A repeat of what happened in the 1969 Stanley Cup Semi-Finals could very well happen tonight if the Boston Bruins decide to come out of the locker room the same team they were during Game 4.
39 years ago, the Boston Bruins lost Round 2 to rivals the Montreal Canadiens after Boston swept the Toronto Maple Leafs. Boston fell in the series 4-2. It was also the year that Boston went home from the NHL Awards with four awards. Esposito took home the Hart Memorial Trophy and Art Ross Memorial Trophy whereas teammate Bobby Orr took home the NHL plus/minus Award and James Norris Memorial Trophy, which current Captain Zdeno Chara is up for this year. But those statistics don't matter during this playoff series. Boston easily swept Carolina during the regular season and seemed to have the stamina to sweep the Hurricanes after Game 1 showed Boston's dominance.
Carolina's pushing force got them into the second round, after ousting the New Jersey Devils with ninety seconds left in the third period of game 7. Carolina, time and time again, have shown the Bruins they're not scared or worried about them. They've showed the Bruins that it's their time to shine and that's it's their year to take the Cup. They've pushed Boston to the breaking point, to the point where tonight's game is a do-or-die type of game. If we lose, we lose the entire run. If we win, we're in for another game, unfortunately playing Carolina where they have been most dominant: at home.
Carolina has shown they won't be deterred by higher ranking teams, especially when they're away. They beat Brodeur's Devils in New Jersey and they've proved to the NHL they have the staying power and the fighting power to make their run to the Stanley Cup outlast the top teams.
The fact remains that Carolina is literally beating up Boston this series. The lack of motivation on Boston's part has lead them to take some idiotic penalties and allowed some critical goals by Carolina. Carolina's top three men right now, offensively, are Jussi Jokinen, Eric Staal and former Bruin Sergei Samsonov. And while Staal is being covered, it seems that Jokinen and Samsonov are left on their own to score the critical goals within this series (need I remind you of Jokinen's OT game winner during Game 3?).
And they're not making some spectacular Alex-Ovechkin type goals either. They're making simple passes and simple breakaways since Boston's defensive and offensive systems have practically crumbled this series. Maybe it's because Boston does not have an overly fierce rivalry with Carolina, which is what helped propel Boston in Round 1. But they should, really. A little history for you all: the Carolina Hurricanes used to be the New England Whalers in 1971 and even played at Boston Garden before relocating to Hartford, then Carolina in 1997. Even though they were part of the WHA, they still have history within the Garden.
However, to look on the brighter side, it's not like Boston hasn't faced this kind of defeat before. Just last year, when facing the Montreal Canadiens, Boston was down in the series 3-1 and managed to come back during games 5 & 6, eventually losing out to Montreal in Game 7. But that was when no one thought much of Boston, most thought Boston would be #15 in the conference, not #8. This year, Boston was ranked higher and while they weren't ranked as #1 in the conference, they still managed to garner the respect they had in previous years.
However, there was a synch to the team of last year's playoffs that is evidentally missing for this years' playoff team. They aren't moving harmoniously and they can't even seem to connect with each other, as half the time slots are left open for Carolina to take advantage of. I got tired of counting how many turnovers there was in Game 4 and I don't want to be looking at any of them in Game 5.
I also got tired of the lack of shots on goal. I mean, c'mon, we're the team that had some great offensive lines and we're not even able to score more than two goals in the past three games. Julien's consistent line changes also aren't helping. A good team is a team that doesn't have to team with consistent changeups, something that Lewis was actually known for doing (and therefore something that got us at the bottom of the pile at the end of the season).
Boston needs to pull themselves together in more than one way. Offensively they need to drive the puck to the net more, get mores shots and keep Ward off-balance as to who's taking the shots and we're they're coming from. If Cam Ward is presssured consistently, he breaks down. It's been a nag for him the entire season and the Bruins need to become that nag.
Defensively Boston needs to just stay stable. Keep the puck out of the zone at all costs and don't give up passes. And hell, complete the passes made in our zone. There have been so many passes given up to the Hurricanes in our own zone and Carolina is playing like they have the man advantage all the time. Defensively Boston also needs to give some solid hits back to Carolina, there's been too many hits on us that have collapsed the team's defensive system.
I was switching between Boston & Pittsburgh games on Friday night and I couldn't believe the differences between the two games. Pittsburgh, who is trailing in the series against Ovechkin's Capitals, is playing like their lives are at stake, they're attacking the net and they're crumpling Washington's defense. They're doling out some harsh, but legal, hits and are playing so they don't take any stupid penalties. Whenever Washington is on the offensive, Pittsburgh's entire team became a defensive blockade, using every skill they had to keep Washington out of their zone and off the scoreboard. Pittsburgh is doing what Boston needs to do, Pittsburgh lines have been the same pretty much the entire round and have simply improved with more time together. Pittsburgh is playing like Boston did in Round 1 and Boston playing like they did three years ago.
I can only hope Boston comes out tonight ready to play some real hockey.
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