The Montreal Canadiens came out like gangbusters in the 1st period of Game 3 against the Boston Bruins as could be expected. They hit, pounded, grabbed, and again hit everything black, yellow and white on the ice in the first period but came away with only a 1-1 tie after the opening period. Unfortunately, the Habs were undermanned. Their quarterbacks on the power play, defensmen Mathieu Schneider and Andrei Markov were out, as well as sniper Alex Tanguay with the proverbial "upper body injuries" and Sergei Kostitsyn was a healthy scratch after taking the penalty in Game 2 that led to the Bruins' first goal. Matt D'Agostini, Defenseman Ryan O'Byrne (a big boy at 6'6") were in for the Habs.
The Bruins were without Milan Lucic who was suspended after a cross-check to the head of Maxim Lapierre with 5 minutes left in Game 2 as Lapierre charged after Lucic who was roughing up Mathieu Schneider at the time. The Bruins were also with Matt Hunwick who was rushed to hospital after collapsing shortly after expressing being overcome with illness following a team meeting. He underwent surgery and his spleen had to be removed. Hunwick won't be returning anytime soon to the Bruins lineup.
The Habs had lots of jump in the 1st and were rewarded with their 1st and only lead in any of the 3 games of the series when Christopher Higgins beat Bruins Tim Thomas at 11:52, but after withstanding the early flurry by Montreal, Bruins sniper Phil Kessel tied it up at 18:35 on a tip-in on a long shot from the blue line after a poor clearing pass by the Habs Komisarek right to Boston's Dennis Wideman. The Bruins were really starting to pressure the Habs at the end of period.The Bruins were beginning to get more and more shots and chances on Habs goalie Carey Price, who was fairly sharp for most of the game after being yanked in the 5-1 Game 2 loss. There was a lot of pressure on Montreal's GM-coach Bob Gainey to play Jaroslav Halak instead of Price, but Gainey chose to play Price.
The Habs did outshoot (10-7) and outhit the Bruins in the opening stanza, but the Bruins reversed the figures in the 2nd and 3rd periods and established a DOMINATING forecheck in the third period, a veritable wall of Bruins players that the Montreal squad could not penetrate. Every pass was picked off and the Bruins absolutely smothered any hope the Habs had of any sort of a comeback in the 3rd period.
Scott Thornton put the Bruins ahead 2-1 on a nifty pass from Byron Bitz, which triggered a number of boos for the Montreal netminder. A shot by Montreal's Yannick Weber eluded Thomas after Marc Savard lost a key faceoff in the Bruins zone, but after that, it was all Boston.
Michael Ryder scored the game winner (and 2nd goal of the series) at 17:21 of the 2nd period. Ryder's goal must have been sweet revenge as he had played for Montreal last year and had sat out all 12 of Montreal's playoff games after what was felt to have been a sub-par season for the Right Winger who bounced back with 27 regular season goals this year after the Bruins signed him as a free agent after last season, a very good pickup for the team.
The 3rd period was classic Bruins shutdown hockey. The Bruins have become experts at completely shutting an opposing team off when leading going into the 3rd period as evidenced by their incredible 38-2 record when entering the final period with a lead. Every time the Habs picked up a puck a Bruin was immediately on him and another ready to pick off any pass. Montreal couldn't muster any offence in the last period. As time winded down and it became obvious that Montreal was not going to be able to get more than the odd long shot, the Habs tried Hail Mary type of passes just hoping someone could get into the Bruins zone. That rarely happened.
Finally, with about a minute left, Gainey pulled Carey Price in favor of a sixth attacker, but the result was still the same. Bruins stopping the Canadiens stone cold in the neutral zone. Chuck Kobasew chased down the puck with Montreal's Saku Koivu in hot pursuit. The announcer said it all: "This really sums up the whole series, aging Saku Koivu gets outmuscled by strong, young Chuck Kobasew who scores on the empty net."
Bruins win 4-2. A solid defensive effort from the Boston Bruins in the 3rd period shut down the Habs. Basically, the Habs lost because of injuries, having smaller players, but bottom line: the Boston Bruins have much more depth and talent and Montreal couldn't overcome the relentless attack and defensive work of the Bruins. They are right now a much, much better team and Montreal is not going to be able to beat them, imho.
Game 4: Wed Apr. 22 @ Montreal 7pm
Game 5: Sat Apr. 25 @ Boston* 7pm (if needed)
Game 6: Mon Apr. 27 @ Montreal* TBD (if needed)
Game 7: Tues Apr. 28 @ Boston* TBD (if needed)
No comments:
Post a Comment