Posted on April 20, 2008 12:15 AM | Permalink
BOSTON – And then there was one.
One game nobody believed would ever happen. One game where this extraordinary Boston Bruins hockey season orchestrated by head coach Claude Julien can maybe continue into the second round of the NHL playoffs.
One game where the Montreal Canadiens’ “dream season,” as it was described by coach Guy Carbonneau, can come to a crashing, devastating halt.
That game will come Monday night at the Bell Centre, as the Canadiens and Bruins will play an improbable Game 7 in this series that has featured just about anything anyone can want out of playoff hockey.
“It feels pretty good when you’re able to get it to a Game 7,” Julien said Saturday after his team pulled out a wild 5-4 win to extend its season by at least one more game. “When you’re down 3-1 the big picture can be pretty scary, but we broke it down game by game and now we’re in a position that two days ago we wanted to be in.”
Forget for a moment, if that’s possible, that the Bruins have taken two straight from a team that beat them 11 straight times coming into the series. It’s the way this team has gotten here which is most impressive, relying on raw rookies with zero playoff experience and castaway veterans who are proving all of their doubters wrong.
The cast of characters in this drama the Bruins are weaving is simply riveting.
Leading the way is Phil Kessel, an “enfant terrible” only last week who has taken the two-game purgatory imposed on him by Julien and used it to learn exactly what playoff hockey is all about, scoring twice Saturday and three times in his last two games.
“The way he’s played the last two games has been unbelievable,” Julien said. “If he wants to keep proving me wrong, I can take it.”
Then there’s Marco Sturm, a man who has the weight of knowing he is the last remaining player from the Joe Thornton trade, and who came through when it mattered most by setting Kessel up for Boston’s fourth goal with a brilliant pass from the corner, then showing the poise of a true veteran to patiently hold the puck and score the winner with 2:37 left to play.
Thomas chases away demons
Julien actually deserves some of the credit for Kessel’s second goal, because he took Kessel off the top line with Marc Savard and put him with Sturm and David Krejci early in the third period.
“We kept telling ourselves on the bench that we were going to get it,” Sturm said. “And we did.”
Also deserving marquee billing is goaltender Tim Thomas, the 34-year-old playoff freshman who exorcised his demons against the Canadiens to play brilliantly throughout the series, even in Game 1 when he was the only one on his team who decided to show up.
Then there’s Milan Lucic, the crowd favourite and rookie who was a longshot to make the team out of training camp, but is now probably the most difficult Bruins player for the Canadiens to play against because he exacts such a physical toll on his opponents.
Even Aaron Ward is a compelling character here, having recovered from a knee injury suffered in Game 4 to come back and set up Lucic’s second of the series that tied the game 3-3 sat 12:13.
Ward looks around him in the locker room and sees faces that should be, but aren’t, wide-eyed by the situation that faces them.
“The young guys have really tuned out all the distractions and maintained their focus,” Ward said. “This is the time of season young guys make a name for themselves. It’s great for us old guys to watch the young guys flourish.”
It’s entirely possible, even likely, that Boston will not be able to complete the comeback and win Game 7 on Monday night. But for a team that many people picked to finish near the basement of the Eastern Conference, the ride they have undertaken just getting to this point has been invaluable for a young team.
And it’s been wildly entertaining to watch.
Comments
HABS are getting ROCKED.
Posted by: Jason Peters Timmins | April 20, 2008 02:50 AM
i am studying in Australia for a year but am an explicit hockey and Bruins fan.....i love how you have described the remarkable display of the bruins this year. However, the last paragraph displeases me. How can you openly say it is unlikely that the bruins can complete the comeback. No matter if i am a bruins fan or not, those kinds of statements are extremely biased infavour of a Montreal team just because they are Canadian. I am Canadian and proud to be, but when i hear those statements I hate the biased opinion that it casts. Keep your opinion to yourself, and state the facts.
Posted by: Dan Olds | April 20, 2008 03:50 AM
Entertaining game last night. Speaking as a Bruins fan among a lot of Montreal fans(my family and friends), I have to say I'm both relieved and excited. Before this series started, I could not find one 'expert' that said Boston could even make this series go to six games. But I believe they are a better team than anyone, other than their fans, has given them credit for. Lucic, Savard, and Kessel have been very entertaining, and Thomas has seemed to come up big when they need him. I think the two goalies epitomize these two teams: Price, expected to win, rich history of goalies in Montreal, a very sound style of play. Thomas, scrappy, underdog, doesn't always look pretty but grinds it out. I think the B's may be in Price's head a little, but I'm not sure - his mental toughness will really be tested in Montreal. Should be an excellent game 7.
Posted by: Ben Cook | April 20, 2008 09:11 AM
Even though I am a Habs fan this team is going to be beat tomorrow night by a harder working better coached team. They beat themselves. Bouillion got his jock strap stripped off him in one of the goals which Price should have had, but the goal that made me the maddest was the last one. Kovalev had a chance to clear the puck and failed to, so instead of collapsing in the box in front of his net he stayed out at the blueline floating and watched the Bruin player whom he was responsible for score the winning goal. He looked like the old Kovalev last night. I wonder if that was his way of sulking because of the "C" going back to Koivu. Bruins = better work habits, more heart and desire, better defence, better goaltending and better coaching. Habs get to go golfing tomorrow. What a disgracful exit after such a great year.
Posted by: cookies Amherst | April 20, 2008 11:16 AM
All I can say is WOW! The NHL should be proud of the display the Bruins and Canadians are putting on. This is the way hockey should be played. I have been a Bruins fan since Bobby Orr scored his Stanley Cup winning goal WAY back in 1970, but have been so distressed with the way hockey play has deteriorated in the past 15 years. Never mind making the goalie equipment smaller, get rid of shootouts, and stop keeping guys from dropping their gloves. All you really need is to get rid of about 6 teams and take 20 games off the schedule. This is the kind of hockey we would see more of. GOO BRUINS
PS. I hope the refs don't call too many men on the ice or some other dumb penalty at the end of the game on Monday. Let these teams decide it. They all deserve it.
Posted by: Adrienne | April 20, 2008 12:53 PM
It is interesting how the Canadiens have been described as having a dream season, yet if you take away the games played between the Habs and Bruins this year, the Canadiens actually have 5-6 points less than the Bruins. In other words, the Bruins have a better record versus all other teams in the league than the Canadiens.
If we want the winner of this series to have the best chance to go the Cup, we are all best to cheer for the Bruins as they have proven over the season that they can handle the rest of the league better than the Canadiens.
Posted by: Gary Quebec | April 20, 2008 01:28 PM
Just wanted to search the Montreal news for some different insight and opinions on this series. Always entertaining, exciting and nail biting between these two clubs. I have been a Bruins fan for 23 years, and have had my share of dissapointing seasons.
This year, we've seen so much heart and resiliency, for a team that was picked to finish last, 13th and 15th. Here we are the "underdog" 8th seed, and..had we beat the Habs even 4 times this season, would have at the very least, finished 1st, using of course the current standings. What ifs and almosts don't do it. But I, for one, am sick of the Local media not giving the Bruins the credit they deserve. Aside from that, this team has outworked the Habs since the 30 minute mark of game 2, not to mention shut down that numero uno unstoppable PP.
Miracle team? I dunno, hardly-- the Bruins have played the same way all season, but now, the locals get to experience it.
Beating the odds..great fun.
Posted by: Laurie BOSTON! | April 20, 2008 02:22 PM
The Habs will win!
Posted by: Anonymous montreal | April 20, 2008 05:09 PM
Whew what a game last night, this series is turning to a classic original six match up. I'm pulling for an original 6 final, cause last night the Habs and B's proved how exciting such a match up could be.
Posted by: Andy | April 20, 2008 05:31 PM