"The ice melted to springtime thin beneath the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night, just as Sergei Gonchar's second-period snapshot kissed the mesh behind goalie Jaroslav Halak. No big deal, you'll reasonably suggest — the Canadiens rallied from 3-1, then 3-2 deficits in their Eastern Conference quarter-final series to tie, then eliminate the Washington Capitals, the best team in the National Hockey League's regular season. That is so. But the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Canadiens' semifinal opponent, aren't the Capitals. They are playing with a greater purpose; they are more a team than a swashbuckling band of individuals; and as of Saturday night, they have what appears to be an awakened Evgeni Malkin. The Penguins' 2-1 victory at Mellon Arena tilts this series sharply in Pittsburgh's direction. And it offers their opponent yet another taste of a seemingly endless diet of desperation. Adversity has been a buzzword for the Canadiens this entire season. It's surely vibrating now through the team, which for the second time in as many playoff series awakens on the cusp of summer. Penguins can't fly, of course, and these birds from Pittsburgh remain as flightless as Tennessee Tuxedo. But this team will be only too happy to march by foot to the Eastern Conference final, just one more victory from that goal." http://www.montrealgazette.com/spor...y while facing elimination/3004819/story.html
