Carey Price's Brilliance Putting Epic Comeback Within Reach for Canadiens

It takes a lot to drown out the deep baritone of Montreal Canadiens public address announcer Michel Lacroix, who has been detailing Canadiens' goals since 1993. The longtime Canadiens P.A. man, however, never had a chance to be heard after Montreal's other P.A. man scored to win Saturday's Game 5 of an Eastern semifinals series against Tampa Bay at the Bell Centre.

Pierre Alexandre Parenteau, who until the 15:53 mark of the third period had made as much of an impact in these playoffs for Montreal as a feather wafting onto a pillow, sent the Habs to Game 6 with a tie-breaking goal in a 2-1 victory over the Lightning, who are starting to look like they might need to add a Doctor Heimlich onto their postseason organizational chart before it's too late.

Not only are the Lightning looking in distinct danger of becoming just the fifth team in NHL history to blow a series after taking a 3-0 lead, the Canadiens have a hot goalie again in Carey Price. That, without question, is the biggest reason why Montreal has a real chance at still advancing to the Eastern finals.

After losing the first three games of the series to Tampa Bay, including Games 2 and 3 when he allowed eight goals on only 43 shots, Price has stopped 46 of the last 49 shots and his teammates have gotten him just enough offensive support to send this thing back to Amalie Arena.

As Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said after the game, and tweeted by Sportsnet's Chris Johnston:

And, as Johnston noted after Parenteau's one-timer beat Ben Bishop:

What has changed to make this a series again? First off, Price has been much better after that awful Game 2, in which he allowed six goals on 24 shots. Montreal's defense has been better at limiting Tampa Bay's zone entries since Game 4 as well. Lightning forward Tyler Johnson, since scoring the late winner in Game 3, has been held to just four shots on net in the last two games.

Over in the frustrated Lightning dressing room, Bishop bemoaned his team's effort, as noted by Tampa Bay Times reporter Joe Smith. "It's tough when you only show up for half the game," Bishop said.

Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images

Indeed, the Lightning just haven't looked hungry enough to put Montreal away since going up 3-0. Forwards such as Valtteri Filppula (no points, three shots last three games), Ryan Callahan (still without a point in the series and goal-less for the playoffs) and Brian Boyle (one point in the series) have to start doing something offensively to take some of the pressure off Steven Stamkos.

If there was one encouraging sign for Tampa Bay Saturday, it was that Stamkos scored a third-period goal, his second marker of the series, which also extended his series points streak to four games. If Stamkos really is starting to heat up again, the Lightning still have a better shot than Montreal of advancing to the next round.

But not if Price is in the Lightning's heads. The likely Vezina and Hart Trophy winner is more than capable of stealing two more games against a Lightning group that probably wasn't as good as they seemed in taking that 3-0 lead.

Longtime Montreal Gazette columnist Jack Todd essentially said as much in a post-game tweet:

For Parenteau, dealt away by Colorado last summer for aging veteran Daniel Briere, his Game 5 goal could help make up for something of a lost season, one that was exacerbated by a two-month absence due to a concussion.

Parenteau, a healthy scratch at times in the playoffs, could be the wild card for a successful Habs comeback now that they have their ace in the net back in form. There was a reason why Colorado gave the winger a four-year, $16 million free-agent contract three years ago.

History is still against Montreal's quest to win two more games. Only four teams in history have come all the way back from down 3-0, though two teams (Philadelphia in 2010 against Boston and Los Angeles in 2014 against San Jose) have done it in the last five years.

One more win, Tuesday in Tampa Bay, and Lacroix's voice will be heard again at the Bell Centre. Or, with the din that figures to be created by Canadiens fans for a Game 7, maybe it won't.