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Jones: Proud Canadiens should be above these dirty plays, tantrums and whining

 
Canadiens wing Brandon Prust runs into Lightning goalie Ben Bishop on Sunday, when Game 2 is already decided.
Canadiens wing Brandon Prust runs into Lightning goalie Ben Bishop on Sunday, when Game 2 is already decided.
Published May 6, 2015

TAMPA — Knocking over an unsuspecting goalie. Using your stick like an ax to chop an opponent across the forearm. Cross-checking guys in the neck, in the throat. Berating referees and the squealing about it afterward. Throwing your equipment. Whining about calls.

Sounds like scenes from Slap Shot.

Sadly, however, this isn't the ragtag Charlestown Chiefs we're talking about. It's the normally classy Montreal Canadiens, who have lost their minds and their poise and their dignity in only two games against the Lightning.

This is something I never thought anyone would ever utter about the Habs: their shameful tactics, as well as the constant bellyaching from their players and fans, have turned them into an obnoxious team.

Yep, I said it. The Canadiens are acting like clowns.

This needs to be said: I don't care who wins this series between the Lightning and Canadiens. Readers often don't understand that sportswriters really have no rooting interest in the outcome of any game. But it's sad to see what has become of the Canadiens.

A franchise known for its winning, its rich tradition, its grace and, most of all, for playing the beautiful game of hockey the way it is supposed to be played has stooped to low levels far beneath it.

It starts with Canadiens forward Brandon Prust, who has made it his mission to become a personal pest to Lightning goalie Ben Bishop. Prust is what is known in hockey as an agitator, someone who makes his living by working hard, throwing his body around and trying to get under the skin of opponents.

He can be effective playing that way and every team has (and needs) a player or two like that. Teammates love him, opponents hate him. Fair enough. But Prust going after a vulnerable goalie is not how the game should be played. He has had a long-running feud with Bishop and continued that dishonest style in Game 2 by running over Bishop behind the net with the game already decided.

This came after he earlier picked up an extra two-minute penalty for mouthing off to referee Brad Watson. After the game, Prust broke hockey's code, tattletaling on Watson by accusing him of baiting him with R-rated language. To Prust's credit, he apologized publicly to Watson on Tuesday.

"I need to learn to keep my emotions in check," Prust said. "We got heated and I should know more than anybody that what happens out there should stay out there. There's a code and there's an honor. After the game, I was not myself. I was fired up."

He was fired up during the game. Prust's unseemly night also included a total meltdown when he whipped his elbow pad at the Lightning bench. Wonder what the elegant Jean Beliveau would have thought about the way Prust was behaving while wearing Le Bleu-Blanc-Rouge.

"One thing about Brandon is he is a competitor," Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said. "He hates to lose."

Doesn't everybody? Then there's P.K. Subban, the wonderfully talented Montreal defenseman who, in his mind, has never committed a penalty in his life, including a slash that fractured an opponent's arm in the first round of the playoffs.

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And the Canadiens fans have gotten in on the griping. Every time a Canadiens player falls to the ice, a loud roar goes up in the Bell Centre pleading for a penalty. When the call isn't made, the fans boo. Okay, so all fans in all cities complain about a call here and there, including Lightning fans, but this cheer-boo act happens 15, 20 times a game. It's sad that the most knowledgeable hockey fans in the world resort to begging for calls.

Add this all up and you have a team that has become outright annoying. Of course, I can hear it now. Where does some rube from Florida get off telling the Canadiens and their fans about hockey? But that's sort of the point. Everybody knows the Canadiens are the greatest franchise in the history of the game. Act like it.

On New Year's Eve, 1975, the Canadiens played the Red Army team from the then-Soviet Union to a 3-3 tie that's often regarded as the greatest hockey game ever played.

You should think of that game when you think of this fabulous franchise. You should think of a proud organization that has won more Stanley Cups than anyone. You should think of all that class with the likes of Guy Lafleur, Jacques Lemaire, Ken Dryden and Beliveau, the most stately player to ever play the game. We should not be thinking of the junk we've seen of late.

Much of this — Prust's childish behavior, the fans moaning and the Canadiens' overall lack of discipline — is a result of the Lightning's domination this season. Tampa Bay has won seven in a row against Montreal and is halfway to closing out this series.

The series is certainly not over. The Canadiens easily could come back. A win tonight and they are right back in it.

But whether the Canadiens come back or not, you want to see them play the rest of the series with dignity. You can play hard, you can show passion, you can even play with an edge without compromising your integrity.

Let's see the Canadiens play the game the way they've always played it, the way it is meant to be played. Hockey deserves it and so does Montreal. The city, its fans and its franchise deserve better than the example they are giving in these playoffs.

After all, we're talking about the Canadiens, not the Chiefs.