Wamsley01

No. Just figuring out new ways to make myself right.

What if I told you I was in Australia and it is 2:41 AM on Thursday right now? Not so right now, are you!

My gut reaction is to say that if they lose tonight they are finished, but this team plays well every time the media/fanbase buries them. They will win tonight.

When you have a shooter closed out with zero options it shouldn't go in. He had the horizontal and vertical plane covered and there was no pass option.

The Bruins had more chances and in reality, the only reason it was a game was because Thomas was a sieve on the Plekanec/Kostitsyn goals. The Habs were full value for the 3rd period, but before the Kostitsyn goal the scoring chances were 13-4 for the Bruins. Price was fantastic, but a bad bounce of the boards and a puck handling brain fart hid how good he was. Meanwhile Thomas wasn't challenged through 30 minutes but looks like a star because of the 36 shot number. http://enattendantlesnordiques.blogspot.com/2011/04/30133-boston-4-montreal-2.html The Habs didn't deserve to win that game and the first 30 minutes cost them.

Hard to say. The Habs looked very sloppy with the puck in the first. Price made some big saves and the Bruins had a little puck luck on goals 2 and 3. Then Thomas gave up two brutal goals to let the Habs back in the game. I think it is pretty clear that the first goal is going to determine the winner of the majority of these games. I wanted them to get out of the first period even, I knew the Bruins would come out hard. This team doesn't believe in doing things the easy way, Thursday becomes integral now. They need to match their intensity from games one and two.

That is TMZ type nonsense. Don't speculate on such garbage without some sort of corroborating evidence. It is pushing an agenda to present Chara as a gentle giant, why? No clue.

I think I'm calling BS on this one. Since he decapitated Pacioretty. 15 GP 3G 9A 12 PTS +12

That is Bob Ryan. He is old school and the Pat Hickey of Boston. He is biased and reacting on emotion and disgust. What he thinks is totally irrelevant.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that the media is cherry picking stats they WANT to be true. This reminds me a little of the 1995 Stanley Cup Finals where the Devils choked out Detroit and nobody could understand how this 120 pt juggernaut was getting schooled by the barely .500 Devils. How could this talented Red Wings team not be destroying these no-name guys? It was the same type of noise from the media. They need to get traffic in front, make life difficult, he can't see what he can't stop. Bowman even suggested the Wings can trap too. At that point I knew they were toast. When the coach of the overwhelming favourite decides to alter the game plan to match the underdog then you are looking at a team who is lost for a solution. I am not suggesting this Habs team is cup bound, but that team commitment is the most important factor in hockey. The thing that everybody is constantly forgetting is that the Bruins have not manned up on ice yet. Every time the Canadiens beat the Bruins, their reaction is to not beat them, it is to beat them up. The Habs aren't playing that game and the Bruins look confused. I don't want to be overly confident, but the Bruins have shown me no reason to expect them to bounce back. I am not stupid enough to get to over confident after watching teams come back from 3-0 and 3-1. If Julien is able to buck the trend and recognize a tactical weakness and expose it, then everything changes, but if they continue to use the same game plan, they are done.

BTH's post just goes to show how flawed the TSN/Sportsnet preview model is. Not only are all the analysts under informed, but their bias leads them to reject a probable outcome. It isn't like the Canadiens over the last two seasons have proven that their is some sort of kryptonite quality to the way they have been assembled in regards to the Bruins Lets disregard one of the biggest factors in a short series over 7 points and some myths about size. It devolves into not what might happen, but what they want to happen. The hockey math nerds have done studies that prove that performance entering the playoffs is not an indicator of playoff success, and with confirmation bias everybody who picked the Sabres to beat the Flyers will think it is because they finished strong, not the fact that Pronger missed the first half of the series. If you want to be successful in playoff pools, here is the formula. Hammer the obvious series (Vancouver/Chicago and Detroit Phoenix) and then go opposite the media majority in the other ones. That will leave you with better odds because it will eliminate everybody who followed the popular majority.

First off, it was Bob Ryan, he should stick to basketball, his hockey opinion is of zero importance. Remember, the mainstream media called the Devils an average/crappy team in 1994-95. Just because one doesn't want to believe a team is good, doesn't mean it isn't. 87% of teams taking a 2-0 lead on the road win the series. We have now witnessed the Habs blow the last two series that they took the first 2 on the road. The Rangers in 1996 and the Hurricanes in 2006. Will it happen a 3rd time? I don't think it will. After witnessing the 96 and 06 series if you analyze the result, then it could lead to worry, but if you analyze what happened, then a different story emerges. Even though they lead the Rangers series, I never felt comforable, especially considering that the Habs blew a 3-0 lead and barely recovered to win Game 2 late. With an OT win in Game 1, that series was one that both games were not settled until the late stages/OT. The same type of thing emerged in Carolina. They blew out Martin Gerber and then hacked up a 3-0 lead, trailed 4-3, jumped back out in front and then blew the game in the final 10 seconds. Those series offered significant push back from their opponents regardless of whether the Habs scored first or not. They did not maintain the tempo in 3 of the 4 games and were under constant duress. In both of those series the other team had the better goaltender (Richter>Thibault and Ward>Huet). They lead the series 2-0 in both cases, but as a fan I felt fortunate for the to be up that much. This series has featured little resistance from the Bruins and while the shocked media would like you to believe it is because of the effort/compete level of the Bruins, at some point they are going to have to recognize what the Canadiens are doing to nullify their strengths. With both games on the line in the 3rd period the Habs have outshot the Bruins 17-8. Could breaks get the Bruins back in the series? Sure they could, the Canes needed Ward to stand on his head and Koivu to almost lose an eye to bounce back, but the Canes were a better team than this Bruins squad. What I have seen over the last two games is classic 1980's Canadiens shut down hockey. Ignore the shot clock/misses/blocks, through two games the Bruins have 31 scoring chances, the Habs have 28. Considering the Habs have had the lead for all but 3 minutes of the series that number is significant. Contrast that to the first two games last season where the Caps outchanced the Habs 58-35 through two games. (http://enattendantlesnordiques.blogspot.com/). In order to maintain success against the Caps last season the Habs needed to be extremely opportunistic. 8 goals in 35 chances? That was close to scoring on 25% of their chances. The Caps scored on 14% through the first 2 games. In 2011 that number has dropped to 16% for the Habs. One is possible to maintain, the other defies statistical odds and is why sites like behind the net kept calling for the death of the Habs during last seasons playoff run. Anybody who believes in karma has to have taken notice of Chara getting sick in the playoffs. If I am the Habs I treat Game 3 like Game 7. You cannot allow the Bruins any life and have to place their foot on their throat tonight. I will be surprised if the Habs do not win this series.

Believe CC. You and I have been personally talking about the Devils model for 4 years. It took Gainey acquiring two ex-Devils to set the table, but he did it. When will everybody get over the hurt of 1999-2009. This team continually out Performs expectations. Believe And adjust from there.

That is weak. You sit beside Brad Marchand and you don't like Subban because he dove? You sit beside Chara who almost killed a guy and you don't like Subban because he dove? Pouliot punched you in the face and knocked you on your ass and not a bad word? Athletes are fools. Provide the soundbyte and look like an idiot. You just gave the reporter exactly what he wanted when he brought up Subban. The Bruins assaulted numerous Habs and not a f@#king word. There is nothing I want more than to watch these idiots head down shaking hands as another season ends. It is embarrassing. Take it like a man. You lost Game 1. On to the next one.

I didn't find it that stressful that the Bruins were content with controlling the perimeter. Olivier at En attendant les Nordiques had the chances at 19-15 for the Bruins. Perfect road game and a Devils special. http://enattendantlesnordiques.blogspot.com/2011/04/30131-montreal-2-boston-0.html I am quickly becoming a fan of James Murphy on ESPN.com Boston. The guy is capable of following a series without his homer glasses on. His series preview was much of the same. Level headed analysis.

2007 Hamilton Bulldogs. 6 seed. Just sayin.

That wasn't a stolen game. The scoring chances were fairly even. The game is 60 minutes, I am not going to take a capsule of 5-10 minutes in the second period to base my opinion. The first period was even and the third period the same. The Habs directed 43 shots at Thomas and the Bruins directed 59 at Price. At even strength the numbers drop to 52 to 39. The Bruins were down 1-0 in the 3rd period and got 5 shots. With the game on the line the Bruins created NOTHING. I will take that differential, it is nowhere near the crazy differentials from last season.

Like I have said numerous times, the Bruins don't have Esposito, Cashman and Orr. Jesus, they don't even have Neely, Oates and Bourque. Their top line is Lucic, Krejci and Horton. They have a solid team, but I never felt like the Habs were hanging on for dear life like I did with Washington. They are a throwback 70s Bruins lunch bucket team. They need to outwork you to beat you and they didn't want to pay the price tonight. Too many people are too busy worrying about what the Habs aren't to worry about what the Bruins aren't. They are going to grind out all their goals, not strike out of the blue like the Capitals did last season. If the Habs get up 5-2 on Saturday like they did against the Caps, the lights are out, there will not be a comeback. None of this is suggesting that the Bruins are finished in this series, there is no way that was their ultimate effort, but I can't help but notice the different look this team presents than the 2008-09 team that had Savard and Kessel. Savard was a very creative player who could find openings anywhere. He could pull the Gretzky curl and identify the trailer or he could draw defenders and spot the open man. His cross crease feeds to Kessel were devastating. Anybody who values micro stats knows that the Bruins had a very high shooting percentage this season, a number that has fluctuated wildly over the last 4 seasons. When it is high they have won the division, when it dipped to normal levels they were a low seed. It will be interesting to see how that plays out over the next 6 games. They don't scare me and I think that is because the Habs are better than they were last season and the Bruins are nowhere near as good as the 2010 Capitals. 50/50 if the Bruins put on their hard hats. If they don't, they are in big trouble.

I didn't think they had a ton of good chances. Outside of Marchand's flub with the open net, I thought most of their flurries were controlled and Price was a positional beast tonight. If the Habs could have buried 2-3 glorious chances this one would have never been in doubt.

I hate to analyze body language or interpret feelings, but when are the Bruins going to stop this child like nonsense when they don't get their way? They seem to be easily frustrated, can they be that mentally soft?

That was textbook 2010 playoffs. All perimeter based on ESPN's gamecast.

Thank you Timmy THomas! That is horrific and I'll take it. Shocking. The Habs are frustrating the Bruins and what do we get? Nonsense.

Brutal Sopel turnover. I don't like how they are just chipping it out in the second half of the third. They have had a couple of transition opportunities and they have just flipped it into the neutral zone.

They could use Halpern, they are getting buried in the faceoff circle.

How can the Bruins be upset about that penalty? It is a carbon copy of the Hamrlik penalty in the 1st.