Whenever the Bruins play the Canadiens, it might as well be held under a big top because it is always guaranteed to be a circus. The games are certainly entertaining but damn, Montreal is the only team in the Eastern Conference that is not intimidated by Boston at all. Tonight, the Habs (40-26-7) outlasted the B's (49-17-6) 2-1 in a shootout at TD Garden. With the win, Montreal closed the season series with its biggest rival 3-1. Interesting note: the losing team scored one goal in each matchup.
No matter how many times it happens or what they say, somehow the Canadiens always manage to piss off the Bruins with their usual crap led by that rat P.K. Subban. Boston hoped to put some of this stuff to bed after they rolled 4-1 on March 12 in Montreal but as this game showed, the B's have to hope they avoid the Habs in the postseason. I feel like it's almost a foregone conclusion that they'll meet at some point this spring, if so ugh. You know it'll go six or seven super frustrating games.
Alexei Emelin's power play goal at 6:39 of the first period stood up for almost the entire game. Tuukka Rask (21 saves) had no chance on it since the puck deflected off good old Chris Kelly in front. Montreal's backup goaltender Peter Budaj (28 saves) was having the game of his life when Boston finally cashed in on their sixth power play of the evening. That's one of the most annoying parts of Bruins-Canadiens, it's usually decided by special teams since Montreal flops more than NBA players.
The weird part is that Montreal was still getting those Bell Centre calls at the Garden (six power plays). The only purely enjoyable part of these intense contests is watching a Bruin, in this case Kevan Miller, beat the snot out of a hapless Canadien that didn't really want to fight-Travis Moen who left with a concussion.
The Bruins got on the board at 14:34 of the third period as Patrice Bergeron tipped Dougie Hamilton's shot from the point. Loui Eriksson had the second assist on Bergeron's 23rd goal of the season. It went to overtime but predictably neither team scored. Thank God the stupid shootouts are thrown out in a few weeks for the playoffs. Nothing kills the momentum of a great hockey game more than that cheesy format better suited for little kids.
Boston gets a couple days to stew over this loss which oh by the way snapped their fantasic 12-game winning streak. Thankfully they have three more big games this week and it's not like they go back to playing some shitbags like the Panthers or Sabres. The Blackhawks (41-16-15) come to the Garden on Thursday (7, NESN) then Boston goes to Washington on Saturday and Philadelphia on Sunday. Giddyup, only 10 games left in the regular season.
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