What started out as competitive amounted to a playoff brawl between the Canadiens and Senators in Game Three at Scotiabank Place. At one point, Montreal was tied. From there, Ottawa took over by scoring five unanswered en route to a 6-1 blowout, going up 2-1 in the seven-game first round series.

Following rookie Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s breakaway goal on a Sergei Gonchar outlet, the Sens grabbed a 2-1 lead into the second intermission. Still anyone’s game. The roof caved in on the Habs in an embarrassing third that featured a line brawl, seven fights and nine game misconducts. By the time the gruesome display ended, the teams combined for 236 penalty minutes. Prior to the goon fest, Pageau scored his second of the night, using a Montreal defenseman as a screen to beat Carey Price making it 3-1 at 1:18. A Kyle Turris put away set up by Daniel Alfredsson and Erik Karlsson put the Sens up three at the seven-minute mark.

What ensued on the next faceoff was the pent up frustration of the Canadiens. Instead of attempting a comeback, they resorted to fisticuffs. In a scene that could’ve been from Slap Shot, all 10 players dropped the gloves. They paired off. Chris Neil took on Travis Moen while Zach Smith pounded Francis Bouillon. Matt Kassian fought Colby Armstrong while Chris Phillips beat Jared Tinordi. In the other atrocity, Ryan White, who started the fracas by slashing Smith- was obliterated by Jared Cowen. The first five scraps all took place at 7:04. A wild scene saw Neil play to the crowd as he left, which couldn’t have sat well with the Montreal bench. Smith also left the ice by slapping five with fans.

Following the shenanigans, Ottawa hit Montreal where it hurts on the scoreboard. Rookie Jacob Silfverberg scored off a face-off win from Milan Michalek making it 5-1. Pageau and Silfverberg’s tallies came eight seconds apart- finishing the Habs. Approximately a minute and a half later, more chaos followed. This time, a flustered P.K. Subban retaliated on Turris following a cross check by instigating a fight. Till that point, the Norris candidate had a miserable game taking three minor penalties and getting beaten on Pageau’s game-winner. He proceeded to give Turris a beating not letting up when the center was down. A code violation.

Before Pageau completed only the second playoff hat trick in Senators history (Alfredsson ’98), Cory Conacher and Brendan Gallagher exchanged pleasantries. When the buzzer sounded, Montreal defenseman Josh Gorges shot a puck at Turris. All this occurred with Bill McCreary on hand. It’ll be interesting to see what results. The same day when the league announced a two-game ban for Detroit forward Justin Abdelkader‘s leaping charging major that injured Anaheim defenseman Toni Lydman in the Ducks’ Game Three win.

More fireworks erupted between the coaches. Enraged that Ottawa’s Paul MacLean took a timeout with 17 seconds left, Montreal bench boss Michel Therien charged:

 ‘‘I don’t like when a coach is making comments. ”I don’t like a coach when trying to humiliate our team. I don’t like that. … As far as I’m concerned that was classless.” 

He went on to defend the timeout indicating it was due to protecting his players while taking a parting shot at Montreal. Basically, pointing out the obvious. They humiliated themselves. What will be the end result of this monstrosity? More importantly, are the Sens in the Habs’ heads similar to what the Flyers did to the Pens last Spring? Game Four is Tuesday.