Game Seven - EC Semi Finals: Habs vs. Bruins

 

Montreal 3, Boston 1:

THIRD PERIOD:

- Habs have been here before. They know what they must do to finish this out. Now, they must execute.

- According to Extra Skater, Habs win expectancy is 71%. Those are good odds, if not totally irrelevant. But still, good.

- Can we have some powerplay production?? Now would be a pretty much a perfect time.

- Passing lanes pretty open for Bruins - getting long range shots away, but those are always dangerous against this bigger Boston team.

- Bruins shortening their bench, and pinching defense agressively. Could tie the game or give Habs lots of odd man breaks.

- Price on Iginla. Was that the save that wins the series?

- Game mired a bit right now, in a slogging battle for the puck. Habs not entirely sitting on this, but are being very, very cautious when they have possession. Too cautions. Not many pucks are being directed towards Rask, which I think is a mistake. There's a bad goal there just begging to be scored.

- Game very slow

- Habs have to forecheck now as if their lives depend on it. Actually, their lives, at least this season, depends on it.

- Boychuck with a massively large interference call on Bournival. Boychuck did it because he knew he was beat. With four and a half minutes left in the third, the Habs with a huge opportunity to strike a dagger into the Bruins' heart. Here we go.

- Briere. Unbelievable. Off Chara. A bad goal. The dagger through the Bruins heart.

- An amazing game by a team that's astounding the hockey world. With the Rangers the next opponent, the Habs are automatically the odds on favorite to advance to the Stanley Cup Final. Incredible. Overjoyed.

SECOND PERIOD:

- Fair to assume that first period didn't go down well with the Bruins. Fair to also say they talked about it in the dressing room. Also fair to assume they'll come out with fury to start the second. Habs must buckle down and prepare for the storm building on the horizon.

- Habs first period Corsi totals, 55%. That's very, very good.

- Wow. Marchand with an incredibly dumb spray on Price, and gets nailed. 

- Habs powerplay still firing blanks, but on the upside, it's not helping the Bruins generate badly needed momentum.

- Now they're getting traction. Here come the Bruins.

- Yeah, Bruins are discovering their game here, getting most of the zone. 

- Gionta, bless him, tries so hard, but brings so little to the goal scoring table. Just doesn't have the finishing polish - more aptly, the shot, to covert his chances.

- Canadiens lost their speed game this period, wondering if they came out just a little too fast to start the game.

- Bruins roll the dice with a tired line off an icing, and don't call for time. Therrien sends out his scoring line, and exhausted Boston line can't clear. Pacioretty finishes. 2-0.

- Really good PK by Habs. Bruins couldn't set up in the Montreal zone. 

- Terrible penalty for Paciorerty to take. Opens the door for a reeling Bruins team that was on the hook.

- Habs PK can't clear, get pinned, Iginla tips the puck past Price. Unstoppable. 2-1.

- Still happy with how the Habs played in that period, powerplay goal aside. Habs are working hard to protect the passing lanes and block shots. Price looks calm and collected. If you were to offer this team a one goal lead in the deciding game against the Boston Bruins, they would have taken it. 20 minutes left. 20 long minutes for a possible berth into the Conference Final.

- Briere. How about that. Off Chara. Wow. 3-1.

- Oy. Markov with an interference. 121 seconds left. Hold on.

FIRST PERIOD:

- No Seidenberg tonight for the Bruins, not that it's a surprise. But Julien kind of mused about it today, for whatever reason.

- Habs going with same defensive set as Monday night. No surprise there, either.

- Same forward sets in lineup. That means, no Moen tonight. So it's full steam forward, same troops, live or die with what you've got, with what worked.

- Bruins going with the same lineup tonight, including Bartkowski and Miller as the 3rd D pairing. That's a lot of inexperience to depend on, but Julien is sticking with 'em.

- Are we having fun yet? You know, win or lose, these are the games you live your whole life to watch. So enjoy it folks. Enjoy.

- Good, fast start for the Habs, transition has been crisp.

- Wow. Habs dump the punk in, Prust totally beats the slow Bruins D, and Briere with a sweet feed,to Weise. The first goal. An ideal start. Crowd is now quiet - stunned, even.

- Habs are totally outskating the Bruins just about every place on the ice. Don't know what the deal is with Boston, but they look slow, maybe even nervous?

- No goal scored on first powerplay, but Habs were winning just about every puck battle and race. 

- Period so far very similar to game 6, which was played on Habs terms. Bruins have to be worried that the game might be slipping away. We'll see how they rebound. They will rebound. 

- Habs breakouts have been incredible. Boston just plain slow. It's perplexing. I was expecting a whole lot more from them.

- Chara gets nailed for a hold. Not a marginal call. It's indicative of how the Habs are outworking the Bruins.

- Habs powerplay stumbles, but the point stands. If Montreal were told in advance tonight that the best thing going for the Bruins in game 7 was their penalty kill, they'd take that in a heartbeat.

- That period was just about as good as the Habs could hope for. They took the initiative, totally outskated the Bruins, won most of the battles along the boards. And, perhaps most critically, scored the first goal. We all know how important scoring first has been in this series. Habs have set the tone, they must continue to play the same game for the 2nd and 3rd periods - if they do, they will be in an excellent position of winning.


GAME 7 PREVIEW:

Do exactly what you did Monday night.

Puck drops at 7:10 EST.

Game Ten: Ducks vs. Habs

Third Period:

- Advanced stats virtually unchanged through 40. Combined Corsi 58.0%, 57.1% Fenwick, Habs.

- A stunning 120 foot tape to tape pass by Subban to Bourque for clear cut break. Bourque can't cash it.

- The Ducks, quite frankly, have been out-muscled tonight.

- Just as I post the previous post, Gorges with a poor turnover creates an odd man break for the Ducks, Maroon finishes a nice setup by Bonino. Price no chance.

- And here we go. Bouruqe with a lazy trip and the Ducks go back to the powerplay, with the wind now picking up their sails. 

- That huge save by Hiller on Eller in the 2nd looking a bit more important now, isn't it?

- Do I dare mention Chris Lee has called a good game tonight? 

- Bourque out of the box. Literally 5 seconds later, redemtion. Game. Set. Match. 

- Can we now enjoy these last few minutes of Saku? The only thing we're missing is a Koivu goal.

- Fans chanting Saku, wanting to see him one final shift.

- Here he is. And the applause.

- Thank you Saku, there'll never be another one like you.

Second Period

- First period combine, 59.1% Corsi, 57.1% Fenwick. Both Habs. So confirmation that the first 20 was a one-sided affair.

- Habits continue to die hard. Habs coming out flat and passive to start the 2nd period. Feh.

- The only thing stopping the Habs from giving this one away is terrible puck control by the Duck in Montreal's zone. Not able to muster very many quality chances.

- Anaheim losing most of the puck battles. It's slowly suffocating their offense.

- 5 on 3, big chance to "put them away" right here.

- Gionta. Finally, Habs capitalize.

- Props to Hiller for that piece of robbery on Eller. Down by three, some might not have the effort left in their bodies.

Bournival looks like he's been on the Habs powerplay all year. There's no way Thierrien can keep him out of the lineup if this continues. When the injuried bodies come back to play, who's going to be the odd guy out? (*cough* Bourque *cough*).

- Habs sitting back final three minutes of the second, but Price is sharp. 

- Not quite as dominating as the first, but the Habs held their own, took advantage of their 5 on 3, and for once, hold a comfortable lead with 20 minutes left. Impressive night for Montreal, uninspired night for Anaheim.

First Period:

- Ah, Chris Lee. Our arch-nemesis. We meet again.

- Ooh, early penalty to Ducks' Perreault. Let's see how bad their PK really is.

- Holy moly, Therrien starts the Eller line first!!

- No goals, but nice puck rotation by Habs to get two quality point shots on Hiller.

- Desharnais is just a simple defensive check for any loose puck in front of the opposing net. Just a simple push and he's flat on his butt. No chance, and more importantly, no realistic way that he could ever score a garbage goal.

- Eller does a magnificent job driving the goal coming off the wing, generating two quality shots. 

 - Wow. Great blind feed by Koivu to Cogliano, post hit. Classic Saku Koivu. 

- Desharnais with the semi break, did everything humanly possible to push the puck past the line, Hiller kept it out.

- Beaulieu has no business being on the powerplay, his shot is too weak. As I type that in, a Beaulieu shot is tipped in by Bournival, and Habs take deserved 1-0 lead.

- Eller nabbed for a hook, League's worst rated PP goes to work.

- Yeah. That's one big-time struggling specialty unit. Ducks completely disorganized.

- Another high quality shift by Bournival, who intercepts a horrible clearance pass by Getzlaf, makes a perfect cross-ice pass to Plekanec, who fires a bullet under the bar. 2-0. One goal and one assist for the kid.

- Impressive bounce-back period for the Habs, vastly outplaying the Ducks almost the entire frame. Shots 10-7 Habs, but it was much more lobsided, possession-wise. The Habs Achilles heel, the 2nd period, will tell the story.

Gameday Game Preview:

So much is overshadowing this game - well, it's one thing really; Saku Koivu, who is making quite possibly his final visit to play on Montreal ice. The atmosphere around the Bell Centre today, with scores of fans coming out to steal a peek and maybe pick up a precious autograph, is indicative of just how significant a mark Koivu made, and ultimately left in Montreal. He is, and will forever be, one of the most popular individuals to ever play for this franchise, and I fully expect the greeting he receives tonight from the crowd to be nothing short of overwhelming. It had better be. 

However. There is a game to be played. The Ducks are off to a pretty good start this year, with Bruce Bordreau settling in nicely behind the bench since taking over last season. With 7 wins in their first 9 games, Anaheim sits in 2nd place in the very tough Pacific Division. The Ducks' big-named players have been producing nicely this season, with Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf leading the way in team scoring. Also producing is center Mathieu Perreault, and the always dangerous and speedy Jakov Silfverberg. And of course, the other Ducks' Finn sensation, Teemu Selanne. Anaheim has two very dangerous scoring lines, although Bordeau relies heavily on the Getzlaf line, which is averaging near or over 20 minutes ice time per game.

The Ducks' fast start is reflected by their possession and zone dominance stats. 6th overall League Corsi and Fenwick combined ratings. The one weak spot for the Ducks are their specialty teams - the powerplay is currently ranked worst at a paltry 8.3%, their PK isn't fairing much better, 24th overall at a less-than-mediocre 77% success rate.

Over on the Habs side, the hot topic continues to be injuries, and their impact on the starting lineup. It's expected that Therrien will post the same lineup tonight that he used on Tuesday against the Oilers. Players to watch include the Eller/Galchenyuk/Gallagher line, which (please please please) we hope will be utilized as the Habs first line powerplay unit. The usual underperforming suspects should also be observed - Rene Bourque, who's in one of his usual funks, and David Desharnais, who's off to what could fairly be described as a disastrous start to his 2013-14 season. One point in nine games isn't going to cut it, nor is it providing anything close to the offense the Habs require to compete over 60 minutes. The Eller line can only pull so much slack - something's gotta give.

Keys to watch are the production of Anaheim's first two lines (and the Habs ability to contain them), and specialty units - can the Habs exploit the Ducks' weakest link?

In the nets tonight are Carey Price for the Habs, and Jonas Hiller for the Ducks.

Puck drops 7:40 EST.

Thursday News and Notes:

- Saku is back! The second-worst move on the Bob Gainey era - that being, letting one of the finest centers and captains to ever wear le blue-blanc et rouge, simply walk away (I'll let you figure out Gainey's worst move), makes his return to the Bell Centre tonight! There were about 50 or so fans out at the Centre this morning looking for Saku and maybe an autograph or two. The presence of the Captain with the heart of a lion has never really left this city, so if you thought the applause at the Bell for Roman Hamrlik the other night was rousing, just wait for tonight. You ain't heard nothing yet.

- Morning skate: George Parros was there, which is a good thing. He seems awfully close to returning, and given how thin the roster has been getting, any warm hockey-able bodies are sorely welcome.

More later, including game preview!