Bruins Sweep

Montreal's post-season came to an abrupt halt as the Boston Bruins swept the series with a 4-1 win at the Bell Centre in front of a sold out Montreal crowd.

Instead of going back to Boston for a Game 5 showdown, Montreal will instead be hanging up their skates for the summer and be practicing their golf swing as the top team in the Eastern Conference will be looking for their next opponent to slash down.

The Bell Centre was quieter tonight, especially during the American National Anthem as Montreal asked their fans to show respect while it was being sung. Not only was the anthem not rushed, but no booing was heard while it was sang (until the end at which point I swear I heard some booing within the stands). The problem: Why should Montreal ask their fans to show respect toward's a country's national anthem? Why would they not have the regular decency to do it already?

Why, as Don Cherry says, it's because they're Habs.

But besides that point, I'm sure Montreal thought their playoff season could survive after Andrei Kostitsyn scored 39 seconds into the first period. I'm sure Bob Gainey thought his team might actually pull it off. I'm sure he also thought his team might go into the second period with a lead, that is until Michael Ryder, his former player, scored 17:27 into the first period.

To add salt to Montreal's wounds, David Krejci then scored with 35 seconds left in the first period, giving the Bruins a lead going into the second period.

That didn't seem to dampen Montreal's spirits too bad, however, as they came out firing during the second period. But their hopes were dashed as Phil Kessel, fresh off a penalty, came shooting down the ice and shot a sniper shot past Carey Price, bringing Boston up 2 goals as Montreal saw thier playoff season dwindle away.

To add fuel to the fire, Ryder scored his second goal the night less than a minute later bringing the score to 4-1, Boston. At this point, Montreal fans began turning on thier own, booing Price as he found it harder and harder to stop the puck from finding the back of the net.

It was at that point where Montreal started seeing their 100th season slip away slowly. They did what Gainey wish they wouldn't: taking some bad penalties. By taking penalties from too many men on the ice to delay of game, the look on Gainey's face is the same look Guy Carbonneau had as he realized his time with Montreal was over: one of absolute dread.

The third period was scoreless but wasn't without it's benefits. Komisarek, perhaps from absolute frustration about his team, received a game misconduct and cross-checking major (served by Latandresse) after he lost it after Milan Lucic finished a check. Instead of taking the high road and skating away, he instead cross-checked Lucic and attacked him the almost the very same way Lucic attacked Lapierre. Komisarek was taken out of the game and began his golfing season before the rest of his team-mates as a result of his actions.

By the time the buzzer sounded at the Bell Centre, there was a dead atmosphere both on the Montreal bench and in the stands. The Boston Bruins ended Montreal's season with a complete regular season and post-season sweep. It was also Boston's first series victory since beating Carolina in 1999 and it's been seventeen years since they've completed a sweep of the Montreal Canadiens during the playoffs.

In the words of NESN's Edwards: "Last one to leave the Bell Centre, turn out the lights. The party's over."

And now I leave you with Bear's victory dance:

Boston-Montreal Preview

Montreal will literally be fighting for their lives in just minutes as they prepare to take on the Boston Bruins for Game 4 of the playoff series.

Boston leads the series 3-0 and can sweep Montreal tonight so long as they keep their head in the game and don’t take unnecessary penalties, something that has plagued Montreal since Game 1. They have to keep themselves out of the box and keep a low tab on some hits as they take on their Original Six rivals in Bell Centre.

Last night the crowd was jeering long before the puck was dropped but the atmosphere tonight is more subdued, with fans waiting to see if Montreal can possibly bring the series to Boston for a Game 5.

Claude Julien stressed at the beginning of the series that these games will be tight and if Bob Gainey, Montreal's coach (as well as GM) is hoping to give the Bruins a run for thier money.

During game 3, Montreal was on the offensive throughout the first period, but they slowly became a defensive oriented team as the clock dwindled down and Boston's offensive lines began showing thier strength.

Tonight also marks the return of Milan Lucic, who missed game 3 because of a suspension handed down by Colin Campbell for a gloved hit on Montreal's Lapierre. Byron Bitz took the place of Lucic during game 3, registering an assist on a crucial goal. Lucic's presence will also bring Boston more hits, but hopefully won't result in any penalties.

Georges Laraque, Montreal's resident bad guy, will certainly be looking to draw a penalty resulting from a Lucic hit however. Something a little more entertaining, however, might be the dynamic between Laraque and Zdeno Chara, the B's Captain. During game 1 & 2, Laraque and Chara exchanged heated words, to say the least and Chara has been consistently on the ice whenever Gainey puts out his first line, including Kostitsyn and Kovalev.

However, that pesky little fellow, Lapierre, will still be a consistent nag to Boston and if they can keep thier heads cool, it might just be Lapierre who slips up and yet again lands himself into the box.

Tanguay will be a gametime decision tonight, though he was scratched from Montreal's lineup for game 3. However, if he plays D'Agostini or Greg Stewart will sit it out.

As of now, TSN reports Montreal's lines will be as follows:

A. Kostitsyn-Koivu-Kovalev

Latendresse-Lapierre-Kostopoulos

Higgins-Metropolit-Laraque

Stewart-Plekanec-D'Agostini

Hamrlik-Komisarek

Gorges-Dandenault

Weber-O'Byrne

Price

Halak

Sergei Kostitsyn and Brisebois will be sitting out with injuries, alongside Schneider who has been out since game 2.

Boston's lines will be as follows (Ference and Bitz are scratched):

Axelsson-Savard-Kessel

Lucic-Krejci-Ryder

Recchi-Bergeron-Kobasew

Wheeler-Yelle-Thornton

Chara-Ward

Montador-Wideman

Stuart-Hnidy

Thomas

Fernandez

In the locker-room today, Ryder (who was traded from Montreal last year) had this to say:

"When I was on the other side, we were down 3-1 one year, too, and we came back to win the series. It's been done before, where teams come back, so we've got to make sure we don't give these guys any life."

His advice for his team-mates tonight?

"We have to come out hard tonight and try and take control of the game early."

Let the show begin.

Boston Takes 3-0 Lead

Montreal was looking to split the series lead in half tonight at the Bell Centre in Game 3 of the Boston-Montreal Playoff Series. The place was packed with Montreal red making up the majority of color within the rink. The chant of "Go Habs Go" had already started up during pre-game practice and Carey Price, in net once again for the Canadiens, was looking ready to bounce back from his playoff slump. Montreal fans alike all believed that without Lucic throwing his body around, the Bruins would lose the edge they had in the previous two games in Boston and fall flat on their face.

But the Bruins had other things on thier mind.

Call it karma to the Montreal fans that started booing the rapidly sung American National Anthem at the beginning of the game. I'm sure Don Cherry would certainly agree with me on the fact that Montreal fans lack the tact other fans have. You won't find Boston fans booing the Canadien National Anthem in Boston, but you'll certainly find Montreal fans booing the American one in Montreal. But in this blogger's opinion, the Habs had what was coming to them.

Montreal took the lead in the first period after a feed from Yannick Weber to Chris Higgins to beat Tim Thomas with a wrist shot. Montreal up 1-0.

Phil Kessel got Boston on the board after a feed from Dennis Wideman, tipping it past Carey Price before he could even see it, evening up the score. End First.

Shawn Thornton got a beautiful goal the ripped past Price at the beginning of the second. And in the words of Jack Edwards: "Shawn Thornton now has more playoff goals than Joe Thornton" (aka: Choke Joe)

However, Montreal's Yannick Weber got another point with a sniper goal that got the better of Thomas.

I was beginning to think that this game was too fast, without the usual Bruins-Canadiens push and shove match until Metropolit went down in front of Montreal's net, with Stuart and Wides falling on top of him. A little scrum broke out after that which lead me to think: Why, if Montreal's Stewart can glove Patrice Bergeron in the face (while the ref looked on) and not allow Patrice to get back at him, was he not assesed a harsher penalty instead of just a two minute roughing?

Anyway, Mark Stuart & Patrice Bergeron were issued a 2 minute roughing along with Montreal's Greg Stewart and Georges Laraque (what a surprise).

And then Bitz took a really unneeded tripping call (aka: He could've prevented it) but at least Montreal didn't score. Instead, with about 2 1/2 minutes remaining in the period, Ryder scored, giving Wides his second point of the night.

Then came the third period.

The game was still (obviously) tied and I was really beginning to actually get bored with the lack of big hits during the game (I attribute it to Lucic not being there) and Montreal getting in some fairly solid hits. Price made some good saves, Thomas made some better ones, especially when Montreal started crowding the net halfway through.

A questionable penalty was called on Kobasew for interference, when really he was shoved over Price, so I don't see the whole intentional interference call.

Then Montreal pulled a Game 1. They pulled Price.

Normally this would have worked. Normally.
It would have worked had Montreal had Tanguay and Mathieu Schneider hadn't been injured. Tanguay is the resident sniper.

But, as bad luck would have it, Chuck Kobasew got a little revenge by scoring an open-netter with only about thirty seconds left in the game.

And the fans that were booing the American National Anthem at the beginning of the game had turned against thier own team, booing the players as the Bell Centre emptied and Montreal fans walked away wondering how the team that had swept the regular season against the Bruins only a year ago were finding it hard to even stay on the board.

Here's to hoping Bob Gainey will have a larger vocabulary for tomorrow's press conference.

Bruins Twitter

I've decided since there is no regularly updated Bruins twitter during the games, I made one:

http://www.twitter.com/Boston_Bruins

Updates mostly during the games, some pre and post game updates.

I also have a NHL account under The_Chief but I haven't been on it in ages. So when I do get it on, that'll be a regular link to it.

-The Chief