We Should Have Known Better

Just when people in Boston were talking about NHL hockey again and going to the exciting games, the Boston Bruins laid an egg in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals against the Montreal Canadiens, losing 5-0 at the Bell Centre last night.

Canadiens pest Mike Komisarek scored 3:31 into the game when his shot was deflected by a Bruins defenseman past goalie Tim Thomas (30 saves).

Boston actually outplayed Montreal for most of the first period but couldn't put away any of their 11 shots. The B's season-long problem of scoring goals appeared one last time, in the most important game of the season no less.

10:45 into the second period, Habs defenseman Mark Streit walked in on Thomas and put a wrist shot between his legs to put Montreal up 2-0.

When Andrei Kostitsyn scored four and a half minutes later (one second after Zdeno Chara stepped out of the box), the season was over for Boston. As gritty and fearless as this team was, there was no chance they'd score four goals in 30 minutes.

Andrei Kostitsyn rubbed it in with a power-play goal late in the third and then his brother Sergei scored with eight seconds left.

After looking like he was turning into a goat (playoff goat, get it?) Carey Price stopped 25 shots to earn the shutout. Truth be told, he didn't have to work much after the first period. Boston managed six shots in the second and eight in the third when the season hung in the balance. Yuck.

So ultimately, the result (a Canadiens series win) was quite predictable but the Bruins earned much respect for coming back from a 3-1 deficit and forcing Game 7.

With all the injuries endured all season and lack of game-changing talent, the Bruins should be commended. Hopefully they pick up a scorer (Marian Hossa?) in the off-season and dump cash cow Glen Murray, who had zero points in seven playoff games.

Still, the bigger question as they head into the off-season is will the fans be there when the '08-'09 season starts in October or were Games 3, 4 and 6 simply last gasps of a team and sport that were on life-support both locally and nationally?