BOSTON, MA – It was a season that began with so much promise for the Montreal Canadiens who were preparing to celebrate their Centennial Season amid expectations of a miracle Stanley Cup season. The club whetted their fans appetites with an 8-1-1 start, but a mid-season slump in January and February combined with a 0-3-1 mark in the last four games of the season has tempered the fan base’s enthusiasm.
On the other hand not much was expected from most people regarding the Boston Bruins. With the exception of paying out a large salary to former Canadiens winger Michael Ryder the Bruins stood pat with a roster which fell to Montreal in the playoffs in seven games.
But while Montreal foundered the Bruins were the surprise of the NHL. Led by the maturation of their young players, the blossoming of net minder Tim Thomas into a Vezina Trophy award favorite and the potential Norris Trophy season from Zdeno Chara the Bruins finished first overall in the Eastern Conference and are heavy favorites in this series against Montreal.
One might ask how the Bruins can be favorites against their ghosts who have ruined so many promising seasons. History shows Montreal to have an excellent chance of bumping off the Bruins. The two clubs have played each other in the playoffs a grand total of 31 times and the Habs have come away winners 24 times. One does not have to turn to their father’s or grandfather’s time to witness Montreal’s success as they have took series as recently as 2002, 2004 and 2008 against Boston—and who knows if the Bruins can take the series despite sweeping the Canadiens in their season series and finishing ahead of them by 23 points in the standings?
While one can make an argument the Bruins should win going away, a cynic could point to Thomas’ sub .500 career playoff record, with all his postseason games coming against Montreal, the fact Montreal goaltender Carey Price defeated Boston last year and the fact the eighth-seeded Canadiens upset the Bruins in 2002 and the seventh-seeded Canadiens knocked off the second-seeded Bruins in 2004. Are you starting to see a trend here? In fact, if one were so inclined they could fill pages of negative statistics detailing Boston’s hapless history against Montreal. But this is a new year and a look at the series in the current timeframe shows Boston should win this series easily—if all goes correctly they could even sweep the series. We’ll just have to wait and see if the ghosts are real.
Montreal
The Canadiens are looking at a huge 24:37 hole in their defensive lineup with Andrei Markov listed as out with a knee injury for the first round. Markov finished second on the club with 64 points and no one plays that amount of time without being accomplished defensively. Toss in the fact Mathieu Schneider, third on the team in ice time with 21 minutes, has a bad shoulder and Montreal coach Bob Gainey will be asking more from some of his defenders.
The blue-line load is going to fall to Roman Hamrlik, Michael Komisarek, Schneider and Josh Gorges. In addition the team going to have to promote either Patrice Brisebois or Francois Bouillon to increased time on the ice. The injury may also limit the physical edge Komisarek brings to the game in fear of his being penalized.
Boston has had trouble this season with small, quick forwards and the Canadiens are loaded with them. Players such as Andrei Kostitsyn, Tomas Plekanec and Matt D’Agostini drive the Bruins defenders crazy, a few key goals from these guys and the series could swing in the Habs favor.
The club must also be concerned with Montreal’s top line which features Alex Tanguay, Saku Koivu and Alexei Kovalev. Koivu has been phenomenal against Boston in the playoffs with 20 points in 15 games, and Kovalev is a point-per-game player in the postseason against the Bruins. The knock on Kovalev is he can go to sleep and cruise, but that is seldom the knock against him when he plays Boston.
While they may not show up high in the statistics players like Christopher Higgins, who is capable of erasing a poor regular season, Maxim Lapierre, Tom Kostopoulos, Sergei Kostitsyn, Guillaume Latendresse and former Bruin Glen Metropolit always contribute more than the numbers show. Enforcer Georges Laracque will also get a chance to dress, but his contributions might be limited to ensuring Boston’s Milan Lucic does not take out Komisarek.
Like most young goaltenders Carey Price is very inconsistent. Price’s numbers do not stand up well when compared to other goaltenders, but when he is playing well he can be stunning, but an observer can usually tell when he is going to be good on a particular night or not. When Price controls his rebounds and does not commit unforced errors with the puck he can steal a game. If Price is struggling Gainey will quickly turn to Jaroslav Halak who statistically had a better year than Price did.
There is one game this season which may point out how this series may turn out. When the two clubs faced off on April 8 the Canadiens were still fighting for the playoff lives. As it turned out the Bruins were more about fighting and using the opportunity to even some personal scores. With Montreal playing their hearts out and Boston more interested in personal gain the Habs blew a third period lead and lost in overtime. It leads to the question of what happens if Boston actually cares about the game itself?
Boston
If there is one clear statistical advantage in the series it is Boston’s fourth place ranking on the power play as compared to Montreal’s 13th place result. If Boston can keep their penalties down and cashier their extra-man opportunities they could win in a walk.
Actually Boston’s focus is on goal. Thomas has incrementally increased his regular season stature in the league, so much so that he was signed to a large salary during the year and may take away the Vezina Trophy as the league’s best goaltender. That being said Thomas is only 3-4 in the playoffs and was victimized in a 5-1 loss in game seven last year against Montreal. If Thomas can establish he is a top playoff goaltender one could see the Bruins winning not only this series, but the Stanley Cup.
Up front the club showed balanced scoring with a league-high seven players crashing the 20-goal barrier and the others serving key roles for the club. Marc Savard is the club’s offensive focal point and is probably the club’s best all-around player. Phil Kessel (36 goals) blossomed after sitting out some games in last year’s playoffs and David Krejci began to show his promise in the same series. Blake Wheeler, Chuck Kobasew, Patrice Bergeron, Ryder, Lucic and late-season arrival Mark Recchi will provide offense and responsible defensive play. Stephane Yelle, P.J. Axelsson, one of the most underrated defensive players in the league and the aggressive Shawn Thornton balance out the team’s front lines.
Chara is perhaps the best defenseman in the league and chews up 26 plus minutes per game. Boston’s team captain is also dangerous offensively as he picked up 19 goals and is a power play threat. The rest of the team’s defenders are underrated, especially Dennis Wideman who has improved in leaps and bounds. With Andrew Ference out with an undisclosed injury top-pairing defender Aaron Ward and Matt Hunwick will be counted on for more minutes. Steve Montador, Shane Hnidy and Mark Stuart will be among the rest of the defenders, with Stuart likely to take up the slack from Ference.
What to expect
Really the only advantage Montreal has is history. Bruins coach Claude Julien must have his players focus on 2009 and their fine series against the Canadiens in 2008 when they nearly knocked off Montreal despite the absence of several key players. If Boston starts thinking about 1942, 1992 and/or 2002 it would not be a good thing. Expect Montreal to throw the kitchen sink at Boston in the first two games, if they can win one in Boston to start the series they will be in decent shape.
Contact tom.schettino@prohockeynews.com
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