Game Thirty-Eight: Bruins vs. Habs

First Period

- The atmosphere is a tad electric tonight. Go figure.

- Bouillon in a fight is never going to end up well.

- Habs out of the gate with a vengeance, transition out if their zone has been outstanding.

- Bruins by contrast, having difficulty adjusting to Habs forechecking, Prust generates the giveaway, and Galchenyuk tosses the loose puck in front off a leg and an early 1-0 lead. Excellent start.

- Bruins with pushback here. Habs quite physical along the boards.

- Eller and Galchenyuk on fire. Eller doesn't get half the recognition he deserves for his wonderful effort (especially the past two weeks).

- Emelin looking to make a huge hit runs into the brick wall that is Lucic. Appeared to go awkwardly into the boards. Doesn't look good for a return. That's very bad news.

- Lucic, I should add, did nothing wrong. He braced himself for the hit and sent Emelin flying.

- 5 minutes left in the first, shots are 9-2 Habs.

- As suspected the bad news confirmed, Emelin will not return tonight. Now we worry if he'll return anytime soon.

- Pretty much a perfect period for the Habs, the Eller line was excellent, the Bruins defense had trouble adjusting to the forecheck, transition from defense to offense was nearly perfect, and Price had very few, if any shots that were difficult. The question is, will the Habs have one of their second period sags tonight? Here' hoping not.

Second Period

- Ryder with an unbelievable tip off Subban's point shot. That's 32 points for Subban and counting. Crazy insane good.

- Emelin's injury means more icetime for Bouillon. That ain't good.

- Habs 2, Bruins lucky bounce 1.

- Gorges with goal save swipe on the loose puck, Price way out of position. Bullet dodged.

- Eller, who deserves a goal as much as anyone, positively robbed by Rask point blank.

- Bruins have dominated since the fluke goal. Eller line has been doing its best to regain some momentum, but they can't do it all themselves. Deshairnas line needs to show up at some point.

- Sag period for the Habs. That's the bad news. Good news is Habs still hold one goal lead heading into the third. They have surrendered very few times this season holding the lead in the final frame.

Third Period

- Hard to say if fatigue will play a deciding factor, but Gorges and Subban are going to both clock near 30 minutes of regular icetime tonight.

- Price with two tough saves, 25 footer off Chara, redirect off Campbell. Bruins getting way too many chances here, Habs playing far too defensive. Seems like only a matter of time before Boston scores, Canadiens need game changing play or shift to keep this under control.

- Of the 23 shots taken by the Bruins, 12 have come from a defenseman.

- Great shift by Eller line. Let's hope that generates some badly needed momentum.

- Ryan White, you'll not get a prettier setup. Gotta cash that in.

- Habs have to grind something out. Sitting on the lead never leads to anything good.

- Six and a half left. I can't see them holding on to this. Hoping I'm wrong.

- 242 seconds life. Habs are simply holding on at this point. When they aren't dumping they're icing. Oy.

- Refs put away their whistles until the 59 minute mark. Oy.

- The Bruins absolutely butchered that 6 on 4 powerplay. Habs get monumental victory.

Gameday Game Preview

I tried getting a ticket for tonight's game. Heaven knows I tried. Unfortunately I haven't a spare $300 to see the game from the 400 section. I certainly don't have $800 sitting around for a good seat. Ugh. The perils of seeing a first place team, I suppose.

Thomas Plekanec skated with the team this morning and is probable to start tonight. Thank goodness.

More later.

Gameday Lineups

Boston:
1st: Lucic - Krejci - Horton;
2nd: Marchand - Seguin - Jagr;
3rd: Pandolfo- Peverley - Daugavins
4th: Paille - Campbell - Thornton

Defense:
Chara - Hamilton;
Ference - Seidenberg;
Bartkowaki - Boychuk

Tuukaa Rask shall start.

Montreal:
- Uncertain because Pleks isn't yet 100% confirmed. If he doesn't start then expect pretty much the same lineup as the Jets' game.