TSN in Seventh Heaven

CBC may have made the initial blunder by passing on the Canadiens-Capitals series, but TSN has subsequently taken all the right steps to ensure that it gets the most from the first round matchup. It’s only fitting that it will go seven games.

At the beginning of the series, TSN made the decision to fly Michael Landsberg to Montreal to host on-site editions of his talk show Off the Record prior to each Canadiens home game. Special guests on the show included former Habs coach Jacques Demers and ex-Canadiens tough guy Georges Laraque. The network also decided to structure SportsCentre, its flagship sports news programme, in such a way as to delicately leverage the Canadiens-Capitals series while still preserving enough integrity to sufficiently cover the other series involving Canadian teams. This, in direct contrast to CBC, which has found ways to turn the Vancouver Canucks into a national news story – I’m talking CBC News Network and The National ­– but can barely bring itself to utter the words “Montreal Canadiens” - even on hockey broadcasts.

When it comes to the games themselves, TSN has consistently turned-in the type of strong broadcast coverage that was once exclusive to CBC. Take last night’s sixth game in Montreal – always an emotional place to play. TSN did the right thing by coming back from commercial break before the national anthems to hear the crowd’s reaction as the teams were introduced and made their way on the ice. Although play-by-play man Gord Miller isn’t my personal favourite, he has done a good job in this series of taking a breather every now and then to let the game’s atmosphere tell the story. Analyst Pierre McGuire is usually on the mark with his observations, like last night when he saw right through Maxime Lapierre’s second period dive and unequivocally praised referee Dan O’Rourke for making the right call.

Last night’s broadcast was not without a few technical glitches – particularly in regards to the out-of-town updates provided between breaks in play – but the specialty channel was never late getting back to live action (unlike a certain other network). And at the end of the game, after a brilliant performance by Canadiens goaltender Jaroslav Halak, TSN made the right decision not to leave the arena until after the three-star selection and ear-piercing applause for the Habs netminder had concluded.

It looks like tomorrow’s seventh and deciding game is in good hands.

TONIGHT’S GAME:
Red Wings at Coyotes – Game 7, 9 p.m. (TSN)/(RDS)