The Bruins Better Hope That They Don't See the Canadiens In the Playoffs This Season

There will always be teams and players that you struggle against consistently but the way that the Canadiens have owned the Bruins this season is some next level stuff. Montreal (34-14-3) swept Boston (28-18-7) in the four-game season series capped off by an easy 3-1 win tonight at TD Garden vs. the Bruins. It seems like no matter what the B's throw at the Canadiens, they always have the answer. Conversely, no team shatters Boston's confidence faster than Montreal, it's like clockwork every time that they play.

It has gotten so one-sided that some Bruins fans actually wanted them to start rookie goaltender Malcolm Subban (in his NHL debut) vs. his brother P.K. Yeah, because that makes sense. As usual vs. Montreal, Tuukka Rask (31 saves) wasn't the main issue. Still, there is no hiding from the depressing reality that he fell to 3-13-3 against them all-time.

After a scoreless first period, where Boston killed two penalties, the Canadiens struck first 38 seconds into the second. Dale Weise was stationed on the right post for a laser pass by Max Pacioretty. All Milan Lucic's buddy had to do was stuff it in for his ninth goal of the season, David Desharnais had the second assist.

Carey Price (34 saves) is having a spectacular year, he has to be the front-runner for the Vezina trophy since Pekka Rinne has missed so much time. You can't say the Bruins really challenged him though despite the gaudy save total. Similar to their first goal, Montreal once again found Boston to be flat-footed to open a period and like only they can, made them pay for it immediately. Two Boston defensemen collided in the offensive zone leaving Pacioretty to leak out for a breakaway. He shot the puck by Rask 56 seconds in for his team-leading 24th goal of the season and wouldn't you know that Weise had the lone assist.

The only instance of the Bruins showing any pride at all is when rookie David Pastrnak got just enough of the puck for it to go in at 15:29 of the third. The mad scramble in front of Price was reviewed and correctly called Pastrnak's fifth goal of the season. Lucic and Dougie Hamilton had the assists on the rookie's first tally since January 13.

That brief excitement finally generated for the B's lasted exactly four minutes as that's how long it took Montreal to clinch the two points with an empty-netter by Andrei Markov. His seventh goal of the season was unassisted. It's bad enough that Boston has drawn the fewest penalties in the NHL (122) but the next closest team isn't in the same area code (New Jersey, 147). That inability to get the man advantage always hurts the most when they play the Canadiens who want nothing more than to make it a special teams game (where they excel vs. big, dumb, slow Boston).

Boston hosts Dallas on Tuesday (7, NESN), their final home game before a five-game road trip to the West Coast/Canada. The Stars are not particularly good and the Bruins already beat them in Dallas (24-21-8) so might as well do it again.

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Well It Doesn't Get Much More Bitter Than That: Losing Game 7 at the Garden to the Canadiens

Ugh, that's about all I can say. The Bruins were on the short list of true Cup contenders in the NHL this season but that matters little now since they were unceremoniously bounced 3-1 by the Canadiens in Game 7 at TD Garden this evening. Montreal advances to the Eastern Conference Finals vs. Rangers while Boston is left to wonder what happened after they blew a 3-2 series lead. It's going to be a long summer in the Hub for a team that rightfully had very high expectations for itself and not getting out of the second round hardly cuts it.

As they have all series long, Boston was forced to chase Montreal as they fell behind by two goals for the fifth time (not a winning strategy by any means). Dale Weise scored at 2:18 on an easy tap-in from Daniel Briere and the game might as well have been stopped there since the team that scored first had won every game. Boston couldn't really get out of their own way in the first as even captain Zdeno Chara wasn't himself getting called not once but twice for holding.

The Canadiens proved to be the far more dangerous and deeper team as the series progressed. Max Pacioretty who got untracked with his breakaway goal in Game 6, scored a similarly huge goal in the second period at 10:22-a one-timer from David Desharnais after multiple Bruins including Mr. Selke Patrice Bergeron failed to clear the puck.

Boston finally got on the board at 17:59 as Jarome Iginla tipped in Torey Krug's shot from the point, a power play goal and his fifth overall in the postseason. That's all that Carey Price (29 saves) would allow though and once more, he was better than Tuukka Rask (15 saves). Of course, Rask and the B's also had what the British call "Buzzard's luck" as illustrated by the final Montreal goal-Briere's harmless pass deflected off Chara's skate into the net. It was a fitting end for a team that scored one goal in its final two games and basically forgot how to score. Iginla hit the post with a backhander earlier in the third.

This truly sucks, hockey season is abruptly over and now all we have for months upon months is tedious regular season baseball. Sorry Revs and Cannons, I kind of pay attention to you but nobody else does. The part that really hurts is having to admit that grimy Montreal actually deserved this since they carried play for most of the series. Our worst fears came to life as Boston consistently loses their focus against cheap but effective Montreal. It also helps that the Canadiens have a bevy of guys that can shoot the puck in the ocean which the Bruins sadly do not.

In closing, go Rangers/Blackhawks and Ducks/Kings. I don't think that we can stand much more success for joke city Montreal.

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Canadiens Take Game 3, 4-2, For A 2-1 Series Lead Over the Bruins

Around New England if you're a Boston sports fan (and who isn't?), the next couple days are not going to be fun: everyone will be freaking out and there's nothing we can do about it. The Bruins fell 4-2 to the Canadiens tonight at the Bell Centre in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. Montreal takes a 2-1 series lead with Game 4 on Thursday (7:30, NBCSN).

Shockingly, for the third straight game the B's fell behind by a pair of goals. They upped the torturous ante more as they went down 3-0 before finally waking up late in the second period. Boston expended plenty of energy to get back in it and they did cut it to 3-2 with a few minutes left but the Canadiens held on and added an empty netter by Lars Eller. Montreal had blown two-goal leads in three consecutive games but you will basically never see a three-goal rally especially in this setting.

Tuukka Rask (22 saves) has allowed three goals or more in every contest this series but you'd be hard-pressed to blame any of these on him, particularly the last two. The Canadiens went up 1-0 at 10:57 on Tomas Plekanec's pretty goal, assisted by Thomas Vanek and P.K. Subban. Boston actually received the first power play (which I didn't think was allowed at the Bell Centre) but six seconds after it was fruitlessly over, Subban came out of the box and beat Rask on a breakaway from Lars Eller and Dale Weise at 14:44.

Believe it or not, Boston played pretty well before that but they were understandably stunned by those and even more so when Weise (a complete bum) was sent in on yet another breakaway and he found a way to score at 13:52. At that point, many teams (cough, Lightning) would have been run out of the Bell Centre but the B's showed their usual dose of heart and spirit as Patrice Bergeorn tipped in Torey Krug's shot at 17:48. Bergeron's third goal of the postseason was assisted by Krug and Brad Marchand.

The Bruins carried the momentum but couldn't make it more interesting until it was too late. Where was that playoff urgency in the first period? The Canadiens for all their faults, are not the Red Wings. Nope, this team kept fightning and Jarome Iginla tipped in Andrej Meszaros' shot from the point at 17:44 of the third period. Milan Lucic had the other assist.

Boston generated some decent pressure with Rask pulled but Carey Price (26 saves) and Montreal's shaky defensemen held firm. Eller punctuated the win with his empty netter. I still believe in the B's since they have yet to show anything close to their best performance vs. the Habs. Given the fact that Game 4 is basically a pseudo must-win for the Black and Gold and I think we'll see them bounce back. Nobody said this series would be easy, we have to stay positive.

UPDATE 5/8: In an interesting roster move, the Bruins recalled forward Matt Fraser from Providence and sent Justin Florek back to the Baby B's. This makes it seem like Fraser could be appearing in Game 4, stay tuned.

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