Bruins

As you read these words, Bob Gainey and Guy Carbonneau are meeting the players who won't be making the trip to Mont Tremblant.

Matt D'Agostini.

Ben Maxwell.

Gregory Stewart.

Never a pleasant task, but that's hockey ... especially with a loaded team like your Montreal Canadiens.

"Nobody feels comfortable," Guy Carbonneau said, summing up the training camp's Darwinian nature.

"When we started camp, we had 52 players. All of them want to be in the NHL. That's where 21,000 people are yelling. That's where they make the money."

For some, the roar of the crowd and ka-ching of the bank balance will have to wait.

But maybe not for long.

Headed up north for bonding: Yannick Weber (Francis Bouillon was injured tonight), Kyle Chipchura, Max Paciorett.

Still a Canadien: Mathieu Dandenault, who played more than 18 minutes on D, showcased, perhaps, for a pressbox full of pro scouts.

Audio from the room and Carbo's press conference:

• The coach

• The Captain, Parts I and II

• Christopher Higgins on line chemistry

• Jaroslav Halak on a solid start

• Alex Tanguay (in the mellifluous language of Molière)

A few Canadiens and head coach Guy Carbonneau weigh in on the challenge that awaits them starting tonight at the Bell Centre. Game 1 against the Philadelphia Flyers will be more than just stopping Daniel Brière.

(And to the Flyers fans who have been emailing since I suggested that Canadiens fans boo Brière for having flipped away Carey Price's first shutout puck two months ago: it was tongue in cheek, people, and while I appreciate your advice, I'm afraid it's anatomically impossible.)

• Carbo • Bryan Smolinski • Andrei Markov • Josh Gorges • Tom Kostopoulos

Here's really why the Canadiens won last night, this emai received before the game from Inside/Out reader Christopher Borrelli:

This should focus on the hockey game, which was a great win and another manifestation of Guy Carbonneau's coaching acumen and his team's character.

But the only thing everyone in Montreal will be talking about today is the post-game mini-riot that erupted downtown.

Police cars were vandalized and torched. Stores were looted. Boston fans were assaulted.

It makes me sick and saps much of the pleasure out of an evening of great hockey.

But not all of it. You're reading this for game analysis, not social commentary. So let's look back to the time between 7 and 9:30 – when the night was sweet.

Christopher Higgins went to Yale, so he probably knows what catharsis means.

Higgins and his teammates spent five games and the first period of a sixth cleansing their souls through suffering.

Thus cleansed – perhaps chastened, and certainly pissed off and egged on by a wild crowd at the Bell Centre – Canadiens rose up for the final two periods of Game 7 to smite the stubborn Bruins 5-0.

When I asked Higgins if the near-death experience against Boston would stand the team in good stead as it advanced, he said:

"It's the playoffs. It's a cliché, but there are huge ups and huge downs. We prepared for both of those, I think.

"We were on a high coming off the first two wins and a real low the last two games. It's nice to experience both in the playoffs so we know what we're facing."

Mike Komisarek didn't want to think about long-term benefits of having survived a war of attrition against the Bruins.

"You know what, I think we're still digesting this tonight," he said. "We have a day off tomorrow and it will be a well-needed rest to recharge the batteries. Mentally and physically it's been a tough series, but it'll be another great, hard-fought one starting on Thursday."

Mark Streit, like several teammates, said they key to victory was the Canadiuens' ability to exploit their speed advantage.

"We didn't do it too much since the first game," Streit said. "And (speed) is our biggest asset."

"We got away from our style since the second game," said Alex Kovalev, who had two assists and a huge night playing with Saku Koivu and Higgins. "They started playing hard against us, finishing checks, and we tried to compete the same way.

Board-rattling tests of strength, KKovalev said, "are not our game."

"Today we were able to find the game we played in thhe regular season," he added, "a fast-paced 60 minutes."

"When we got the puck we knew exactly what we wanted to do with it," said Higgins In the past we made questionable plays in the neutral zone. I think they got their offence off our turnovers in the neutral zone."

"We wanted to play a tough game," said Guy Carbonneau, "on the puck all the time, taking advantage of our speed."

By making plays through the neutral zone, Canadiens were able to use what Higgins called their "slashing speed." Canadiens, he added, were able to get the puck deep on the Boston defence, retrieve it in the corners and keep play in the Boston end.

"Our attitude was more direct in our play," Higgins said. "We learned we can't sit back in the playoffs. Playing in their end is a lot easier and a lot more fun."

It took while for the fun to begin. When Mike Komisarek opened the scoring , shots were 11-2 in favour of the Bruins. The visitors dominated the first period with the kind of take-no-prisoners forechecking that had ground down the Canadiens in Game 6.

The turning point, all agreed, was Mark Streit's highlight reel goal to make it 2-0.

"The second period was a statement period," said Komisarek. "It really paid off."

What ails the Canadiens' power play?

I'm not an X's and O's guy. But you would think that Guy Carbonneau and his staff would have come up with something after watching the league's leading PP stifled for six games.

One thing I noticed watching Calgary and San Jose last night: I'd had too much Stoly to remember whether it was the Flames or Sharks, but players at the point were directing rising wristers into the traffic in front of the net. Scrambles and chances ensued.

Mark Streit and Andrei Markov – channelling Sheldon Souray – seem to think they can drive the puck through the eight legs and four sticks the Bruins have set up in front of Tim Thomas.

Similarly, maybe Alex Kovalev, working from his favourite spot on the half-boards, ought to try a few lobs into the crease.  Because his shots aren't working.

Smack Phil Kessel.

Smack him early and smack him hard.

Kessel has the rep of being a soft player. It's time to test his mettle.

It's also time to make the Canadiens zone a hazardous area for Bruins skaters. While Zdeno Chara and Aaron Ward have been happily mugging Alex Kovalev and Andrei Kostitsyn, fancy skaters like Kessel, David Krecji and Vladimir Sobotka have zipped around Carey Price like it's the f.ing Ice Capades. 

There's not a lot you can do when Milan Lucic goes to  the net. But Canadiens have to make the lightweights pay the price. 

A capsule look at Monday's Game 7 between the Canadiens and the Boston Bruins. You'll note that Alex Kovalev has played in five Game 7s and has a perfect winning record.

RDS reports Patrice Bergeron may play in Game 7.

Because Canadiens fans need a laugh even more than we needed one on Friday, here's Kovalev II.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=cQDpr2Msp78

The Canadiens will have the advantage of diminished expectations tomorrow night: No one in the 514 or 450 area codes thinks they'll win.

We know our hockey in these parts. We have sensitive noses.

Montrealers smell something this morning. And it's not the Cup.

Oh sure, they'll play the videos and pump up the music and wave the white towels at a sold-out Bell Centre. But there is little reason to hope that Game 7 will be any different than the five that have preceded it.

The Canadiens dominated the series opener, but their game began to deteriorate in Game 2. This thing has gone so far south Canadiens can hear the squawk of penguins, and they're not in Pittsburgh.

One of the great quotes in sports is attributed to a BBC announcer who, on the eve of the 1966 World Cup final between England and West Germany, said:

"And if on the morrow it should come to pass that the Germans defeat us at our national game, let us take comfort from the fact we beat them at theirs .... twice."

No comfort if – I'm tempted to write "when" – the Bruins win tomorrow. Instead, a pall of gloom will hang over this hockey-mad city; and it won't lift until the Jazz Festival, if then.

(BTW, England won 4-2.)

Only those Canadiens who did not play last night – which suggests Guillaume Latendresse, Ryan O'Byrne, Michael Ryder and a half-dozen or so Hamilton Bulldogs callups – will practice this afternoon in advance of tomorrow's seventh game against the Boston Bruins.

Coach Guy Carbonneau and a select number of players will meet the media in the late afternoon. We'll update the news at that time. 

Canadiens come home reeling in a series they led 3-1.

The Bruins scored four – FOUR! – third period goals to even the series and force Game 7 Monday night.

If there are ghosts in the Bell Centre, they'd better suit up because Boston has taken control of this series.

Canadiens tried. Saku Koivu played well in his return, Christopher Higgins scored twice, Francis Bouillon got one.

Tomas Plekanec played his heart out and scored Canadiens' second goal.

But the team in white blew leads of 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2. As was the case in Game 5, Canadiens couldn't seal the deal. 

Don't blame Carey Price for this debacle. Canadiens defensive zone play was pathetic in the third period. Marco Sturm scored the winner after an extended period of territorial domination, which began with Alex Kovalev's failure to clear the zone.

Kovalev and Andrei Kostitsyn were minus-3 on the game. Brutal. 

The Canadiens' leading scorer was invisible tonight ... and unless Kovalev shows up Monday ...

Canadiens captain Saku Koivu skates during this morning's workout. He's wearing protective supports across the arches of both feet.
Pierre Obendrauf, Gazette

BOSTON – Canadiens captain Saku Koivu and defencemen Francis Bouillon return to the Montreal lineup for tonight's critical Game 6 in the the Eastern Conference quarterfinal. The Habs lead the series 3-2, with a seventh game, if necessary, scheduled for the Bell Centre on Monday.

Koivu, this morning shaved down to the scalp, has been out of action since March 29, having finished a game in Buffalo vs. the Sabres the night before with a broken bone in his left foot.

He's been skating the past few days and had his first practice with the club this morning, taking part in the game-day morning workout at TD Banknorth Centre.

Bouillon has been nursing an injured right foot since taking a puck off it in Toronto on March 29.

Mark Streit, scratched with a hip injury for Game 5 in Montreal on Thursday, reportedly felt well this morning and his participation tonight will be a game-time decision.

Here's audio captured this morning:

• Saku Koivu
• Francis Bouillon
• Guy Carbonneau
• Bruins coach Claude Julien

I inadvertently screwed up this post and made everything I'd written disappear into the ether like Michael Ryder's scoring touch.

Comments are still here, though, and I've started the game blog. 

The Gazette's Herb Zurkowsky reports from the Bell Centre:

After Saku Koivu skated Friday morning with several players from the Hamilton Bulldogs, Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau left open the possibility of having the Canadiens captain return to the lineup for Saturday’s playoff game at Boston.

Koivu missed the final four regular-season games, along with the entire series against the Bruins, with a broken bone in his foot. He resumed skating this week.

The blonde hair flying, the highlight-reel goal, the crowd chanting his name ...

But Alex Kovalev is not Guy Lafleur. Tomas Plekanec is not Jacques Lemaire. Andrei Kostitsyn is not Steve Shutt.

And Mike Komsarek is not Larry Robinson. There were times last night he wasn't even Mike Komisarek. 

Nor was Jesus Price the second coming of Patrick Roy.

But hey, stuff happens. With a chance to win the series on home ice, your Montreal Canadiens mailed in a stinker.

In the first four games of the series, the team that scored first won. Not last night.

Maybe the Canadiens thought Kovy's masterpiece sealed the deal. They shared that supposition with 21,273 at the Bell Centre and everyone watching at home.

Up 1-zip. Total domination of the first period. Carey Price in goal, pulling off that miraculous save at the buzzer. No problem.

No killer instinct either. Canadiens could not put the Bruins away.

Didn't you just know, as the second period progressed, that the Bruins were hanging around and would get a tying goal?

And didn't you just know that at 1-1, the game would turn on a mistake? But who thought the home team would be the first to crack?

And after that fumbled handoff from Price to Maxim Lapierre, the deluge ...

Dumb, lazy penalties. Horsespit work ethic. No one skating.

5-1.

A butt-kicking, delivered by a team that wouldn't quit, a team that is back from the brink and looking dangerous.

You got a wounded animal, you finish him. Especially freakin' bears. 

Going back to Boston, I'd feel a lot better if the the original Démon Blond were in the lineup.

A few Canadiens and both head coaches react to the Bruins' stunning 5-1 victory after Game 5 at the Bell Centre:

• Guy Carbonneau  • Claude Julien  • Carey Price  • Bryan Smolinski  • Steve Bégin 

Steve Bégin said the Canadiens skated 20 minutes and abandoned Carey Price to the fates.

Carey Price said he rarely plays two bad games in a row ... which augurs well for a bounce back in Boston on Saturday.

Guy Carbonneau said his team was "not working, bottom line."

Bottom line is Game 6 at the TD Banknorth Garden.

There go my Passover plans.

Roly-poly Tim Thomas doesn't look like Charlton Heston. But the Bruins goaltender stopped 31 shots and led his people out of he Bell Centre to new life in Game 6.

By the time the Bruins got two late goals to blow this one open, most of the seats in the Bell Centre were empty.

"It's tough when you've got a chance to put a team away," said Price, as subdued and calm in defeat as he is after a victory. On the Glen Metropolit goal that turned the game in Boston's favour, Price said he never saw Metropolit coming to chop the puck away from Maxim Lapierre on the lip of the crease.

"I just didn't know he was there," Price said. "I had no idea. I just tried to get it out of the scramble and feed it to Max. I thought he had a whole lot of ice in front of him.

"They got another one right after that, hitting the stick and going top shelf," Price said of Zdeno Chara's blast from the point. " It's tough to get any momentum when you get a couple breaks like that."

"We skated in the first period and used our speed," said Guy Carbonneau. "We had a lot of good chances. But maybe we thought it would be easy and Carey would make all the saves."

 
"Carey has made big saves for us," said Bégin. "Tonight we left him alone.

"The whole team has to play 60 minutes for us to win. In the playoffs, if you have a one- or two-minute lapse, you're in trouble and you're in danger of losing the game.

"We didn't show up for the second period. And then we spent the third period watching them skate."

And now there are at least three more periods in this series. 

Updated at 1:50 p.m. with Julien audio 

Canadiens' Mark Streit is day-to-day with a hip injury and will yield his place in the lineup tonight to Michael Ryder, who was a healthy scratch in Game 4.

Captain Saku Koivu skated again on his own but will not be back tonight. Nor will Francis Bouillon, though he continues to make slow progress.

The Canadiens skated, sort of, this morning, some players on the ice for 10 minutes or less. For the Bruins, defenceman Aaron Ward (knee) is a game-time decision.

Here's some audio gathered in the dressing room afterward, and from the press briefings of coaches Guy Carbonneau and Claude Julien.

Ryan O'Byrne, by the way, was the latest customer in Guillaume Latendresse's barber chair. The result isn't pretty, something no self-respecting Mohawk would wear.

• Carbo • Gorges • Andrei Kostitsyn • Latendresse • O'Byrne • Kostopoulos

• Bruins head coach Claude Julien

Maybe it's too much time out in the Florida Sun.

Either that or the last man to coach a Stanley Cup winner in Boston was still chugging celebratory champagne when he talked to Dan Shaughnessy, the widely-read columnist of the Boston Globe.

Not content to reveal that Zdeno Chara is nursing a rib injury, the 75-year-old Sinden blithely told the world that he's "not a fan" of Marc Savard.

"He's one of these guys who has a good batting average but no RBIs," Sinden added.

Wow!

Can you imagine a member of the Canadiens' extended family – from Jean Béliveau down to a Bell Centre security guard – blabbing about a heretofore secret injury? Or publicly dissing one of the players?

Sure Guy Lafleur, a cum laude graduate of the Harry Sinden School of Discretion, said Canadiens had four fourth lines. But he didn't call out anyone by name.

Earth to Harry: We still love you for firing Don Cherry. But easy on the Geritol, big guy.

The Book of Ecclesiastes, as interpreted by Pete Seeger: Turn, Turn, Turn, To Everything There is a Season.

A 1-0 game in autumn is a snoozefest.

A 1-0 game in spring is a classic.

We'll be talking about that one all summer.

Both teams played their hearts out. The action was up and down. The hits were ferocious. The goaltending was superb.

And let's hear it for Teutonic officiating: Mike Hasenfratz and Don Van Massenhoven let the players play. Six minors, three to each team. No penalties called in the third period.

Few whistles. Continuous action. It was a joy to watch – the purest distillation of playoff hockey we've seen in this series.

Two OTs and a 1-0 in regulation. Can it get any better?

One goal.

One hundred great plays, by both teams.

In the purest distillation of playoff hockey we've seen in this series, Patrice Brisebois's goal stood up and Carey Price posted the first – but, trust me, not the last – playoff shutout of his career.

What a game!

After Canadiens played a textbook defensive third period but the last minute was chaotic ... and Roman Hamrlik ended up saving what would have been the tying goal.

Whew!

I need a beer.

Maybe two. 

Figure it will be a little crazy Thursday night at the Bell Centre? 

We won't know who Guy Carbonneau will play tonight until 7 p.m. Carbo says any changes are a game-time decision. But there will be no Francis Bouillon on the blue line, apparently.

Bruins coach Claude Julien says that "at this hour" he expects no lineup changes. He quickly added that this didn't mean he might use Patrice Bergeron, merely that a phone call could report a late illness.

Audio: • Guy Carbonneau • Christopher Higgins •Zdeno Chara • Claude Julien

Michel Bergeron, on the CKAC morning show, suggests Canadiens defencemen start moving forward to outnumber Bruins who are clogging the neutral zone. Hanging back on the blueline is not working.

Bergeron also pointed out that 95 per cent of goals in the playoffs are scored from within 20 feet of the net. All the cute regular-season stuff – back passes, tic-tac-toe – stops working in the playoffs. Even Pittsburgh is playing down and dirty.

The objective should be shots on goal and rebounds.

On the power play, Bergeron thinks Alex Kovalev is holding the puck too long because he doesn't have confidence in his playoff-inexperienced linemates. But by doing so,  Kovy  is making it easier for the Bruins to overplay him.

•  •  •

Best new show: I Love Lucic.

A 19-year-old fresh out of junior has everyone raving about a combination of Terry O'Reilly and Cam Neely.

Mike Komisarek, as Ricky Ricardo, is wagging his index finger while yelling "Loooooooooooochy!"

It's the other defencemen who have some 'splainin' to do. When he's on against them, Lucic makes Josh Gorges and Mark Streit look like Fred and Ethel Mertz.

•  •  •

For the final word on that pre-game nonsense in Ottawa last night, I turn to my friend and former colleague, Michael Farber of Sports Illustrated:

"Spartan was crap. Typical. Like I always say, only two western institutions understand ceremony - House of  Windsor and Montreal Canadiens."

Having come up with the rock 'em/sock 'em strategy Boston needed to slow down the Canadiens, Pierre McGuire, on Melnick's show today, talked about how to counter it.

First of all, Canadiens have to get their power play going, McGuire said. He said it was important to "get rotation", moving the puck from Alex Kovalev's favourite spot on the right side to Mark Streit or Andrei Markov for one-timers from the point. McGuire also suggested forcing play down low to the right of Tim Thomas.

Kovalev is being over-played, so McGuire says he has to think pass first, not shot. To succeed, the PP needs "hard, quick plays at the net."

In 5-on-5, McGuire says Canadiens have to play a "possession game." They should eschew dump-ins in favour of carrying the puck into the Bruins zone, even if it means peeling back in the neutral zone to reset their rush. Boston, he said, would begin running around in pursuit of the puck-carrier, and this will break up the hermetic defence the Bruins are using to clog the slot. 

•  •  •

Quote of the day: Tomas Plekanec acknowledging he's played "like a little girl" so far in the series.

No reaction yet from Hayley Wickenheiser.

•  •  •

On CKAC this afternoon, Michel Villeneuve suggested the Canadiens need a Milan Lucic and came up with a candidate: Guillaume Latendresse.

As one of their station promos, Corus Sports has to reveal their connection for weed. 

BOSTON – The buzzword in the Canadiens family last night was "regroup," as in what the club must do in order to put the brakes on the momentum the Boston Bruins have built with a stronger Game 2 and an overtime victory in Game 3.

Snapped is Montreal's 13-game winning streak over their Eastern Conference quarterfinal opponent. Restored is more than a little confidence in the Boston dressing room, a half-dozen Bruins having practised this morning at their facility in Wilmington. Audio gathered by Pat Hickey:

• Glen Metropolit • Marc Savard • Coach Claude Julien

The Canadiens did not practice, instead holding a meeting before a few players and coach Guy Carbonneau met the media. Carbo said Saku Koivu will have another X-ray tomorrow. Francis Bouillon was skating today and if he was painfree afterward, and after tomorrow morning's game-day skate, there was thought he might return to action. The coach's lineup is not yet set. He said he's thought about playing defenceman Ryan O'Byrne to provide muscle and size in an increasingly physical series.

Our audio begins with Carbo sitting behind a forest of microphones (the sound board for mic inputs not working), joking whether the assembled media had mistaken him for former Yankees and current Dodgers manager Joe Torre (hence the starting pitcher remark).

• Guy Carbonneau  • Tomas Plekanec  • Carey Price  • Tom Kostopoulos

No need to panic ... yet.

Canadiens lead the series 2-1. Last night's game could have gone either way – albeit a cruel and unjust way had the Canadiens managed a 14th consecutive conquest  of the Bruins.

But that didn't happen.  Boston scored first, which they hadn't in the last 11 games between the teams. And they scored last, a little over nine minutes into overtime.

What happened in between was playoff hockey. Physical. Nasty. Fun to watch.

On the RDS post-game show, Bob Hartley said that of the attributes teams bring to postseason hockey, hard work and dedication trump talent. That certainly seems to be the case in this series.

Milan Lucic is outplaying Alex Kovalev. The 19-year-old rookie – a 6-4, 220-lb. bruiser –  is also outplaying Tomas Plekanec, Andrei Kostitsyn, Christopher Higgins and Michael Ryder.

Talent is not only being trumped. It's being trampled by Lucic and a Boston team that is playing with a will born of desperation.

The Bruins needed last night's game. If Canadiens go up 3-0, the series is over.

They needed it, and the home team wanted it more. Lucic set the tone with some early hits on Mike Komisarek and he scored the goal that gave Boston its 1-0 lead.

All the Bruins played hard. There were no  passengers on the black-and-gold bus.

Some Canadiens matched Boston's urgency and intensity. The Bryan Smolinski-Tom Kostopoulos-Steve Bégin line was excellent again. They were on for the winning goal, but a botched line change had created havoc in the Canadiens' end.

But let's be honest, people: If the fourth line is carrying the team, Canadiens are in trouble. 

BOSTON – Apologies for the delay; Gazette deadlines take priority, and that the game went into overtime didn't help matters.

Very few Canadiens available in the dressing room after Sunday's 2-1 overtime loss, but we caught up with goalie Carey Price and defenceman Mike Komisarek, both of whom played huge roles in the contest. Carbo press conference was not recorded.

The Canadiens practice Monday at 2 p.m.; audio and news from that will be uploaded. 

• Mike Komisarek  • Carey Price 

Bruins had to win the game.

They did.

A screwed up line change in OT, a delayed penalty and Marc Savrd had an open net for the first playoff goal of his career.

As happens so often in playoff OT, Canadiens had the best of the early chances. Then a mistake and ...

Boston is back in this series.