“Let’s play. We want to play. We got another game. We earned our chance to play today.”
Those were the words of Bob Gainey prior to the game said as if to emphasize that despite being down 3-0 in the series, that the Canadiens intended to give their best effort. Perhaps it was also a reminder that there are a number of teams who would have be glad to be in the playoffs who didn’t make it.
The game couldn’t have started any better for the Canadiens. Only 39 seconds into the …

Over the course of the next few days and weeks, we will have an opportunity to carefully review and disect the season that finished last night. For now, let’s have a quick look back at the Canadiens’ individual performances during 2009 playoff series with Boston.

We’ll never know how Mike Komisarek would’ve handled the post-series handshake after the Boston Bruins completed a four-game sweep tonight in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals at Bell Centre because the Montreal Canadiens defenseman was sent to the showers early with a game misconduct for cross checking Bruins winger Milan Lucic with 7:21 left in the contest.
We do know that Lucic had no problem, after a hard-fought series and a 4-1 Boston Game 4 win, skating through the handshake without incident, unless you count the bear hug he got from former …

In pro sports, what goes around tends to come around. So you weren’t expecting Boston Bruins head coach Claude Julien and winger Michael Ryder to publicly gloat after the Black and Gold finished off their old team the Montreal Canadiens with a 4-1 win in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series at Bell Centre.
One reporter even tried to convince Julien that Montreal head coach/general manager Bob Gainey, the man who once fired Julien, didn’t make eye contact in the postgame handshake. Julien was quick to shoot down that …

Here are five questions, and my answers, concerning the Boston Bruins and the Montreal Canadiens as they head into tomorrow night’s Game 4 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series at Bell Centre.
1. Does Montreal have a better game than the one it displayed in Game 3?
The short answer: no. The longer answer (of course) is that the Habs’ best effort of the series produced the same result as the first two games — a defeat. Now that they’re down 0-3, it’s unlikely they’ll be able to muster enough energy for …

They are who we thought they were!
They are the Boston Bruins. The number one team in the East; a team with tremendous depth up front, a good combination of size and speed on the blueline, a consistent and reliable goaltender, effective special teams, a great coach, some scorers, some playmakers, some grinders, some speedsters etc.
I can’t figure out why people are so surprised at the dominance shown in the first two games of this series. Look at the San Jose Sharks. They have been arguably the best team and have …

After the game, Hockey Night in Canada reporter extraordinaire Elliotte Friedman asked Bob Gainey “Aside from penalty killing, what else can team do better?” Gainey’s answer was simple and direct “Listen to the coach.”
I suspect that the Canadiens were listening to their coach and following the game plan for the first ten minutes of the game. The Habs were skating, forechecking and carrying the play. Shots on goal were 8-to-2 for the Canadiens. Tim Thomas looked beatable.
The Bruins then got their first of five power-play opportunities. Metropolit failed to clear …

The joy of the Boston Bruins’ 5-1 win over Montreal in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series tonight at TD Banknorth Garden was tempered a bit by a late-game hit Milan Lucic made on Canadiens agitator Maxim Lapierre with 4:32 left in the game.
Lapierre skated at Lucic in front of the Montreal goal after Lucic and Habs defenseman Mathieu Schneider exchanged pleasantries. You can see the hit in the clip below, but Lucic seemed to catch Lapierre in the head with either his glove or his stick. Either …

Let’s cut right to the good news. Boston Bruins team physician Dr. Peter Asnis confirmed that after having a splenectomy at approximately 1 p.m. today, defenseman Matt Hunwick is resting comfortably in his room at Mass. General Hospital.
Asnis said the procedure went “very uneventfully.” As for the other major thing you’re worried about as you read this, Hunwick is out indefinitely based on his recovery time.
“He is out and his return date will be determined based on how he does,” said Asnis. “There’s no answer. It is possible, depending on …

We’ve all heard the cliché that you’re not in trouble until you lose at home, but does even the most cockeyed optimist believe that the Canadiens can win this series if they go down 2-0? I know it’s been done, but really…this team? I don’t know.
To me, today is a must-win for the Habs. I hate calling a game a “must” win because it’s not really a “must” until after you’ve lost 3 games, but a 1-1 split is a totally different world than an 0-2 hole.
I thought the Canadiens …

There’s sure to be some questionable ice quality when the Boston Bruins and Montreal Candiens hit the TD Banknorth Garden rink tonight for Game 2 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.
The Boston Celtics will host the Chicago Bulls in Game 1 of their conference quarterfinal series starting at 12:30 p.m. — creating a rare instance that both teams play on the same day with the Bruins going second. The Bruins game is scheduled for 8 p.m. mostly to accommodate the CBC Hockey Night in Canada broadcast.
“I don’t think it’s going …