Habs Gear Up for Bruins Series

(Ed. Note: I thought it would be interesting to see a Montreal fans' perspective, so I asked fellow writer Brandon Hebert to contribute. Follow him on twitter at OT_Hockey - Ryan)

Every year for the playoffs a franchise comes up with some slogan for their postseason run. The Montreal Canadiens this year have come up with “put on your game face”, and if the Habs have any hope to win this series; that is exactly what they need to do.

The Canadiens seem to finally be beaten down by the Boston Bruins, a sight many Bruins fans are happy to see after years of regular season dominance by the Habs. You could even say this season was the same with them winning the series 4-2, but looking deeper it’s not the case. When Zdeno Chara put Max Pacioretty into the boards it not only broke his neck, it seemed to have broken the Montreal Canadiens. They haven’t flied around the Bruins as they once did, they don’t give the shot or two away from the play as they are accustomed to. They simply seemed to have given up. They were zombies in period three against the Bruins in the Paccioretty game, and lifeless on March 24th 7-0 shellacking. If the Habs want to win against the Bruins they need to become the fast skating team that gets under the Bruins skin that they used to be.

PK Subban needs to be himself. The Bruins hate him, and rightfully so. He’s cocky, he’s arrogant, and he’s got skill. And he can goad Marchand and Horton like nobody’s business. The Habs powerplay has had the Bruins number this season, and if PK can get the team on the PP that is the key to Canadiens success. Along with that, the fans in Montreal will be relentless, the booing heard for Chara will put Cleveland fans hatred for Lebron to shame. The fans in Montreal swing momentum and intimidate referee’s like no other. If a Hab goes down with a Bruin around they’ll b on the powerplay and they need to convert.

The Bruins are big and strong and tough, the Habs need to know their place here if they want to win. Push and shove after the whistle is fine, but don’t get tough, don’t get in a situation where the Bruins can hurt you. Cause they have, and they will. Ryan White and Paul Mara are the only two you should look for to have any fight in them. The rest of the team needs to play the same way that normally wins them games.

Carey Price needs to be who he was in the regular season, and Tim Thomas needs to be who he usually is in the post season, if the Habs want to win. Drive the net, get Thomas to bite first and get him out of postion, and take advantage. Easier said than done, because when the awards are handed out that man will hold another Vezina trophy.

At the end of the day if the Habs don’t show up tonight at 7 pm with their game face’s on. This series is going to be as easy as, one, two, three, four.

Call 911! Bruins and Habs Set for Round One Showdown

Here we are.

After weeks of staring down Montreal as the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference, Bruins fans have been preparing for a first round matchup of epic proportions. Whenever Montreal and Boston get together, hockey fans know that they are in for a treat, but considering the events of this season, they should expect the vitriol between the two clubs to reach an all-time high.

Montreal took the regular season series 4-2, but the games took several twists and turns after January 1st. Shortly after the New Year, Montreal embarrassed Boston, coming from behind to steal a 3-2 overtime victory. However the tone was set for the rest of the season when game-winning goal scorer Max Pacioretty bumped Bruins Captain Zdeno Chara after lighting the lamp in overtime. Chara then went after Pacioretty and later refused to answer questions from the media, a questionable move coming from the team Captain, especially after such a crushing defeat.

The Bruins took out their frustration the next time the two teams met, beating the Habs 8-6 in Boston, with both teams combining for 187 penalty minutes in one of the more memorable games any of us will ever see. Their next meeting will live in infamy both in Boston and Montreal, when Zdeno Chara angled Max Pacioretty into the turnbuckle between the team’s benches, when it was reported that he suffered a cracked vertebrae and severe concussion. This set off a firestorm of embarrassing rhetoric by Montreal fans and media, as Bruins players and fans alike rushed to Chara’s aid to defend the hit. The NHL sided with Chara, as they ruled the play a “hockey play” and elected not to suspend or fine Big Z for the hit. The story, however, did not end there.

Habs fans flooded 911, shutting down their emergency call center, hoping to prosecute Chara on criminal charges. Quebec police launched a full investigation into the hit, further embarrassing their province and city, (no way would this happen in Calgary, Edmonton, or Vancouver). The Bruins responded in the best way possible in their last meeting of the season, humiliating the Habs 7-0 at the Garden, out skating Montreal on their way to a lopsided victory.

The Bruins meet up with Montreal on Thursday night in Boston for a highly anticipated opening round series. Here are a few things to watch for as the most heated rivalry in Hockey continues.

Key Matchup: Special Teams

Every Bruins fan is more than familiar with the term “puck moving defenseman.” So much so that the mere mention of the phrase turned fans stomachs in the weeks leading up to the trade deadline. B’s fans clamored for GM Peter Chiarelli to trade for a D man to help the Power Play unit, and they were rewarded when the Bruins traded for Tomas Kaberle. However the results were not as expected, as the Bruins finished the season scoring 16.2% of the time with the man advantage. This will need to improve against Montreal’s 84.4% Penalty Killing efficiency. The Bruins’ superb defensive strategy will be tested against Montreal’s speedy forwards, especially on the man advantage. The Canadiens are slightly better on the Power Play, scoring at a 19.7% clip with the extra skater. The special teams numbers favor Montreal, and this is something that they will look to in order to expose the Bruins and gain an advantage in the series.

Key Players: (BOS) Milan Lucic – The Bruins’ only 30 goal scorer, Lucic has bounced back quite nicely from an injury-riddled 2009-10 campaign. While he chooses not to drop the gloves as often as in years past, Lucic has shown that he can still play his physical brand of hockey, while at the same time lighting the lamp. His importance to the first line alongside Nathan Horton and David Krejci cannot be understated, as they have been on a tear in the last few weeks of the season. They all have to get going in order to be successful and it starts with Lucic and his two-way play to put fear in the hearts of the Canadiens.

(MTL) Scott Gomez – Gomez has been a mainstay in the Montreal lineup, averaging 18:33 minutes of ice time per game this season and has played 80 games, but has failed to produce offensively. In fact, he had his worst season of his 11-year career, scoring just 7 goals all year long. Gomez needs to break his scoring drought, which has lasted since February 6th. His 29 game slide must end if the Canadiens want to have a chance in this series.

What to Watch For: Chara – Paccioretty Hangover – Clearly one of the biggest subplots to this series is going to be Zdeno Chara versus the city of Montreal, especially when the Bruins head north of the border for games 3 and 4. Bruins management has decided to relocate the team to Lake Placid, NY in between games 3 and 4 to minimize distractions from the relentless Montreal media and fan base. Simply put, the Canadiens have no answer for Chara, so hopefully the Bruins Captain can tune out the white noise and dominate the series.

Officiating – In the wake of the Chara hit, Montreal media members went on record and said that they get beneficial calls based on who is officiating as well as who is in the stands. When Campbell and Bettman were in attendance for the 7-0 drubbing, media members from America’s Hat told Boston radio hosts Felger and Mazz that they expected a closely called game because of the people in attendance. The Canadiens were expected to dive and embellish penalties more than usual, and they did. To quote Brad Marchand, the Canadiens play “weasely, greasy” hockey, and will certainly look to do their best Greg Louganis impression in order to capitalize on the power play.

Goaltending – “Goaltending is the most important thing in the playoffs”. That cliché has been slung around for so many years, it makes “run the ball, stop the run” in football look fresh. While great goaltending certainly helps in the postseason, it is not the most important aspect of the game. Out of the last ten Vezina winners, only ONE has made it out of the SECOND ROUND of the playoffs (Brodeur in ’03). Every other Vezina winner has failed to even make it to the conference finals, proving that great goaltending does not directly correlate to success. The Flyers were on their third string goalie last year and made it to the Stanley Cup finals, so you don’t have to have the second coming of Pat Roy to win the Cup.

Prediction: The Bruins have to take both games at home, because Montreal is going to be an absolute madhouse by the time the Bruins come to town on Monday night. I expect a fast-paced, emotionally charged series that will last six games. Montreal has proven this year that they can beat the Bruins both at home and on the road, and they will take game three or four. That being said, Chara and the Bruins are going to be too much for the Canadiens in the long run and will overpower Montreal on the way to the Eastern Conference semifinals. Bruins in 6.

Getting worse by the day

You can't win a pennant in April but you can lose one if you dig yourselves too deep of a hole.

The Boston Red Sox in 2011 are currently a case study to see how poorly they can start and still compete for the AL East title.

For the second time in a row, Jon Lester (0-1) pitched well enough to win but didn't since his teammates couldn't score him enough runs in a 3-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway Park last night.

Lester went seven innings, giving up seven hits and three earned runs with two walks and eight strikeouts.

Tampa Bay (3-8) ace David Price (1-2) was just a notch better going 7.1 innings and giving up five hits and two earned runs with two walks and three strikeouts.

Boston (2-9) has the worst record in MLB and they're living up to that billing by finding a million different ways to lose every game.

Daniel Bard pitched a scoreless eighth and Bobby Jenks threw a 1-2-3 ninth with a strikeout but the Red Sox couldn't get to Joel Paralta (1 out) or Kyle Farnsworth, who struck out two in a 1-2-3 ninth for his second save of the season.

Terry Francona loaded his lineup with righthanded bats to face Price and it paid off when Darnell McDonald hit a solo homer in the third for a 1-0 Boston lead.

Granite State folk hero Sam Fuld tied it up in the fifth with a ground out and Johnny Damon (2 hits) had the game-winning hit, a two-run double following Fuld in the fifth.

Jed Lowrie (2 hits) cut it to 3-2 with an RBI double in the sixth but that's all Boston could muster.

The series finale is scheduled for tonight with John Lackey facing James Shields but I doubt it happens since it's been pouring all day.

Don't know which is better for the Red Sox right now: to sit around for a day and here how bad they are or try to get a game in with Lackey pitching. Either way, not good options.

Go home Dice-K, we don't need you

Just when you think the Boston Red Sox have built some momentum after taking two of three from the New York Yankees over the weekend, Daisuke Matsuzaka submits the worst outing of his MLB career.

Matsuzaka allowed seven runs in the first two innings and was yanked without recording an out in the third as the Tampa Bay Rays (2-8) rolled to a joke of a 16-5 win last night at Fenway Park.

I honestly don't know what the Red Sox (2-8) can do right now with Matsuzaka (2 innings, 8 hits, 7 earned runs, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts, 2 homers allowed). Tim Wakefield is the most obvious replacement and he actually was the first guy summoned from the bullpen last night to clean up Dice-K's mess.

Wakefield (3.1 innings, 7 hits, 5 earned runs) isn't the answer either, the guy is 45 and even though he's so likable, he's painfully washed up.

Tampa Bay had 20 hits and almost scored as many runs as they had in the first nine games (20).

Philips Exeter alum and New Hampshire native Sam Fuld led the Rays with four hits, three RBIs and three runs. He had a two-run homer off Matsuzaka. Johnny Damon had a solo homer in his first at bat against Dice-K and finished with three hits, three RBIs and two runs. Ben Zobrist (3 hits, 2 RBIs, 2 runs), B.J. Upton (3 hits, 3 runs), Reid Brignac (2 hits, 3 RBIs, 2 runs) and John Jaso (2 hits, 3 RBIs) all feasted on poor Boston pitching.

Jeremy Hellickson (5.1 innings, 5 hits, 2 earned runs, 5 walks, 1 strikeout) didn't have to do much for his first win of the season (1-1).

Carl Crawford had two hits, David Ortiz and Adrian Gonzalez had triples (really) and Jacoby Ellsbury had a solo homer for Boston after the game was long over.

Jon Lester takes on David Price tonight in a game that should be much more competitive and interesting.

Celtics tank game against the Wizards, setting up showdown with Knicks in 1st round of the playoffs

By sitting the Big Four, Celtics head coach Doc Rivers waved the white flag and admitted (without saying it) that his team was resigned to the third seed in the Eastern Conference.

The starting five of Jeff Green, Glen Davis, Jermaine O'Neal, Delonte West and Von Wafer actually played pretty well last night but they still lost 95-94 in overtime to the Washington Wizards at the Verizon Center.

With the loss and Miami's win, Boston (55-26) clinched the No. 3 seed and also a first round meeting with the No. 6 New York Knicks.

Green led the Celts with 20 points and 15 rebounds, Davis had 20 points, O'Neal had 15 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks while West and Wafer both scored 11 points.

The main reason that the Big Four sat was to save their legs and prevent from injury. Unfortunately, West sprained his ankle in the third quarter and didn't return. If anyone deserves a break health-wise, it's D West. Poor guy has had to deal with a million different injuries this season. Not to mention, that's he's one of the only bench players Rivers can count on in the playoffs.

The Wizards (23-58) were led by John Wall's 24 points and nine rebounds. Jordan Crawford scored 17 points, Andray Blatche added 16 points and JaVale McGee managed 13 points.

Ironically, Boston closes the regular season with a contest tomorrow night at TD Garden vs. the Knicks. Talk about a meaningless game. You honestly couldn't pay me to go to that one.

Taking a cue from Rivers, I'm going to recharge my Celtics batteries and I'll be back for the playoffs. Looks like Game 1 will be Sunday at TD Garden. Should be a very entertaining series and I think the big-name opponent will help the Celts focus.

Josh Beckett brings you back from the edge of the Tobin Bridge

After Saturday's latest pathetic loss, the Boston Red Sox were in desperate need of a quality start from a starting pitcher.

Shockingly, it came from former ace Josh Beckett, who turned back the clock last night and was lights out in a 4-0 win over the New York Yankees at Fenway Park.

I don't think anyone in world expected Beckett (1-1) to deal like he did. It was incredible especially after a middling performance last week in Cleveland. He went eight innings, allowing only two hits with a walk and ten strikeouts.

Boston (2-7) won two out of three against New York (5-4) and fingers crossed, now they can put their miserable opening week behind them. This team is way too good to be as awful as they've been for the first nine games by and large.

CC Sabathia (0-1) was effective but couldn't get out of the sixth inning. The big lefty went 5.2 innings, giving up nine hits, one earned run, four walks and four strikeouts.

The Red Sox were a mind-numbing 3-for-14 with runners in scoring position and they left 16 on base and yet, they won.

Dustin Pedroia led Boston with three hits while David Ortiz and Marco Scutaro had two hits.

Boston scored its first run in the third inning. It came by way of an infield single by Mike Cameron.

Scutaro had the most important hit, a two-run double in the seventh, which scored Ortiz and J.D. Drew.

Ortiz added an RBI double in the eighth for some valuable insurance.

At only 103 pitches, Beckett could have started the ninth but why push him in April? Jonathan Papelbon came on for the second time in the series and was great (two strikeouts, no hits or walks).

So yeah, who knows what to expect from Beckett next time out. At least we don't have quite bury the guy yet since he couldn't have done more in one outing to prove that he can still be Josh Beckett circa 2003 or 2007 when he wants to be.

Tampa Bay (1-8) comes to town for three games starting tonight. Daisuke Matsuzaka faces Jeremy Hellickson in game one. The Red Sox should take advantage of a team that's playing even worse than them and cannot score any runs with Evan Longoria out.

Heat absolutely destroy the Celtics

I was all psyched about being able to watch the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat battle for the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference yesterday afternoon at AmericanAirlines Arena.

The problem was I must have been kidding myself to think the Celts (55-25) would show up for the fight, let alone win.

The Heat (56-24) rolled to a disgusting 100-77 blowout that wasn't even that close. It was Boston's worse loss of the season and it stung even more since it likely handed them the No. 3 seed (with two games remaining in the regular season). The Celtics had been 3-0 against the Heat before yesterday's debacle.

There's no way to defend the Kendrick Perkins trade at this moment since the Celtics have stumbled to a 14-10 record since their enforcer left for Oklahoma City.

I like Jeff Green but Boston's problems are way more than he can compensate for at the moment.

This team surprised us last season by getting to the NBA Finals with the No. 4 seed but I feel as though it is a much harder road this season since Miami and Chicago are you know, better than the Celtics.

LeBron James had a game-high 27 points, seven assists and four steals. Dwyane Wade had 14 points and eight assists while Chris Bosh added 13 points and eight rebounds.

Paul Pierce (24 points, 7 rebounds) and Kevin Garnett (21 points) tried to carry Boston but they couldn't do it as Ray Allen (13 points) and Rajon Rondo (7 points, 5 assists) continued to disappear in meaningful games.

The Celtics travel to Washington DC tonight to take on the Wizards then they wrap up the regular season on Wednesday by hosting the Knicks. Boston will either play New York or Philadelphia in the first round of the playoffs starting this weekend.

It's time for Boston to regroup and put everything they have into what is likely one last title run with the Big Three and Rondo, not to mention head coach Doc Rivers, all together.