Canadiens' Weise on Craig Anderson: 'Goalies can't really get in our heads'

Hockey is as much of a mental game as it is a physical one. Letting someone get into their head can knock a player so far off their game, it could cost a team a series.

Ottawa Senators goaltender Craig Anderson isn't doing this to the Montreal Canadiens, at least not according to forward Dale Weise.

"We're not a team that scores very much anyways, so goalies can't really get in our heads," Weise told reporters. "We don't score that much as it is, so goalies don't really rattle us. Every goalie's had our number all year."

Anderson, who's been sensational in three games (two wins) for the Senators since replacing Andrew Hammond, had his best game of the series in Game 5. He stopped 45 shots to silence a rowdy Canadiens crowd in their home building.

He also agitated the agitator, poking forward Brandon Prust in the ribs in front of his net, which led to an altercation.

Canadiens coach Michel Therrien thinks Anderson messed with the wrong guy and that the team needs to focus on getting the puck by the goalie, not the head games the netminder is trying to play.

"We have to make life much more difficult for Anderson, he's having an exceptional playoffs, have to give him a lot of credit," Therrien said. "But in the case of Anderson on (Friday) is that he speared the wrong guy in the ribs. He's a goalie that uses his stick a lot to hit guys in front of the net, but it just so happened that when he hit (Prust), he didn't choose the right guy."

The Canadiens have only managed to get three pucks by Anderson on 123 shots, which will need to improve if they hope to end the series when the two squads play Game 6 on Sunday.