Montreal Canadiens vs. Boston Bruins reaches game 7

Special teams are killing the Bruins 

They outplayed Montreal last night but could not deal with a Canadien power play unit that scored its only two goals with the man advantage.  And what an advantage the Montreal Canadiens got last night.  Perhaps the worst thing to happen to the Boston Bruins appeared to be a gift at the time when Tim Thomas uncharacteristically misplayed a long booming shot by Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta swooped in to bury the rebound.  The referee however, had whistled the play dead when they believed Thomas had handled and smothered the rebound. 

As the Montreal fans expressed their outrage, the Bruins had to know the referees would look to even the playing field in favor of Montreal.  Boston players would subsequently spend much of the evening in the penalty box with top gun Milan Lucic getting assessed a 5 minute major and a game misconduct for boarding Jaroslav Spacek.  Within moments Patrice Bergeron was in the box for delay of game handing the hometown Canadiens yet another two man advantage which they successfully converted.  While the Canadiens took advantage of what they were given, Boston was again stymied by the Canadiens penalty killing unit and are now 0-19 in power play opportunities for the series.

No excuses at home

With the game headed back to Boston tonight, perhaps the Bruins will finally appreciate the luxury of playing at home and use it to their advantage.  The B’s clearly outplayed Montreal last night, even outshooting the Habs despite playing shorthanded throughout the game.  Though the refs did the Bruins no favors in Game 6, Boston has only themselves to blame.  The Bruins continually find ways to give the Canadiens opportunities and it has been said only the Bruins can defeat the Bruins if they are to lose this NHL playoff series.  It appears that sentiment may be prophetic unless Boston eliminates the mistakes and bangs the body without getting ticketed to the penalty box.  Tim Thomas continues to play a crucial role in the Boston net but was outdueled in Game 6 by the brilliant play of Carey Price who stoned the B’s all night long, turning aside 31 of 32 shots. 

The Canadiens have to feel like they got away with one last night and should be burning incense and sacrificing goats at the altar of Carey Price this morning.  They used their superior special teams play to seize the moment and then retreated into their defensive shell to hold on for dear life.  However, this game will be played in the Garden where the Bruins launched 51 shots at Carey Price and finally broke the home ice curse with a 2-1 victory in Game 5.  The B’s understand they have lost their last three Game 7’s in the postseason.  Three years ago they lost to the Canadiens at Bell Centre 5-0.  They followed that up with a Game 7 loss the following year to the Carolina Hurricanes, played at the Garden incidentally.  And finally the epic collapse last year when leading the series 3-0 over the Flyers, the Bruins subsequently lost their next four games, with the denouement taking place in Boston.  After the Bruins built a 3-0 lead, the Garden crowd was raucous and already celebrating but then the Game 7 curse came roaring back, as did the Flyers, and the B’s fell 4-3 becoming only the third team in NHL history to lose a series after winning the first three games.

So what happens tonight?  Does the Game 7 curse continue for the Bruins or do the Bruins prove once and for all they are the better team by overcoming their special teams’ deficiencies and staying out of the penalty box?  I believe the Bruins are too good to allow their northern neighbors to steal another one.  Play the B’s and lay the lumber tonight in Boston. A lot of the talk in the forum is on the Habs and I seem to be going against Rod1010.