supposed to be 48 hours symptom-free after that point but teams don't have to declare a concussion, so you get everyone laughing it off.
The NHL loophole is if you don't start the 48-hour concussion clock, then you don't have to wait for the protocols to be completed.
As soon as a team announces concussion, the player is gone about 5 days, so they don't even announce concussion anymore.
For example, the 'I can't stand up for 1 minute straight' David Backes debacle in St. Louis where a concussion was never admitted.
The clock should have started on Weise who suffered brain trauma on the hit and was damn lucky to not get hit again in the third period.
No way the Habs took the 15 minutes at least to administer the test.
I mean seriously - he needs a shift at 7-4?
Weise though. What a gamer. Too much so.
He needs protection from himself and the Habs did not deliver.
Weise went to the quiet room Therrien said.
He did what there? Just tell the doctor he was fine for 60 to 90 seconds?
Watch next game for signs of another shot to the head.
You probably think he is fine. You don't know that.
The brain was knocked around. That is why he was groggy on his feet and Subban had to hold him.
The brain heals under the surface. The wellbeing is more difficult to know.
Independent doctors belong in the NHL in every arena, paid by the league and not the team, to rectify this problem.
They would have one mandated job.
That means no GM or coach could put that player back in to help his own cause.
The player just wanting to help the team should get no say.
No doctor trying to keep his job by making the team happy should be in the mix anymore, just the independent doctor assessing the situation and administering the SCAT-2 test.
An independent doctor would get in trouble only from the NHL if he gets it wrong and isn't cautious enough.
I asked Gary Bettman about this NHL-hired doctor and he said it was being looked into.
Habs brass: if you're reading, be big here, care and take the lead, because Bettman isn't looking into it fast enough and a lot of players are getting seriously affected.
Some we know of today, like Backes, and some who won't remember their names tomorrow.
