Habs For Breakfast, With A Side Order Of Foul Tasting Bear

Looks like the Bruins aren't willing to play the pushovers everyone assumed they would be. I don't have much to add beyond what I wrote here Saturday night, after it looked like the Habs stole a game. They almost stole one again on Sunday....or we're they robbed?

I guess it would depend on one's point of view.

The Canadiens have to start burrying those scoring chances, because they are diminishing.

The Bruins have managed to implement their trap game with much challenge from the Canadiens speed, and Tim Thomas is playing better with each game. We have ourselves a playoff series folks.

Like the picture above suggests....get out those hard hats boys!

Bruins Strike Back - Gazette

"I came on for the extra skater," Savard said. "Schaefer made a great play for us. He's had a tough go this year but he worked through it. He draws the penalty on the rush and then he set me up. I was yelling at the top of my lungs but I knew he saw me." - Pat Hickey

Habs Better Listen To Wake Up Call - Gazette

"Maybe the Canadiens got the wrong idea about this series during the first two minutes Thursday night, when Sergei and Andrei Kostitsyn pulled off a pair of goals on the first shifts of their first playoff stint, a feat that will never be equalled. Easy? Posh. These Canadiens were going to brush les Broons aside like so many teddy bears." - Jack Todd

Savard Gives Bruins New Life - Globe Sports

"The Canadiens were headed toward the Bruins' end and when it appeared that Steve Begin was about to drift a shot on Boston goaltender Tim Thomas, the Montreal defencemen headed for a line change. But the puck was turned over and the Canadiens were caught. In the attempt to cover up and get into position, Montreal centre Bryan Smolinski was called for a penalty on Schaefer, but the call was delayed because the latter kept the puck alive.'' - Tom Wharnsby

Bruins Climb Back Into Series By Beating Habs In OT - TSN

"It's no secret, we don't have a lot of dancers over here," Savard said, sporting a Bruins hard hat awarded to the team's hardest-working player of the night. "We have to play one way, we're a lunch-bucket team and we proved that tonight. We have to take the body hard and make it hard on their defence going back and create chances off of that. That's what we did."

Habs Fan A Season Ticket Holder For 55 Years - NHL.com

"From the Canadiens string of five straight cups between 1956 and 1960, to the terrifying image of a motionless Lou Fontinato after he crashed head-first into the Forum boards, Larocque has witnessed history time and again for one of the most storied franchises in North American sports."





















Habs Finally Fall To Bruins - Lions In Winter

"The best play I saw tonight by the Habs was the result of a typical Brisebois miscue in which he pinched at the absolute wrong time allowing a 2-on-1 to happen. Breeze-by lived up to his name when a penalty to David Krejci was just ending and he decided to go fishing in the offensive zone. The pass from Kostitsyn went awry and it meant an opportunity opened up for Boston. With so little time left in the game at the time (9 minutes) a goal would have certainly ended it. Price, however, once again bailed out his 'defenceman' and made an incredible save when the Bruin decided to shoot. This play kept us in the game much longer than we actually deserved." - Tobalev

Make Way For Mo - The H Does Not Stand For Habs

"The momentum Boston gained from that game...finally seeing their workmanlike, desperate hockey triumph over their regular-season masters...can't be disregarded. They're on a high and they're ready to come out with just as much enthusiasm in game four, only now they have a measure of confidence." - J.T.

Time To Regroup And Get The Power Play Back On Track - Dennis Kane's Excellent Montreal Canadiens Blog

"During the regular season, Montreal’s power play looked like Sophia Loren - beautiful, lovely, graceful, nice to watch. But in this playoff round against the Bruins, Montreal’s power play resembles a drunken Brittany Spears. Kovalev’s overtime goal in game two was a power play goal, but that’s it. The only one in three games."
















"C'était du hockey de séries": Komisarek - La Presse

"On avait l'occasion de les placer dans une situation difficile. On n'a pas réussi même si on s'est bien battu à chacune de nos présences. Ce fut un match âprement disputé", a ajouté le robuste défenseur qui a distribué huit mises en échec.

Des centaines de partisans à Boston - La Presse

"Les joueurs du Canadien ne seront pas entièrement dépaysés lors de leur séjour à Boston. Des dizaines, voire des centaines de partisans de l'équipe ont fait le trajet Montréal-Boston afin d'assister à l'un des deux matchs présentés au TD Banknorth Garden"

Carbo: "On savait bien qu'ils finiraient par nous battre" - La Presse

"Carbo a expliqué que le surnombre qui a mené au but gagnant de Marc Savard était le résultat d'une malchance. Le changement de défenseurs s'est effectué à un moment inopportun et, d'une certaine façon, ça a forcé Bryan Smolinski à commettre une infraction." - Marc Antoine Godin

Partisane du Canadien, elle a ses billets de saison depuis 55 ans - La Presse

"Le femme de petite taille, dont les jambes dépassent à peine de son chandail du Canadien trop grand pour elle, détient des billets de saison depuis 1952. En 55 ans, elle n'a raté qu'une poignée de matchs.'' - Andy Blatchford

Canadien en trois… il faudra recompter! - La Presse

Finalement ma bande de petits comiques, le Canadien ne battra pas les Bruins en trois matchs. Et vous savez quoi? Il ne les battra pas en quatre non plus. Même que s’il dispute d’autres matchs à l’image de celui de dimanche, la série sera pas mal plus longue que les plus pessimistes l’avaient prédit, sans compter que le spectre d’une élimination en première ronde pourrait se pointer le bout du nez. Bon! On ne paniquera pas tout de suite. - François Gagnon

Bégin : "Il faut patiner si on veut gagner" - Le Journal

"Les meilleurs joueurs du Canadien dans cette défaite contre les Bruins ont été fidèles à eux-mêmes du début à la fin de la soirée. Seuls Bryan Smolinki, Steve Bégin, Maxim Lapierre, Mike Komisarek et Carey Price se sont pointés dans le vestiaire après le match." - Marc De Foy

Lapierre: "Les Bruins jouent avec plus de confiance" - Le Journal

"On ne s'attendait pas à gagner la série en quatre matchs, a commenté Maxim Lapierre, l'un des meilleurs attaquants du Canadien. Les deux équipes ont bien joué et la victoire aurait pu aller d'un bord comme de l'autre en prolongation. À vrai dire, les deux équipes méritaient la victoire." - Pierre Durocher

More from La Presse, RDS, and Le Journal
.

Habs Remain The Bruins Dominatrix

One down, three to go, or if you like, one down and fifteen to go!

A solid 4-1 win by the Canadiens in game one of this series revealed little in terms of new wrinkles on either the Habs or Bruins side.

Yes, the playoffs are a different season, but the Canadiens defeated Boston in the same manner, and using the same elements, as they have all season long.

The Bruins can work hard all they want, throw everthing they can at the Habs, but they just do not have the elements in place to conquer the Canadiens game.

There are many reasons that Montreal have won all nine contests over the Bruins this season, and they all have to do with possessing what Boston badly need.






















Montreal play on speed, toughness and discipline, while the Bruins counter with lunchpail grit and rough house tactics.

Perhaps the reason Boston is so confounded when it comes to the Canadiens is that they do not play good catch up hockey. Montreal have scored the first goal against the Bruins in all nine wins this season.

Boston also doesn't have the fleetfooted defenseman capable of halting the Habs within the guidelines of the rulebook.

The Canadiens pounded the Bruins, pouncing on every loose puck, shoot in, and rebound with almost reckless abandon in this game. The Bruins were outshot, outhit, and outplayed. It must be that their game plan involves getting the lead before their system comes into play. Maybe they need a game plan wherein getting a lead is not primordial, but is based on patience and discipline.

Still, the Bruins cannot suddenly manufacture a game that rivals the Canadiens for speed and creativity, and that is why this series could be over in four straight games.

It would not make for a pleasant birthday gift for likeable Bruins goalie Tim Thomas, who will turn 34 next Tuesday.

What was very obvious tonight is how much of a special team the Canadiens are to watch these days. They are truly firing on all cylinders. Thanks to great team depth, clutch role players, and a lustful appetite for winning, the Canadiens seem prepared to win in whatever manner presents itself.























Carey Price could have yawned through most of this game, aside from the half dozen scuffles at his feet. It makes sense to try to bump and bother a smaller goalie, but with Price, who is not easily rattled, it would make more sense to screen him from six feet out.

Considering that the Habs won without needing Price's heroics, Alex Kovalev's highlight reel performances, or any power play goals, and the Canadiens domination over the Bruins gets clearer. Saku Koivu, Ryan O' Byrne, and Francis Bouillon were scratches that will eventually bolster this lineup.

The story of tonights game was the Habs carrying bigger lunchpails than the Bruins and outworking them for three periods. The Kostitsyn's scored the third fastest goals by brothers in NHL playoff history to set the tone early and place the Bruins on their heels. The Begin, Smolinski, Kostopoulos trio - I dare anyone to name a better fourth line right now - continues to impress at both ends of ice and give bonus offensive contributions.

On winning teams, especially the successful playoff variety, it is often singled out that a team's best players must be their best players at this time of year. The flipside of the coin is that despite what headlines suggest, it is teams that win Cups, and not merely outstanding individuals alone.

The Canadiens contributions are coming from all places, and not always the most evident ones.

It's a good sign, because it is a long hard road where many contributors will be needed.

In a grander scheme, this game represents but one win. It wasn't as hard as it will get later.























An interesting side note to game one:

The Bruins Marc Savard, who broke into the NHL with the Rangers in 1997, was playing in his first ever playoff game tonight after 659 regular season games. Savard, a cottonball of a player if I ever saw one, was but a Hurricanes victory away from being on his way to owning a dubious NHL record. Had Carolina won their final game against Florida, it would have bumped the Washington Capitals into 8th place and the Bruins out of the playoffs. Savard would have then needed another season's worth of games to get another shot at the playoffs. Savard would have surpassed Guy Charron, current record holder and former 1970 Canadiens rookie who went onto a coaching career with the Flames, the Canadian National Team, and one time Habs assistant coach, who played in 734 career games without ever sampling the playoffs.
.