GDT Game 1, Habs vs Bruins, 7:30 PM

[Toronthab]

I had almost no energy left to cheer.

Hahahahah!

[habs rule]

Great Forking Game. Had me nervous for a while but they came through when it counted. Both penalties in OT were well deserved and legit. I thought the reffing was pretty good but I missed the Subban penaty I was gone for 15 mins got back and it was tied at @ 2. I was so pissed.

[Toronthab]

Boston doubled us in the game except in goaltending and opportunism.

I'm sluttish enough to take the points and run, but with mixed emotions.

I don't know what to think, but sure wanna see the game on Saturday.

[Tokyohabs79]

Vanek was rank rotten tonight. He was the only guy who didnt celebrate at the end.

He either doesnt care, or hes injured.

He needs to step up

[JMMR]

My PVR failed tonight and I am yet to watch the game.
Help me please.
Would anyone let me borrow their GCL game centre live for the night?

Help a fellow habs fan. Buck Foston.

[DON]

2 for 3 on the PP is gonna win a few games, especially with Price & Subban playing as they are.

Bury these Bs

[DON]

6points and +6 for so far for Larry, great to see after no production all season.

[hab29RETIRED]

Eller has been the guy I thought he could be, but who the heck is #17?

I think Bourque and Vanek must have had heart transplants!

6points and +6 for so far for Larry, great to see after no production all season.

[Guest Stogey24]

6points and +6 for so far for Larry, great to see after no production all season.

Bourque and Eller have some serious speed and chemistry out there, very impressed. It's too bad Vanek is such a dogger, Glen Healy was laying into him. He seriously looked lost out there. He did this exact same thing at the Olympics. What the hell happened?

[hab29RETIRED]

Austria, didn't qualify - healy's and idiot!

Bourque and Eller have some serious speed and chemistry out there, very impressed. It's too bad Vanek is such a dogger, Glen Healy was laying into him. He seriously looked lost out there. He did this exact same thing at the Olympics. What the hell happened?

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

Boy, the Bruins were dominant. The looked just too strong for us for about 75% of this game. Most of the night gave me weird flashbacks to 2010, as the Habs clung to survival via incredible goaltending and lots of shot-blocking. The formula: bend, don't break, and score on your opportunities. But as we know from 2010 that formula can only take you so far. Even our supposed speed advantage was non-existent; the Bruins looked as fast as us, at least as skilled, AND vastly bigger and stronger. Unless the Habs find an answer to the Bruins' top gear, we will lose this series. (Unless Price is prepared to stop 50 shots per night! Looking at him being so in the zone, just refusing to lose, he just might be).

What happened, as I see it, is that we went from being a 4-line team to basically a one-line offensive team, with that line being Eller's. Certain other forwards played well - Pleks and Desharnais in particular were terrific - but only that line was clicking as a whole, at least offensively. That's not gonna cut it. Vanek and Patches have to raise their games to meet the intensity Desharnais is displaying out there.

Incidentally, for all the questioning, I thought Boo-Boo had a tremendous game and has had a tremendous playoff so far.

PK! PK! PK! What a stud. SUPERSTAR SUBBAN BABY!!!!!

[Machine of Loving Grace]

Price could stay this dominant but a few instances of bad luck turn into good luck for Boston and they go up by five goals that game.

What's more important is that we're in Rask's head. He was pissed all night and even said he had a s___ performance. From the start I said this was a goalie battle. Beat Rask again at home and everyone's confidence in him evaporates.

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

One thing the Habs MUST keep doing is turning the other cheek. This was an area where the entire team was superb last night - avoiding engaging the Bruins in the after-the-whistle nonsense and cheap shots. Channel your anger into your play. Doing this will minimize Bs' power-play opportunities, minimize the odds of our being physically beaten up, and also maximize the odds of the refs being protective of us. As dubious as our overall game was, Therrien did a superb job in priming his boys not to get sucked into the Prunes' game.

[Guest Stogey24]

Austria, didn't qualify - healy's and idiot!

He played 4 games in the qualification round and sucked it Up.

[Jeff Price (no relation)]

Boston media and fans drive me nuts. Bartkowski tackled Weise and shoved him to the ice again for good measure, right in front of the boston net, and somehow this is an embellishment.

Edited May 2, 2014 by Jeff Price (no relation)

[JCPetit]

Boy, the Bruins were dominant. The looked just too strong for us for about 75% of this game. Most of the night gave me weird flashbacks to 2010, as the Habs clung to survival via incredible goaltending and lots of shot-blocking. The formula: bend, don't break, and score on your opportunities. But as we know from 2010 that formula can only take you so far. Even our supposed speed advantage was non-existent; the Bruins looked as fast as us, at least as skilled, AND vastly bigger and stronger. Unless the Habs find an answer to the Bruins' top gear, we will lose this series. (Unless Price is prepared to stop 50 shots per night! Looking at him being so in the zone, just refusing to lose, he just might be).

What happened, as I see it, is that we went from being a 4-line team to basically a one-line offensive team, with that line being Eller's. Certain other forwards played well - Pleks and Desharnais in particular were terrific - but only that line was clicking as a whole, at least offensively. That's not gonna cut it. Vanek and Patches have to raise their games to meet the intensity Desharnais is displaying out there.

Incidentally, for all the questioning, I thought Boo-Boo had a tremendous game and has had a tremendous playoff so far.

PK! PK! PK! What a stud. SUPERSTAR SUBBAN BABY!!!!!

We did not look fast in that game because we did not move. How many passes have I seen while the receiver was not skating at all? Too many for sure. There was no chemistry between the defensemen and the forwards. The team was also lacking that tenth of a second in decision making that comes with playing three times a week. I think that everything will fall into place and that we will be more competitive going forward. Not to say that we will win, but we will look a lot better.

[Jeff Price (no relation)]

As far as Boston being "dominant," i'm actually not convinced.

Until the end of the second period, while the shots still favored Boston, the scoring chances were almost even. It wasn't until the third where Montreal let up and tried to protect the lead that things got lopsided.

[DON]

I liked the 'Cooke-like' knee Gallagher took. Lucky he is OK.

[JCPetit]

One thing the Habs MUST keep doing is turning the other cheek. This was an area where the entire team was superb last night - avoiding engaging the Bruins in the after-the-whistle nonsense and cheap shots. Channel your anger into your play. Doing this will minimize Bs' power-play opportunities, minimize the odds of our being physically beaten up, and also maximize the odds of the refs being protective of us. As dubious as our overall game was, Therrien did a superb job in priming his boys not to get sucked into the Prunes' game.

Absolutely right. The team has been very disciplines. Hats off to the coaches.

[Jeff Price (no relation)]

This game was a warning that the Habs must not let up. They cannot "turtle" to protect a lead, no matter how big the lead, or how late in the game. They need to keep up the intensity at all times.

While there were concerning elements in the game, I think there are quite a number of positives to take away from it.

1) Montreal WAS able to put sustained pressure on Boston.

2) Montreal's Powerplay is still capable of doing the job.

3) Rask is beatable.

4) Carey Price can steal us games.

and, perhaps most relevantly:

5) The Habs "anemic offense" has scored 20 goals in five playoff games. We scored four on BOSTON. That's as many goals in 1 game that Detroit managed in their first four.

Yes, there are things to work on, but this game showed me we can compete. This is a real series, not a cakewalk for the Boo-ins.

Edited May 2, 2014 by Jeff Price (no relation)

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

What concerns me is that, when the Prunes needed to take the game over, they did. And other than have Price stand on his head, we had no response. This is a Cup-winning, experienced, championship-calibre team, and such teams will be able to hit that gear when they have to. Unless we can find a way to match them when they play at that peak intensity - or unless Price works miracles for the entire series - we will lose. Book it.

The optimistic reading, though, is that the Habs played a sub-par game themselves. Perhaps a Habs playing at 100% would indeed be able to blunt the Bruins at such moments; e.g., being on our heels only for short shifts rather than for entire 20-minute periods.

We'll see. But I for one am not going to try to kid myself that this game was somehow evenly-matched.

[Jeff Price (no relation)]

I would argue that the bruins were playing at the same intensity all night, and the Habs were not.

[Toronthab]

Boy, the Bruins were dominant. The looked just too strong for us for about 75% of this game. Most of the night gave me weird flashbacks to 2010, as the Habs clung to survival via incredible goaltending and lots of shot-blocking. The formula: bend, don't break, and score on your opportunities. But as we know from 2010 that formula can only take you so far. Even our supposed speed advantage was non-existent; the Bruins looked as fast as us, at least as skilled, AND vastly bigger and stronger. Unless the Habs find an answer to the Bruins' top gear, we will lose this series. (Unless Price is prepared to stop 50 shots per night! Looking at him being so in the zone, just refusing to lose, he just might be).

What happened, as I see it, is that we went from being a 4-line team to basically a one-line offensive team, with that line being Eller's. Certain other forwards played well - Pleks and Desharnais in particular were terrific - but only that line was clicking as a whole, at least offensively. That's not gonna cut it. Vanek and Patches have to raise their games to meet the intensity Desharnais is displaying out there.

Incidentally, for all the questioning, I thought Boo-Boo had a tremendous game and has had a tremendous playoff so far.

PK! PK! PK! What a stud. SUPERSTAR SUBBAN BABY!!!!!

Agreeed mon ami. They literally doubled us in that game in hits, sog, shot attempts... flew around unimpeded in our end most of the nigtht.. mind you we had two goals on them.. which will ordinarily skew play dramatically when it counts... and certainly agree on the Magic Cube. I've always loved this beautiful little player with so much courage and heart while acknowledging the effects of father time on his play. Phenomenal play against TB.

And for all the dominance .. and it was dominance in our end, our desperate squad worked their tails off and mostly got the job done with the illustrious and if we win....legendary... Price always right behind them.

It was a scary way to win a game and I did not think we'd leave with a win after the tie-up.

And we're right to give kudos I think despite being badly outplayed all over except at goal. Les Ourses had to play crazy hockey to try to get back into their home ice opener and they did.

Will the next game be a repeat? It will have familiar themes I suspect and if anything the Brownies will have their panties even further knotted if frustrated, and what will we find to counter.

We can all be very thankful that I am not coaching this tream and should all immediately petition a little divine inspiration for our Mr Vanek who has been such a pleasure to have on the team in the latter season and whom we hope can bedazzle us soon. His play both ways was pretty darned good. I hope he's not injured, for its difficult to conceive that the great Ourse kicker has undergone a major character revision. He seems to be a guy who plays with a becoming and natural devotion to the game.

[Jeff Price (no relation)]

Some other stats from last night, from NHL.COM:

Period MTL BOS

1st 10 13

2nd 7 9

3rd 6 14

OT 6 14

2nd OT 4 1

Total 33 51

Team Stats

Category MTL BOS

Power Plays 2/3 0/2

Hits 45 56

Faceoff Wins 37 51
Giveaways 15 14

Takeaways 13 3

Blocked Shots 30 14

Penalty Minutes 6 8

I've highlighted the things I found notable in red.

Periods 1 & 2, we played almost even, even in shots on net boston only had a slight advantage.

Periods 3 and 1OT were bad, bad things. We were reeling. Why was Boston able to dominate there and not the other half of the game?

2OT didn't last long enough to be a good sample, but remember part of it was 4-on-4 (which heavily favors montreal) and then a montreal powerplay.

Hits! We almost kept up to boston in laying down the body. That's great, especially without resorting to anything dirty.

Blocked Shots - this statistic is a double-edged sword. We blocked more shots because boston took a hell of a lot more shots. Still, if Boston wins the possession battles, those blocked shots are things you need to do to counter it.

Takeaways continues to impress. We excel at picking their pockets.

Giveaways concern me. We are usually more disciplined than that.

Edited May 2, 2014 by Jeff Price (no relation)

[Toronthab]

What concerns me is that, when the Prunes needed to take the game over, they did. And other than have Price stand on his head, we had no response. This is a Cup-winning, experienced, championship-calibre team, and such teams will be able to hit that gear when they have to. Unless we can find a way to match them when they play at that peak intensity - or unless Price works miracles for the entire series - we will lose. Book it.

The optimistic reading, though, is that the Habs played a sub-par game themselves. Perhaps a Habs playing at 100% would indeed be able to blunt the Bruins at such moments; e.g., being on our heels only for short shifts rather than for entire 20-minute periods.

We'll see. But I for one am not going to try to kid myself that this game was somehow evenly-matched.

Agreed again Cuke.. maybe the 9 days off did largely de-tune the team. They FLEW at TB. I'd like to think they can be frequent flyers against les Bruisers too.

And how sweet to see our top trio playing like our top trio...with DD already showing the way.

Game 2 tomorrow...