MONTREAL (AP) β During a season that has been anything but normal for Dominique Ducharme, the Montreal Canadiens interim coach finds it somehow apt his team is flying into a potential hurricane for Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final.
βItβs no surprise anymore,β Ducharme said Tuesday before the Canadiens boarded a flight for Tampa, Florida, which just happens to be in the projected path for Elsa, the tropical storm and former hurricane churning in the Gulf of Mexico.
βItβs been crazy,β he added. βBut weβre a crazy bunch of guys in here, and weβre going to take that challenge.β
Canadaβs Olympic menβs ski team, which included the likes of βJungleβ Jim Hunter, Steve Podborski and Ken Read, in the 1970s and early β80s was once billed as the βCrazy Canucksβ because of the risks theyβd take in order to win on the slopes.
Now come the crazy Canadiens, who face a steep battle to keep the Tampa Bay Lightning from winning the Stanley Cup. Montreal is attempting to achieve the NHL improbable in becoming just the fifth team β and second in the final β to overcome a 3-0 series playoff deficit.
βItβs probably part of our destiny,β Ducharme said, looking ahead to Game 5 on Wednesday night.
The Canadiens are still playing after Ducharmeβs lineup changes paid off with Josh Anderson β playing alongside new linemates Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield β scoring twice, including the overtime goal in a 3-2 win to avoid being swept.
As for destiny, what adversities havenβt the Canadiens overcome with Montreal enjoying the organizationβs deepest playoff run since winning its 24th Cup title in 1993?
They closed the season with injuries to key players, including goalie Carey Price and alternate captain Brendan Gallagher, who missed the final six weeks with a broken left thumb. Defenseman Jeff Petry missed two playoff games after catching his fingers in a photographerβs hole in the glass.
Then there was COVID-19. Aside from having a team-wide outbreak in April, Montreal was down to its third coach in assistant Luke Richardson after Ducharme tested positive and was forced to miss two weeks of the playoffs before returning for Game 3 of the final. Ducharme, of course, took over after Claude Julien was abruptly fired in February.
Donβt forget the on-ice challenges the Canadiens have stared down, such as rallying from a 3-1 first-round series deficit against Toronto.
The Quebec government hasnβt given the home team a break, with health officials limiting the home crowd to 3,500 at the Bell Centre, which has a capacity of 21,300.
βThis whole season has been kind of chaotic, kind of hectic,β veteran forward Corey Perry said. βWeβve kind of gone through everything,β
Rather than worry, Perry said the focus should remain on enjoying the moment.
βDom is right: Weβre a crazy bunch of people. This is fun to do here in Montreal,β he added. βBe prepared to work, but at the end of the day, itβs just hockey and have fun.β
Crazy as it might sound, as Anderson put it on Sunday: βWeβve got nothing to lose.β
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