Bruins-Habs Game: Goals, Fights, A prelude To Round One?

Bruins Win 5-4 in overtime. Habs limp into the playoffs by the skin of their teeth by snagging that last point in the 2nd last game of the season.

It is starting to look like Boston and Montreal will face each other yet again in the playoffs, with the Bruins being the heavy favorites this year after their incredible run all year, while Montreal, after starting very fast took a nosedive from the heady heights last season's finish.

This was a tough win for Boston and they obviously wanted to set the tone for any Habs hopes that they'll be anything more than a bump in Boston's run for the Cup. The Canadiens were buoyed by the return to their lineup of Mathieu Schneider, who everyone but Schneider thought was done like dinner for the rest of the season after injuring his shoulder. He actually scored Montreal's 3rd goal which got them into a tie (saving Montreal from missing the playoffs), so Schneider should be treated like a returning hero by the doubting Habs fans who thought the 39-year-old rear guard was washed up when the Habs added him to their line-up late in the season from Anaheim.

The Game: Bruins 5, Habs 4 OT


The first period was pretty even, a fair number of shots and chances, Boston immediately was on the smaller Habs players, but that brought them under the eye of referees Paul Devorski, Dave Jackson who threw Mark Stuart in the box twice in the first 10 minutes. Then Milan Lucic and Mike Komisarek exchanged pleasantries and ended up with both with 2 minutes each. It wasn't until 17:58 of the first before Patrice Bergeron gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead, but at the end of the period, Chara was assessed a double minor and Komisarek again had penalties.

Montreal scored their first power play goal at 1:25 when red hot Alexei Kovalev scored his 26th of the season (17 points in nine games!) with his wrist shot past Bruins netminder Tim Thomas, but then the Bruins reasserted themselves by Phil Kessel netting his 33rd and then oldster Mark Recchi scored his 21st on a tip-in on a blast from Chara.

After the Kessel goal, Montreal's Ryan O'Byrne was assessed a double minor and a 10-minute misconduct. After the 3rd Boston goal, the Bruins were pressing again, when Bruins' right winger Byron Bitz interfered with Carey Price. Josh Gorges and Maxim Lapierre took exception to Bitz blitzing the Habs goalie but Milan Lucic and Shane Hnidy stepped up. Hnidy and Lapierre got fighting majors, while Lucic and Gorges took minors and Montreal scores on the power play to make it 3-2.

About 2 minutes later Montreal's defenseman Komisarek was tagged for interference. Big mistake. Lucic was on the ice at the time and grabbed Komisarek (grabbed his head!) and threw him on his butt. Lucic ended up with 14 minutes in penalties (slashing, roughing, and a 10-minute misconduct). And Shawn Thornton was given a 2 minute roughing penalty. So, Montreal loses one man, Boston loses Lucic for the remainder of the period, (Michael Ryder served Lucic's 2nd penalty), and Scott Thornton goes off. Schneider (remember him?) scored The Habs finally had their power play working again and scored 2 in the period and one even strength goal (Matt D'Agostini at 16:53, unassisted) to put the Habs up 4-3. After all that, Scott Thornton and Mike Komisarek went off with coincidental minors for roughing with a minute or so remaining in the 2nd period.


Habs tough guy Georges Laraque was a healthy scratch and you have to wonder about his absence in a tough physical game like this. If you don't dress Laraque for a war like this, why is he even on the Habs team? For his demon-like scoring touch? I don't see the Georges getting into too many Habs games from here on out.

Finally, in the third period, Zdeno Chara backhanded the Bruins' 4th goal to tie it at 4-4 on the power play for the lanky Boston Norris candidate's 19th of the season. So Chara almost got the Gordie Howe hat trick again. He had a goal, an assist and a double-minor for roughing. Both teams were probably worried about getting a stupid penalty that might cost them the game, and only 2 penalties were called. Mathieu Dandenault for delay of game (that's when Chara tied it up) and of course, a Bruins penalty with a minute left to give Montreal a power play at the end of the game. So off to overtime, and Mark Recchi scores his 2nd of the game (22nd of the season) on a tip-in on Patrice Bergeron's shot.

Summary?


The Bruins won and the Habs came close, but that was because the Bruins were getting into penalty trouble. I think a Bruins-Habs series in the first round will be a rough and tumble affair, but I don't think it will be quite the battle that see saw in the second period of this game. Don't get me wrong... there will be moments where there'll be a lot of clinches and punches thrown, but you won't see too many dustups like this one when Montreal comes to Beantown. Lucic and the boys will likely take Montreal out fairly quickly, I'm guessing five-six games.

If the Bruins take the first two games in Boston, Montreal will be decidedly chippy in the third and if Boston takes the first three games, Montreal will battle and fight like nobody's business to prevent a sweep in Montreal's home barn. But don't expect a sweep. Montreal has always been Boston's kryptonite and the Bruins will be wary.

These teams have history, and I'm not just talking about all the great series the teams have played against each other over the years, these teams, the players on each side have spilt blood and taken hard knocks all year long. The Bruins have won the last 5 games they've played after that horrendous run of losses coming into this season, but this should be the year when the numbers get tilted in the Bruins favor. I can't wait for Wednesday night.