After two costly mistakes in Montreal’s Game 2 loss in Tampa, Canadiens forward Kirby Dach received so much online harassment that he deactivated his Instagram account.
He didn’t know what kind of reception to expect as the series shifted to Montreal for Game 3 on Friday night. But when fans chanted his name in warmups, Dach knew they had his back — and he responded with a monster night in a 3-2 overtime win that gave the Canadiens a 2-1 series lead over the Lightning.
“Didn’t really expect it,” Dach said. “It was nice. The fans have been unbelievable all year and have been by my side.”
In the overtime period of Tuesday’s Game 2, Dach iced the puck to give Tampa Bay a faceoff in the attacking zone. As the Lightning controlled the puck, Dach fecklessly tried to defend defenseman J.J. Moser as he unleashed a shot that beat Canadiens goalie Jakub Dobes for the game winner.
Some fans blamed Dach for the loss, to the point where the 25-year-old forward deactivated Instagram due to the deluge of messages.
“It was unfortunate what happened in the previous game,” Canadiens center Nick Suzuki said. “It was great to see the fans support him tonight. Got some ‘Kirby!’ chants going in warmups.”
Before the game, Montreal coach Marty St. Louis encouraged fans to support Dach after his Game 2 mishaps.
“It’s tough. We need all hands on deck. Fans included,” the coach said. “We’re not perfect. Guys are going to make mistakes, but we have good intensions out there. I would say, ‘Stick together.'”
Dach said his coach and his teammates helped him through some dark times after Game 2.
“As a competitor, you want to be able to bounce back and put your best foot forward. But at the same time, we have such a great group of guys here. Everybody was lifting me up and helping me out, training staff and coaches. So it definitely wasn’t just me kind of digging myself out of that hole. I had a lot of support,” he said.
Dach responded to the positive vibes with a strong effort in the Canadiens’ Game 3 win. He had a secondary assist on Alexandre Texier’s opening goal. In the second period, Dach sent the Canadiens fans into a frenzy when he scored his first goal of the series to tie the score at 2-2. Dach’s line was also on the ice for Lane Hutson’s winning goal in overtime. Overall, he was plus-3 in 11:32 of ice time.
“I love playing here. I love the fans. They’ve stuck with me through a lot of hard years,” Dach said. “Sometimes you make a mistake. It’s about how you answer it.”
Game 4 will be Sunday night in Montreal.
