PK Subban Thwarts Senators' Revenge Plans, Canadiens Now in Series Driver's Seat

Salt, meet wound. Insult, meet injury. Ottawa, say hello to provincial neighbor P.K. Subban.

Subban broke top Senators scorer Mark Stone's wrist in Game 1, and former NHL referee Kerry Fraser seemed to be among those who wanted some kind of karmic payback on the Montreal Canadiens defenseman in Game 2 of a first-round playoff series against Ottawa. During the first period, Fraser was motivated enough to publicly say this about Subban:

"

P.K.'s constant appeal to Ref's and hand gestures, even on latest high-stick of puck ruling, is getting 'old'!

— Kerry Fraser (@kfraserthecall) April 17, 2015"

Too bad for the Senators that Fraser was relegated to the Twitterverse. Maybe a karmic payback call could have sent this Eastern quarterfinal series back to Ottawa tied at one game apiece. Instead, Senators players and fans were forced to watch Subban and the Canadiens congregate with sticks raised following Montreal's 3-2 overtime victory at the Bell Centre.

Karma is an overused word in hockey, however. Just because Stone was slashed by Subban in Game 1 didn't entitle the Senators to a win Friday. Hard work would have been a better solution to getting the series even, but Ottawa wasn't the harder-working team.

Case in point: On Montreal's goal to go ahead 2-1 late in the second period, scored by Subban, Ottawa forward Alex Chiasson was outworked along the boards for a loose puck, first by the newly returned Max Pacioretty, then by his linemate, Devante Smith-Pelly. All this in the Ottawa end came about after defenseman Marc Methot turned the puck over in the neutral zone with a pass that was intercepted by Subban.

Smith-Pelly came off the boards with the puck and fed Subban, who blasted a slapper past Andrew Hammond. Ottawa tied it up late, but Alex Galchenyuk won it for the Canadiens early in OT. Guess who helped keep the puck in the Ottawa end on the winner? 

Subban.

Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports

It has to hurt bad for the Sens right now, in the literal and figurative senses. Stone played on in Game 2, despite the injury to the right wrist, and put two assists on the scoresheet. He would have been a great storyline. In the end, Ottawa couldn't get it done.

Some of the Ottawa media's focus after the loss centered on first-year goalie Hammond, whose remarkable regular-season story may be meeting its Cinderella midnight moment. The fact is Galchenyuk's game-winner wasn't a great-looking goal from a goalie critic's perspective. Even NBC analyst and former goalie Brian Boucher said the game-winner "went right through" Hammond.

Longtime Ottawa Sun reporter Bruce Garrioch probably expressed the thought of many Sens fans with this tweet after the game: 

"

Hammond battled but the #Sens now have a decision to make before Game 3 after this OT loss.

— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) April 18, 2015 "

Will we see veteran Craig Anderson—the big-money goalie of the Senators who had carried this franchise the last two years before getting hurt and witnessing Hammond's storybook late-season run—back in net for Game 3? I think Hammond will still get the start, despite the sudden second-guessing. He played well in this one, excluding the final shot, and the fans in Kanata, Ontario, still love him. 

Besides, the Canadiens don't look invincible by any means. They eked out two one-goal wins at home. That's what they've done. They were sloppy at times in Game 2 as well.

For example, they could have put this game away in the third period with better decision-making. Exhibit A: Brian Flynn entered the Ottawa zone with the puck in what wasn't an odd-man situation, as the two-on-to freeze-frame of the NBC picture shows. Flynn should have dished to open teammate Torrey Mitchell, who was wound up and ready to one-time his pass on net. This was the picture I snapped off the TV screen:

Adrian Dater, via NBC

Instead, Flynn floated a weak shot on net that Hammond turned away. 

But it was all good for the Habs in the end. Or, in the provincial tongue of Montreal, "C'est parfait."

What also was good: the fact that this game did not degenerate into a bloody sideshow after Subban's Game 1 incident with Stone.

"It was a rugged contest but without any of the garbage that many believed lay beneath the surface. When these teams stuck largely to hockey, they put on a wonderful show that ended with great joy for the home team and their over-the-moon fans," The Montreal Gazette's Dave Stubbs wrote.

It figures to be a great game in Ottawa on Sunday. The Sens need to find out how to get that last goal this time. Otherwise, they will have to sit at home, watching Subban and the Habs in the second round of the playoffs.