Front Burner - Montreal’s historic playoff run at stake

Episode Date: July 5, 2021

Montreal’s Cinderella playoff run is at stake on Monday as the Canadiens head into a do-or-die Game 4 in the Stanley Cup finals against the reigning champs, the Tampa Bay Lightning. Sean Fitz-Gerald, senior national reporter with The Athletic, and Arpon Basu, editor-in-chief of The Athletic Montréal, share their thoughts on the history-making series.

In the Dragon's Den, a simple pitch can lead to a life-changing connection. Watch new episodes of Dragon's Den free on CBC Gem. Brought to you in part by National Angel Capital Organization, empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. This is a CBC Podcast. Hi, I'm Jamie Poisson. Travis Kovac lost it inside the line. Chance, cut, Kanyemi, scores! Yes, Barry, cut, Kanyemi!

It has been a magical run for Les Albitons. After a so-so season where they fired their head coach, the Montreal Canadiens have punctuated a very strange pandemic year with this totally Cinderella playoff run for the ages. First, they staved off elimination three times against the Maple Leafs. Then they dominated the Winnipeg Jets. And then they completely shocked the Las Vegas Golden Knights. The new win! Patrick Brown scores!

And Montreal is going to the Stanley Cup Finals! Cup final. But the Tampa Bay Lightning, the reigning champs, have been relentlessly taking it to the Canadians during the first three games of the series. And now facing a three to nothing deficit, Montreal's dream of hoisting its very first Stanley Cup in nearly 30 years is pretty much on life support. But I guess it ain't over yet. Game four is tonight and the Habs have home ice advantage. Joining me now are two guests. Sean Fitzgerald is a senior national reporter with The Athletic and author of the hockey book Before the Lights Go Out. And Arpen Basu is editor-in-chief of The Athletic Montreal. They're here for a closer look at Montreal's chances of bringing home the cup and what this run has meant

for the team, the city, and the whole country. Hi, Arvin. Hi, Sean. Thank you guys so much for coming by. Thanks for having us. Yeah. Hey, Jamie. Thanks for having us. Hey, hey. Okay, so look, let's get real here. Things are not looking great for the Montreal Canadiens right now. The team has to win game four tonight to stay in the running. And then,

of course, they would have to win three more consecutive games after that, or else the Tampa Bay Lightning will clinch the cup. But I guess crazier things have happened here. And Sean, the cup. But I guess crazier things have happened here. And Sean, generally speaking, big picture, how would you characterize this playoff run for the Canadians this season? I think it could almost depend on geography. I think unexpected might be a bit of an understatement for fans in Quebec. Amazing feeling, really. It was my throat is all scratchy just from screaming, yelling. It's the vibe. It's the energy, the city has come alive. It's big, after COVID and everyone being locked in, and this is huge. I think if you're speaking with fans in Toronto, it could be apocalyptic,

because the Leafs did have that 3-1 series lead, and this was supposed to be the year, and they've been saying that every year since 1967 in Toronto, but this was supposed to be the year that the leafs were going to go to the deep in the playoffs if not all the way to the stanley cup in toronto they believe it was the leafs year and the fact that the canadians undid that narrative uh both uh in sort of burnishes montreal's legend and also burnishes toronto legend which is at the opposite end of the legend spectrum. Yeah, yeah. And Arvind, this is something that we talked about a bit the other week when we did this episode about the long-standing Leafs-Habs rivalry. But, you know, remind me, for Montrealers, for Habs fans, what do you think it would mean to end this drought?

You know, not winning a cup in almost 30 years i mean it would mean a lot obviously there's it's pretty fractured fan base in montreal in the sense that there are generations of fans who are used to the legend that sean was referring to you know stanley cup parades along the usual route it was the fourth stan Stanley Cup parade in four years, but there was all of the excitement, the adulation, the passion there ever was. It seems that Montrealers will never become blasé about Les Canadiens, even if after 22 Stanley Cups, winning has become something of a habit.

You know, dynasties, just being accustomed to being the best team, if not every year, then close to it. But really, the bulk being the best team, if not every year, then close to it. But really, the bulk of the fan base, let's say anyone born in 1980 or later, or even myself, I'm born in 76. I wasn't really with it when the Canadians were winning cups in the late 70s. There's only been really two cups in my lifetime. And for a lot of fans, if you were born in 1990, you really haven't experienced any cups.

So the reality of the fan base as they view the Canadians is very different depending on how old you are. For the younger fans now, I mean, this is euphoric to the extent that you can't even describe because all they've heard is stories from their fathers and mothers or grandparents or great grandparents or what have you of, of the great Canadiens de Montréal. But in their lifetimes, they have not witnessed it.

Not only have they not witnessed it, they've witnessed a franchise that is almost the opposite of that. So for those fans to have something that was legend now become rooted in reality is, is just a whole different type of feeling and it's really a feeling that a generation of canadians fans hasn't felt since like the 30s it's been a long time that there's been a generation of canadians fans who have no idea what it's like to compete for a stanley cup so this is quite unique in in the history of the team i've had faith in the

since day one and i promise you we will win the stanley cup okay looking in the history of the team. I've had faith in the Habs since day one, and I promise you we will win the Stanley Cup, okay? Looking in the eyes, all of you in Montreal right now watching this, we're going to win the Cup. Have you been out on the streets in Montreal? What's it been like out there? To be fair, I mean, I've been in the building during the most boisterous time in the streets, you know, sort of those COVID parties

that you see outside the Bell Centre at times with people, you know, sort of those COVID parties that you see outside the Bell Centre at times with people, you know, shoulder to shoulder. You know, I have driven around and there are a lot of car flags around town and there is a general vibe, but it's obviously it's not quite the same. Quebec's coming out of lockdown as we speak. And so that's the kind of the weird thing about this, you know, not having a full Bell Centre. There's been this tinge of regret throughout this run. I mean, I remember in game six,

my colleague Marc-Antoine Godin just turned to me at one point and just said, imagine if there were 21,000 people here. And I just looked at him and I nodded. And it's just, it's great to watch and you can feel how important it is to the fan base. And then at the same time, you just have like a tiny little bit of regret that it's not, it's not more than what it is. Sean, you know, speaking of those fans, I guess, whether or not they're in the Bell Center or even on the streets,

I know you recently have been able to get in touch with a bunch of them across the country. And I wonder if you can tell me about some of them. Yeah, I mean, Montreal is a foundational franchise for professional hockey in North America, along with the Leafs. foundational franchise for professional hockey in North America, along with the Leafs. So, you know, for generations, I mean, before the internet, before cable TV, before mass media outside of, you know, just radio and television, a lot of Canadians had a choice on Saturday night. You could watch the Leafs or you could watch the Canadians. So what that's done is sort of contributed to this generational attachment to a team despite geographical distance. I spoke with a fan in Sweden who, you know, grew up looking forward to the World Championships every year.

But he also started hearing legends about the Montreal Canadiens, specifically one where, you know, that's been widely attributed to Montreal, that Montreal was so good, as Arpen mentioned, you know, during some of its heydays, especially in its run of its heydays, especially in its run of five straight Stanley Cups in the 1950s, that they changed the rules of the game, that they changed fundamentally what it meant to be on a power play, that in the old days, when you were on a power play, you kept playing until the end of that two minutes, and it didn't matter if you scored one goal, two goals, three three goals uh you kept going and that guy didn't get out of the penalty box well montreal specifically

jean beliveau i think it was 1955 scored three power play goals in a stretch of 44 seconds and the following year the league said no no we got to change this this is too much so it became that um you know once you scored once the guy was out of the box. So they changed the rules. So that resonated with the guy who is, you know, in his mid-40s in Sweden. And he now gets up at 2 o'clock in the morning to watch the Canadians. And he has also become a blogger for a very popular Canadians blog, Eyes on the Prize. And it's like that across North America. I spoke with a fan in Iqaluit. I spoke with a fan in Brandon,

Manitoba. I grew up on a farm in the southwest part of Manitoba, and his father was a Canadiens fan. And when his son was born, he was a week old before he was wearing his own Canadiens gear. And when he was two and a half, his son was diagnosed with leukemia, and he had to undergo lots of treatment, painful treatment. And by the time he was four, it was still ongoing. And it was around the same time that Saku Koivu, the Finnish-born captain of the Montreal Canadiens, was undergoing publicly his own sort of battle with cancer. I think, as you all know, Saku entered hospital for a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

After we found out the great result of the scan, I just felt full of energy. I felt light again. So what the father and the mother would say to the boys, look, Saku Koivu is getting his needles. He's getting his treatment. He would like you to do the same so that we can all get better and stronger. And, you know, that little boy, as of this year, just finished his first year of medical school at the University of Manitoba and is still known to wear his father's old Steve Shutt jersey around town. And that says that the family's never been closer to their bond with the Montreal Canadiens. Wow, that is such a beautiful story. And I guess this boy, now a young man, he would be one of those young people that Arpun was just talking about, who if for some reason,

the Canadians do win the cup, it would be the first time that he would see it. Absolutely. Arvind, I wonder, as somebody who covers this team day in and day out, if you have anything to add to what Sean's saying there, this idea that this team has been able to reach, you know, all across the country and even across the world. You know, the story of the young man Sean spoke to in Brandon, like the connection that this generation of fans have with someone like Saku Koivu kind of encapsulates it perfectly because Saku Koivu's time in Montreal

was largely built on failure. The French morning papers build Koivu as something of a saviour for the Habs, who missed the playoffs last year for the first time in 25 years. Like Koivu needs that extra pressure. I just have to be a little bit quicker and faster than the big defensemen so they can't catch me. The Canadians were not good under his captaincy, but he was a tremendous player who had a lot of injuries, was never one of the top elite players in the NHL, but very competitive guy and always played well in the playoffs,

was an underdog that everyone can root for. And in that sense, he was sort of the anti-Canadians hero in the sense that they're used to having Guy Lafleur, Maurice Richard, Jean Beliveau, Jacques Plant, these all-time greats. And this generation clung to this scrappy, super-talented, super-competitive, super-determined player who was an underdog. Going back from stomach cancer, the incredible recovery. I'm sure he's feeling a little weak at times, but yeah, break him in slow. I heard that before.

Here's Audette spinning in front, going with the air, score! What a goal by the Canadian captain! And now what you're seeing now falls from that. Like this generation of Canadiens fans is the first generation in franchise history to see their team as underdogs all the time. And that's what this run has been about. They were underdogs against the Leafs. They were underdogs against the Jets. They were underdogs big time against the Vegas Golden Knights.

And they've been underdogs in this series against the Lightning. And it's the first time that their underdog status is sort of playing out. But this is the current generation's reality in their relationship with the Canadians and it's different than any other generation of fans of this team has had with their team. In the Dragon's Den, a simple pitch can lead to a life-changing connection. Watch new episodes of Dragon's Den free on CBC Gem. Brought to you in part by National Angel Capital Organization. Empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. Hi, it's Ramit Sethi here.

You may have seen my money show on Netflix. I've been talking about money for 20 years. and industry connections. That's not a typo. 50%. That's because money is confusing. In my new book and podcast, Money for Couples, I help you and your partner create a financial vision together. To listen to this podcast, just search for Money for Couples. And talking about this underdog status, you know, it's already been mentioned that the Habs were really nothing to write home about in this shortened regular season. They fired their coach back in February. They were ranked 24th in the league. And Sean, I have to ask you because we talk a lot about the Raptors on this podcast. Some people have said it's like a low key Raptors podcast as well. And I just remember when the Raptors went to the championship, there was like lots of talk of them being such underdogs. And I just wonder if you could put this in perspective for me.

Like is what is happening right now with the Canadians even more of an underdog story? I mean, it's an interesting one because, I mean, as Arpen really laid out really well earlier, is that this is relatively new territory for the Canadians. The Canadians aren't supposed to be underdogs. The whole lore of the Canadians, the reason that, you know, their pregame ceremonies can be 40 minutes long sometimes is because they're always honoring somebody who has 15 Stanley Cups to the back of their name. I think the Raptors were different in that they're the only Canadian team.

You know, they had the We the North marketing program. You know, they'd had that run of, you know, star players don't want to play in Toronto for a whole bunch of different reasons. And in Canada, not just Toronto. So there is a real sense of an inferiority complex, I think, with NBA fans in Canada looking towards, you know, the NBA in the United States, that the Raptors were always overlooked. And that in 2019 was a moment where the Raptors and their legion of fans could stand up and say, look, this is us,

this is our moment. They had 25,000 fans watching on a screen at Mosaic Stadium in Regina. They had street watch parties in Montreal. Like fans in Montreal cheering for something in Toronto. I'm not sure we've seen that very often before. So I think it's a bit different that that was a franchise and a sport sort of coming to light and really sort of showing mainstream basketball can be Canada's sport too. The Canadians coming back as an underdog is more of saying, look, like we're never ever going to live up to the great history of this franchise, but you know, we're still here because it's impossible to live up to

winning five Stanley Cups in a row in the 1950s and four Stanley Cups in a row in the 1970s and winning with such dominance in the 1970s that in one year, I believe it was the year I was born, they lost fewer than 10 games. One player I do want to talk about before we go is Carey Price. And Arvin, for those who may not be familiar, I wonder if you can tell me a bit about Carey Price and what he has meant for this team. Yeah, I could tell you a lot about Carey Price. But Carey Price has not played at a level over the past few seasons that he had made everyone accustomed to during his

prime years, let's say 2011 to 2017 or so. But in the playoffs, over the last few years, he's been incredible. And so the same thing was true this year. Obviously, until they started the final, he's been quite poor in the final so far. But in terms of what he means to the Canadians, that's what he means. He's their franchise player. The pressure on him is really quite enormous in the sense that he follows a long line of franchise goaltenders. There's a lineage of goaltending in Montreal that dates back to George Vezina, like the turn of the 20th century, all the way through to Ken Dryden, Jacques Plant, Ken Dryden, Patrick Waugh, Cary Price.

Like it's a lot to deal with as a person and especially a person who is as, let's say, guarded and reserved and somewhat timid and not someone who embraces the spotlight the way Carey Price is. Question is for you, Carey. How did you feel like you've played tonight and in this series overall? I can definitely play better. You know, it's just not good enough so far. His place in Canadian's history is quite complicated in the sense that, and it goes back to what I was talking about earlier with the generational difference. He is the franchise leader in wins, games played, all sorts of categories by any other measure. And if he played for any other team, his number would guaranteed be hoisted into the rafters and retired when he was done playing. He's probably

going to go to the Hall of Fame, but in all those respects, this opportunity to win his first Stanley Cup in his first Stanley Cup final would kind of cement all that in terms of Canadians' history because there's really – there's no one up in the rafters at the Bell Centre who has – who is A, not in the Hockey Hall of Fame, but even that's not good enough. Like you need multiple Stanley Cups. You need all sorts of other sort of legendary feats to get there. It's actually a more exclusive club than the Hockey Hall of Fame itself. So his place in Canadian's history is that

very much like Saku Koivu, he's been the face of the franchise for the last decade, a decade that has produced not a whole lot. And this is his opportunity to change that. And so we'll see what happens tonight. But it's a very loaded question when you ask what does Carey Price mean to this franchise? Because there's a lot of layers to it. Yeah, sorry. I realize now how complex it was. You did such a wonderful job of pulling it apart. Speaking about tonight, before we end this conversation, obviously the Canadiens are playing the Tampa Bay Lightning. This team is a juggernaut. They are returning cup champions.

They have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to talent. And so, Sean, what do you think the Montreal Canadiens will have to do tonight to win game four? I thought the Montreal Canadiens would have been on the golf course weeks ago. I thought that when they went down 3 have been on the golf course weeks ago. I thought that when they went down 3-1 to Toronto, that that was it. I thought that they're going to be too tired when they face the Winnipeg Jets. And then I thought for sure that the Vegas Golden Knights were going to ground the Montreal Canadiens into a fine paste and dispatch them into their summer vacation. I was wrong each of those three times.

And this is why I don't gamble. And I'm glad I don't. So, I mean, on one side, I'm going to say, yeah, sure. Like Montreal's done. Even if they win tonight, it doesn't matter because it's all over. But I've been saying that ever since these playoffs began. So I'm going to stop saying that and not gamble for sure. Because I just can't tell.

Okay, Arvinvin are you a gambling man no absolutely not but uh i i'm with uh well actually i had i had i had them beating the leafs in the first round i had them beating the jets i took the i took the golden knights to beat them in the third round so they surprised me there and in this round actually i did take the canadians just because they had been playing such a tight, almost mistake-free game over the first three rounds, or at least since Game 5 against Toronto, that I thought that would continue. Instead, the opposite has happened.

And in Games 1 and 3 of this series, the Canadians made mistakes that a last-place team in the NHL wouldn't make. And they were just handing them goals. So for them to have any chance to win game four, they should maybe stop doing that. I mean, I'm no coach. I'm no coach, but it seems to me like that'd be a good strategy. Like just stop screwing up so badly.

Okay. Well, guys, thank you so much for this conversation. It is really going to help me when I'm watching tonight. So I really, really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Jamie. Thank you, Jamie. All right, so before we go today, some somber news on the wildfires raging across British Columbia.

Last week, we did an episode on the heat waves in Western Canada and climate change. Since then, you probably have heard how the village of Lytton, BC was evacuated after a rapid spreading wildfire engulfed the entire community. This weekend, BC coroners confirmed that two people died in that fire, but an investigation is still ongoing. Wildfires remain an urgent problem in British Columbia, with firefighters battling over 170 blazes across the province. We are keeping a close tab on this story and will keep you posted with any developments. But that is all for today. I'm Jamie Poisson. Thanks so much for listening to FrontBurner.

We'll talk to you tomorrow. For more CBC Podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.