I’ve got you babe. I’ve got you babe.
It’s time to do it all over again. The Boston Bruins and the Montreal Canadiens in a first-round playoff series, with just a little twist from last season. This year, the Bruins will be the heavily favored top seed while the Habs will be the eighth-seeded upstarts.
The Habs were relegated to the eighth spot when they lost to Pittsburgh last night, 3-1. Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette has the complete story.
Opinion: I’ll expand on this prediction a little later. But I’ve got …

I’d have to say… last night was one of the more exciting nights of hockey we’ve seen this season. The games in New York and Boston especially had a playoff feel.
Montreal/Boston
Please, please, please meet up in the 1st round! Although the refs let that game get out of hand last night, those first 2 periods were awesome with all the scrums & fights. The Lucic take down on Komisarek was cheap, but classic. Those two for sure have a rivalry within the rivalry. Ryan O’Byrne’s scrum with Shawn Thornton was …

Well, one way or another we now know that Toronto head coach Ron Wilson will be coaching meaningful games in the winter of 2010.
While we don’t know how his Maple Leafs will fare in their first full season under general manager Brian Burke, but Wilson will be coaching the U.S. National team at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Opinion: I don’t get this selection at all. Wilson is a good coach, but with Peter Laviolette out there and unemployed he would’ve made sense as a guy with real time to devote …

Those hoping to grab some hot wings and beef on weck during the Boston Bruins’ first-round playoff series might be greatly disappointed. The Buffalo Sabres are still four points out of the eighth and final playoff spot after coming up short, 3-2, against New Jersey last night.
Buffalo head coach Lindy Ruff even “rested” goaltender Ryan Miller for the third period with the Sabres down 3-0. But the goaltender took some of the blame as well.
“We got off to a tough start, for sure,” said Miller in John Vogl’s piece in …

Could the Boston Bruins be headed toward a first-round playoff series with Buffalo? It’s funny, because the Bruins will actually have a say in the matter with games today against the New York Rangers, Montreal Thursday and Buffalo next Saturday, Boston will practically be hand picking its opponent.
The Sabres, four points behind the Rangers for eighth in the Eastern Conference entering today’s action, kept their hopes alive last night with a thrilling overtime win over Washington. Tim Connolly turned a Capitals turnover into the game-winning goal by Jason Pominville. Mike …

The Boston Bruins obviously have bigger fish to fry the next couple weeks in the regular season and then during, what they hope will be, their lengthy playoff run.
But it doesn’t hurt to take a look ahead to next year a bit and wonder what the Northeast Division will look like. And one club that will probably be more of a factor is Toronto — at least if general manager Brian Burke has his way.
The Leafs were mathematically eliminated — a foregone conclusion for months now — the other night …

Devils’ struggles continue
Whatever you think of New Jersey’s recent 6-game losing streak, you can’t put the blame on Marty Brodeur. His defense in front of him has been non-Devil like. They’re giving up nearly 36 shots a game in the last 8 games, which they’ve lost 7. Also, the offense has run dry as they’ve scored a grand total of 7 goals during this losing streak. And it’s interesting to point out that these struggles have come immediately after Brodeur’s celebratory 552nd win.
Last year they had a brutal 5-game losing …

It was a very entertaining hockey game tonight: two teams battling for a playoff spot; two good coaches; two excellent goalies. Despite the loss, there were positives for the Canadiens.
Bob Gainey has to be pleased that his team took five of six points this week. He should be happy that at times, they are playing closer to their potential and look like a completely different team than under their previous coach.
It was an exciting first period. The Habs played well outshooting Buffalo 12-to-8. Carey Price and Ryan Miller traded great …