'14 Playoffs Round 3, Game 1: Canadiens 2, Rangers 7

One train of thought before the initial game of this new series started was that the Rangers were an easier opponent than the Bruins, so they should be an easy out.  Mostly because we don't really know them, except for their stars like Rick Nash, Brad Richards and Martin St. Louis, who we were foggily aware were in scoring slumps at the end of the season and during the playoffs.  Aside from that, we knew Henrik Lundqvist, knew that Benoit Pouliot had caught on with them, but that's about it.

Well Montréal fans, meet your 2014 New York Rangers, 7-2 victors over the home team on a Saturday matinée game at the New Forum.  While it was a blowout, there are explanations if not excuses for the sluggish effort, lackluster concentration and discipline, and ultimately poor performance by vos Glorieux.

While the team and its fans entered the game with carryover confidence from the previous series win against hated rivals and arch-villains Boston Bruins, we whispered amongst ourselves that there was a real risk that the Canadiens would be susceptible to a flat start, an emotional letdown.

Further, the game being scheduled for a 1300 hr start for NBC's sake augured poorly.  RDS had a graphic that showed that the Habs lost the three 'early' games they played this season, two during the Super Bowl weekend, and one in the previous series against the Bruins on a Saturday at the New Garden.  Benoit Brunet concurred, telling the audience that he used to "not have any legs" during matinée games during his playing career, that it disrupted his routine.

With this in mind, we were looking for clues as to how the team would respond.  After the national anthem, I cheered audibly when Brandon Prust was ready and eager to shake chanteuse Ginette Reno's hand, but winced when Daniel Brière didn't reach over for talismanic contact himself.  To add to my discomfort, Peter Budaj wasn't focused either, so when Ms. Reno walked by him where he was standing, she offered her hand high, ready for a five, just as he went low for a conventional handshake, so he ended up grabbing some forearm while she tapped him on the chest.  Now, we don't want to be superstitious, but these are details that are important, goldarnit.

Early on,  Mike Weaver laid a technically legal hit on Derrick Brassard, since even if the Ranger centre didn't have the puck, he had been the last to touch it and was deemed to be 'in possession', as described in a section of Rule 56 which governs contact and Interference:

Possession of the Puck: The last player to touch the puck, other than the goalkeeper, shall be considered the player in possession. The player deemed in possession of the puck may be checked legally, provided the check is rendered immediately following his loss of possession.

So it fell in that acceptable no-man's land of  'finishing your check' in the NHL.  Mr. Brassard had just dished the puck and committed the cardinal sin of 'admiring his pass', I could hear Don Cherry fulminate from three time zones away.  So he was fair game, got crunched by the Canadiens' super-rental, and missed the rest of the game.

Generally, if the NHL wants to make the game safer, reduce injuries, a really easy, low-hanging fruit is to end this concept of finishing your check, which is basically a licence for interference.  Mr. Brassard had passed the puck, there was no play to be made on the puck.  This was just an opportunity to beat on an opponent.  The rule as it is administered favours a less skillful player, one who might be bigger or tougher, but not as agile on his skates, to catch up to a better player and still be a factor.  It favours 'heart and soul' 'grinders', 'energy fourth-liners', over a skilled play-maker like Mr. Brassard.

Note that I don't fault Mike Weaver for his hit, it was clean and more than tolerable, all shoulder, and didn't contact the head.  But the standards need to evolve in the same way that the NFL has changed its rules to forbid contact by a defensive back on a wide receiver five yards beyond the line of scrimmage, known as the 'bump zone', and to protect its quarterbacks by forbidding defensive players from contact with the quarterback after he releases the ball.  These changes opened up the game, made it more exciting, favoured the offence and scoring and spectacular plays, and protect the stars of the game, the QB's.  It allows these guys to be healthy and drive attendance and ratings.

Critics of these rules howled that it would denature the sport, 'kill the game', and they could not have been more wrong.  NFL football's popularity has reached stratospheric heights and keeps soaring.  The big problem which was envisioned, that defensive linemen wouldn't be able to stop once they were close enough to hit the quarterback, has proved to be a non-issue.  After a period of time, the players and the referees adjusted, and roughing the quarterback calls are no more debatable now than they were before, it's just that the standards have been tightened, and less of it is allowed.  The line has been moved, and no one really thinks this is actually a problem.  If the tackler gets there as the ball is released, it's a legal hit.  If he takes an extra step, it's a penalty.  Simple.  And defensive players have learned to, when they can see or feel that they may be a half-second late, to ease off on the hit, to hug rather than cream the QB, which buys them some tolerance from the officials.  Everyone has moved on from that controversy, with happier fans even more ravenous for their game, and participants with fuller pockets.

Aside from that unfortunate event, one Ranger stood out, and that is left winger Chris Kreider, who is physically imposing, but ever so fast on his skates.  He blew by Alexei Emelin on numerous occasions like the latter was standing still.  It brought back memories of my playing days, when opposing forwards would realize I wasn't that agile a skater, and even less so going backwards, and couldn't really pivot to my right, I could only go left.  They'd lick their chops at the thought of taking me on on a line rush, and so will he the rest of the series unless Alexei and the Canadiens make some adjustments.

Mr. Kreider drew the ire of Canadiens fans and players when on one of his awe-inspiring rushes, he crashed into Carey Price hard, skate blades first, and seemingly unaided by an opponent.  No Canadien seems to trip or push him off balance.  Carey went down, grabbed at his leg, causing every Hab fan's heart to skip a beat.  After a while, he shook it off, and stayed in the game, but didn't return for the third period.  Coach Michel Therrien said it wasn't for injury reasons, but just to 'protect' him with the game possibly out of reach, the scoreboard showing 4-1 for the Rangers at the time.

So speaking of player safety, this is another area that should be addressed.  Because of the declining goal production in the league, with goalies becoming ever-more adept at stopping the puck, and coaches at installing defensive systems that thwart scoring opportunities, the league has fretted about producing more goals.  One strategically suicidal way that coaches have come up with, and the league in its boneheaded way has essentially assented to, is that you have to 'create traffic' around an opponent's net, you have to disrupt a goalie, get him off his game, get under his skin.  You have to 'crash the crease', a practice that is actually relatively new, and didn't exist before the invention of MaggNets.  In fact, you used to be careful when coming into the vicinity of the goal crease when goalie cages were solidly anchored in the ice, lest you shatter your leg as happened to Serge Savard early in his career.

Obviously, the pendulum has swung too far, and players now intentionally plow into goalies in their headlong rushes, sometimes with the help of a defender trying to keep them from scoring.  Just as often though, an attacking player will use contact by a defender as justification or cover to make hard contact with the tender.  They would have stopped, they imply, if not for losing their balance due to that very contact.  It weren't me, it wuz him.

The time has come to change this practice, by simply putting the onus on the attacking player for avoiding any contact with the goalie.  Make it a strict liability, like 'puck over glass' situations.  It is the responsibility of the opposing players to stop in time, to avoid the goalie, no matter what the defender does.  Concurrently, keep defending players from the little slashes, the medium hooks, the pushes in the back of the player with the puck.  Give attacking players every chance to make a play, to shoot the puck, as long as they don't pile into the goalie.  There.  Problem solved.  Goalies are safer, but they allow more goals, since Sidney Crosby isn't crosschecked or hacked every second he spends on the ice.  Win-win.

Another player who drew some attention on the Blueshirts was a kid named Ryan McDonagh, who's a big strong defenceman who can rush the puck, and plays on their first pairing.  He used to be in the Canadiens' system, but was part of the package used to acquire Scott Gomez from the Rangers.

He picked up one goal and three assists, and wowed a few fans with a rush off a faceoff that ended with a shot on Carey Price from in close.  Now, the thing is, if he was still a Canadien, and in bleu-blanc-rouge, his four points, the four goals he created for the Rangers, they wouldn't have happened, they would have gone our way instead.  So subtract four from NY, add four for the good guys, instead of a 7-2 loss, the score would have been 3-6, we would have won this blasted game.

So we can begin to see that the Scott Gomez, Tom Pyatt and Micheal Busto trade for Chris Higgins, Ryan McDonagh and Pavel Valentenko may have been ultimately ill-advised, and the pigeons are now coming home to roost.  Imagine having Ryan McDonagh on P.K.'s left side, our first pairing would be tops in the league, with only the Chicago pairing of Duncan Keith and Keith Seabrook to compare.

On the Canadiens side, there were few standouts, except for maybe the wrong reasons.  René Bourque took three penalties, of the lazy-ish kind, hooks and holds.  René has to play better, Alex Galchenyuk is waiting in the wings, getting ever closer to drawing in the lineup.  René had a great first round against Tampa Bay, but was much milder, almost timid against the Bruins.  If he doesn't focus, if he reverts back to regular-season form, when he wasn't hungry for the puck and determined with it, he'll get bumped down or even out of the lineup.  We'll be watching him closely, I'm not sure if the big goal he scored in the second period did enough to outweigh the rest of his work.

We have to discuss Brandon Prust, who took a double minor and a major misconduct for hacking and slashing at Chris Kreider, in obvious retribution for his slide into Carey Price.  While the intent is laudable, and Brandon was trying to stick up for a teammate and send a message for the Rangers' future reference, he didn't go about it the right way, and it cost our team.  It's possible the game was already out of reach.  Some interpreted Peter Budaj starting the third period as a surrender, but we have seen the Canadiens react positively to Carey being pulled, and storm back to win the game.  The 5-on-3 opportunity given to the Rangers sealed the deal.

Brandon is a veteran and we expect leadership from him.  He's not a Dan Carcillo or a Jordin Tootoo, a player who is a loose cannon who can just as much hurt as help his team.  We've seen Ryan White be disciplined by his coaches for taking penalties like this.  Brandon had to find a better way to equal things out, to send his message, not blatant stickwork while in the process of killing a penalty, in a new series that isn't expected to be a goon show as that against the Bruins was.

Brandon was supposed to bring a little extra against his old team, but he may well be the man who sits out, to subtract his journeyman skating and stone hands and replace them with Alex Galchenyuk's.

Overall it was an ugly game for us, but we can see it as a reality check, a wakeup call.  The glow we felt for eliminating the thugs from Boston has to recede, and we need to focus on the task at hand.  And it's not catastrophic, after a bad first period, the Canadiens seemed to be finding their stride, and were taking it to the Rangers in the second period.  The fans were even singing "Olé Olé" while we were a goal down, to the probable consternation of Bob Cole back at home, in all likelihood muttering to himself "Why are they singing?  They haven't won yet.  No, baby."  The two quick goals at the end of the second cut out legs out though, and the failed penalty-kill early in the third was the finisher between the eyes.

So now we get to regroup, and go back to the team's creed: 'Pas d'excuses.'  The rest of the games are evening games, the Rangers are at least as fatigued as we are with their two seven-game series behind them.  We need to get to work.  The coaching staff will probably make their adjustments and massage their lineup as they've done so far in the playoffs.  The players will focus on the guys in front of them, not the apes in the rearview mirrow.  They're not going to be complacent or over-confident, they know they're in a hole and have to climb their way out.

And the over-confidence goes for the fans.  I saw too many take these Rangers lightly.  We have to be respectful.  I, for one, am still predicting the Canadiens will win in four, but I'll diplomatically concede that it'll be accomplished with a greater degree of difficulty score now.

Milan Lucic is a deeply troubled man.

So Milan Lucic had an opportunity today, with the team and media available on locker cleanout day, to make amends for his bushleague behaviour on Wednesday night when he stopped the post-game handshake line to threaten Dale Weise and Alexei Emelin.  According to Aaron Ward and some lip-reading experts, he told Dale Weise "I'm going to fucking kill you next year."

After that lovely exchange, Mr. Lucic was agitated and defensive in the dressing room, saying that whatever was said should "stay on the ice", and calling Dale Weise a baby.

There followed lots of awkwardness and rationalization from the apologists within the Bruins Universe:  "He plays with a lot of emotion.  It was immediately after a tough loss, a Game 7.  Milan is like that, he doesn't like to lose.  Others have often done much worse..."

The Bruins leadership is as absent as can be on this issue.  Cam Neely is nowhere to be seen or heard.  Claude Julien and Peter Chiarelli both hemmed and hawed, and inelegantly pretended that they weren't quite sure what happened or what was said by whom.  Which makes you wonder how good the Bruins would be if they ever stumbled upon such modern-day technology like video.

Outside this cozy world of no accountability though, the denunciations were much sharper.  Former NHL enforcer and on-ice official Paul Stewart wrote a scathing piece for Hockey Buzz.

So with a couple days to cool off, and getting a read of the lay of the land, you could guess that Milan Lucic would come to his senses.  At least, he might have been pragmatic and given an empty apology, one he wouldn't necessarily have to mean, just to defuse the situation and get the critics off his back.

You would guess wrong.  Facing the media for the last time this season, he stuck to his guns, repeating that what's said on the ice should remain there, continued to blame Dale Weise for the mess, and dissembled about a code being broken, a game "of emotion", of refusing to accept losing and failure.  He clearly stated he is not sorry.  He said all this with a snideness and a smirk that indicated he felt he was in the right, that he was being put upon.

And he does seem to have a bit of a superiority-persecution complex. His comments after he ran into Ryan Miller and concussed him, after he speared Alexei Emelin, and Wednesday night, taken as a whole, show a pattern of self-justification and evasion, and reveal a troubled man, who unfortunately is in an environment which doesn’t hold him accountable or rein him in, but rather fans the flames of his excesses.

In Bruinland, facts are twisted and hyped and distorted through the Don Cherry-Jack Edwardsificator, until they hold no relationship to reality.  The Bruins have a long history of outright lying and refusing to accept logic or facts, even in the face of video evidence.

But the story is really much different than painted by Milan Lucic.

First of all, the contention that it happened on the ice and therefore should remain confidential is convenient for Mr. Lucic.  It may hold for run-of-the-mill trash talk during play or between whistles, but it's not an absolute right.  We have seen the NHL or other leagues enact fines or supplementary discipline for racial slurs or similar behaviour.

Further, this was not routine trash talk in-game, while waiting for a faceoff, but rather a spectacle that Milan Lucic created, in front of numerous cameras, during an extraordinary moment in a playoff.  A different standard of behaviour is expected during the handshake line.  If anything, it's Milan Lucic who 'broke the code' by confronting an opponent at such a time.

And it brings us to a second angle in which Mr. Lucic displays faulty logic.  He himself drew the attention of observers, namely reporters, who asked Dale Weise about it.  Dale Weise didn't bring this up, the reporters did, in reaction to the odd behaviour by Milan Lucic.  If Milan Lucic had made this threat during the game, like in our prior example, before a faceoff, no one would have thought anything of it.

Thirdly, the actual words were not relayed by Dale Weise, as Milan Lucic seeks to perpetuate, but rather by TSN's panel, who quickly got on the case and worked with the roughly 75 different camera shots they had of the incident to figure out just what he said.  So to continue blaming Dale Weise for outing him, while he actually outed himself, is for Mr. Lucic like the Emperor with no clothes blaming his courtiers for his state of undress.  He actually chose to expose himself this way.

The idea that he's a fierce competitor who hates losing, and that he's not the first player to do something untoward in a handshake line, both miss the mark.  Every hockey player is emotional and hates losing, and has to swallow hard to shake hands with his opponents.  That's the exact reason why the handshake line is held as near-sacred, as proof for hockey fans that their sport is special.  It's very difficult for the players to look each other in the eye and say "Good game", yet they achieve it.  And simply, he failed.

And when there are failures, they're reported as the singular events that they are.  We still see video of Martin Brodeur refusing to shake hands with Sean Avery.  And we still get told of players who would refuse to participate, like Islanders goalie Billy Smith.  So for Mr. Lucic to claim it's not that big a deal is offbase.  It is a big deal, since we fans see it as a big deal.

Finally, to refuse to apologize, with the Todd Bertuzzi civil trial about to begin, is the height of folly for the Bruins forward.  He's in fact boxed himself in.  He'll have to watch every step he makes against Dale Weise and Alexei Emelin and the Canadiens in general in the future.  He's stated his intent to 'kill' them.  If he delivers anything more than a crunching body check and someone gets injured, he'll have lots to answer to.  Not necessarily from the toothless NHL, but still...

How easy would it be for him to just say: “I got carried away, and I messed up big time. I’ve had some time to think about it, now that the heat of the series has died down, and I regret saying that. I called Dale and Alexei and apologized to them personally, and I want to apologize to my teammates, the Canadiens and their fans, and hockey fans in general.”

There. It'd be done. He’d be a hero again, and he'd get to enjoy his summer. Instead, he has to continue being a Big Bad Bruin. Shame.

If you keep painting yourself into that corner Milan, eventually, that bitterness will eat a hole in your stomach.

I don’t think this will end well.

Memorial Cup: Val D'Or 1, London Knights 0

The Memorial Cup preliminary games start with an interesting matchup, with the host team London Knights having had a month off after being bumped out of the OHL playoffs by the Guelph Storm.  The Knights take on the Val D'Or Foreurs, who conversely come out of two hard-fought seven game series against the Halifax Mooseheads and the Drakkar de Baie-Comeau, the latter finishing just on Tuesday, giving them a couple of days to get their bearings and travel to London.  So it should be a game between a hot but tired team against a rested but rusty team.

We see Mario Durocher interviewed on the telecast, and I can't help but notice that the Foreurs' coach got a haircut, such as it is, and it is toned down to merely unbecoming, compared to the previous horrid wild mess of a look he sported during the playoffs.  Good job coach, look the part.

Touching story on Brady Austin, who contracted mononucleosis in April and had to go home to Bobcaygeon, Ontario, and convalesce, coincidentally as his father was in the last stages of cancer.  According to Damien Cox, they spent the father's last few days together, and after he passed away, the entire London Knights team attended the funeral.

Mildly surprised to see Steve Bégin behind the Foreurs bench, I guess he's an assistant coach.  I've decided to cheer on the small-town LHJMQ, and knowing I'm cheering on Steve's team makes it an even easier decision.  

***

Well, the narrative holds up somewhat, in that the rested team stormed the Foreurs' zone all game with their fresh legs, but their reflexes, their coordination was a little off.  They fired 51 shots at the Val D'Or net, with plenty more getting blocked or going wide.  Lots of passes that didn't connect, lots of open nets missed.  So, they were rusty.

Meanwhile, the Foreurs seemed overwhelmed by the pressure at times, but rarely flustered.  Antoine Bibeau, their star goaltender, continued in the way he apparently has during the LHJMQ playoffs, cooling things off repeatedly and pitching a shutout in a 1-0 Foreurs win.

Their other star, Anthony Mantha, came as advertised.  He's not a furious forechecker, he's more of a position player, with a quick stick that he demonstrated often breaking up passes or blocking shot attempts, but you can see how he may have had some question marks concerning his effort and concentration in the leadup to the draft.  He answered those questions this year, scoring 81 goals in 81 games played, including All-Star and World Junior appearances, as well as the playoffs.   

And you can make it 82 for 82 now, he manufactured his own goal by stripping the puck off a Knight while backchecking, veering and passing to his linemate and captain Samuel Henley.  The latter, being no fool, quickly made this a give-and-go, returning the pass promptly, and Mr. Mantha did the rest, weaving into the Knight's zone and dekeing around goalie Anthony Stolarz, and tucking the puck in beyond his right pad. 

He had two other clear scoring chances, ringing one off the post, and was dangerous all night.  He killed penalties on top of his powerplay responsibility.  The Detroit Red Wings have themselves a heck of a prospect.

Two other Foreurs I had my eye on, Randy Gazzola and Guillaume Gélinas, were the confident puck movers as described by reports.  Mr. Gazzola is a bigger, more physical type, and is a right-handed shot.  He's a free agent 'overager', so he can help himself during this tournament and attract some scouts' attention.  Mr. Gélinas is a smaller, shiftier type, and led the LHJMQ in scoring this season for a defenceman.  

He is in the same position as his teammate, being an undrafted free agent.  If I had to guess though, Mr. Gazzola will have an easier time finding a job, with his greater size and valuable righthanded shot playing in his favour.

One player I did keep an eye out for was 2103 Montréal first-rounder Michael McCarron.  And I had to, he didn't necessarily draw attention.  It's not that he's loafing, but he's not very quick or agile, so he's often chasing the play.  Having said that, he did make a good pass to the slot after winning a puck battle behind the net, and did come close to scoring early in the first, but couldn't quite get a good shot off as he was pushed down while reaching for a puck in the crease.

Another worrisome sign is that he's been bumped down to the fourth-line centre role, as opposed to third-line duty with Gemel Smith as he was tasked with late this season.  I know that the Knights have had some players return from injury, so they had a full roster, but you'd kind of hope that it would be these other guys who filled the bottom of the roster.

So a good game for the Foreurs, they get to steal a win right off the bat, and now get two days to catch their breath and rest and replenish.  The Knights are in a hole, but you can hope that their hometown rink and fans will be an advantage, and that they're going to be better after this first-game tuneup out of the way.

Zdeno Chara played against the Canadiens with an open fracture of his finger. Poor baby.

So the news comes out today that Bruin captain Zdeno Chara was hampered by injury in his team's playoff loss to the Montréal Canadiens.  Apparently, he suffered an open fracture of his finger in Game 3 or 4.  Bruins fans point to this as proof of the inequity of the Bruins fate, the reason for the diminished performance from their Thug-in-Charge, and proof of the Canadiens' perfidy.

Now the Bruins and their fans will always find excuses or reasons to lay blame on others, but let's be lucid about this development.

First, Zdeno Chara could barely skate in this series.  I'm not impartial when it comes to this beast, but I've been saying for a while that his mobility is waning, and it was flagrant in the later games.  His finger isn't the reason he was ineffective.  He looked like death on skates in Game 7.  Since he's 37 years old, it wasn't a big leap to wonder if the Canadiens were just too fast for him to keep up.

And let me re-iterate that for a Norris Trophy candidate, the fact that he doesn't play defence on the powerplay, but that they rather put him in front of the net as a screen, is a dead giveaway that this guy can't play very well any more.

As far as the slash itself, it's far from cut and dried how dastardly the Canadiens were in this instance. The NHL allows 'light' slashing in its rulebook.

61.1 Slashing - Slashing is the act of a player swinging his stick at an opponent, whether contact is made or not. Non-aggressive stick contact to the pant or front of the shin pads, should not be penalized as slashing. Any forceful or powerful chop with the stick on an opponent’s body, the opponent’s stick, or on or near the opponent’s hands that, in the judgment of the Referee, is not an attempt to play the puck, shall be penalized as slashing.

Note how the first sentence in 61.1 conflicts with the second.  On the one hand, you can't swing your stick at an opponent, even if you don't even touch him (reminder: send memo to Duncan Keith).  On the other hand, it you're swinging it "non-aggressively" in the pants or shin pad region, fair game.  Good luck parsing that one, NHL referee.

The RDS boys showed the Michaël Bournival slash on Chara earlier in the series during an intermission, and he did land it where it hurt the Bruins' morlock, but it was well within the acceptable boundaries of NHL play, as extolled by Nick Kypreos or Randy Carlyle.  It was a fly-by 'finish your check' slash, a 'let them know you're there' slash, not an egregious, Bobby Clarke on Mikhail Kharlamov ankle-breaker.

So while Mr. Chara's injury is unfortunate, it's what the NHL and its hype machine decrees as the cost of doing business.  Slashing isn't really slashing, it's tight, defensive, grinding, close, hard-fought playoff hockey, the party line goes.  Until the Bruins' captain's finger explodes, then the Bruins can start whining

Don Cherry says Milan Lucic handshake controversy is no big deal.

Suhprise, suhprise...

Milan Lucic controversy overblown, says Don Cherry.

Some quotes, if you don't want to waste your time melting your brain so it leaks out of your ears by clicking on the link.

"It's much ado about nothing."

"He shouldn't have said it, he's just lost the seventh game, but he's honest anyhow."

"I'm a little disappointed in Weise saying anything to him.  I mean, here I am, uh, you know, victim, I mean uh, so what, he said it, you think a lot of things haven't been said in those handshakes and that?"

"I'm more concerned that the Bruins lost.  We outplayed them, outshot them, outhit them, and we didn't have the goaltending they had."

"I'm here to talk about the hockey game, I've already said what I said about Lucic, I wish he hadn't said it but he said it, what are you going to do?"

"They were the better team, they just didn't have the better goalie."

I'm sorry to see the historic legacy of Hockey Night in Canada being killed off by Gary Bettman for a pennywise contract with Sportsnet, but I'm not sorry that it is the current incarnation of HNIC, with doddering Bob Cole and xenophobe Don Cherry and doorknob P.J. Stock that is taking the hit, it's almost a mercy killing.

I'll miss the musical intro montages, I'll miss the quality production, the camera work and slick visuals, but by now I've stopped watching the show, I'm fully converted to RDS.  And I thought that Radio-Canada no longer hosting "La Soirée du Hockey" would be an irreplaceable loss, but eventually Pierre Houde proved to be a worthy successor.

So if HNIC was going to put out shlock like this and never improve, it might as well be taken behind the barn.

'14 Playoffs Round 2, Game 7: Canadiens 3, Bruins 1

Canadiens win 3-1 and eliminate the Bruins.  Habs will move on to play the Rangers in the Conference Final.

Pre-game:

• We see a shot of the Bruins dressing room.  The Charanstein has been powered up, it's activated for the game.  Gregory 'Sonny Boy' Campbell twirling a stick in his right hand, obviously limbering up, warming up his slashing muscles.
• Not much activity in the Canadiens' dressing room, just guys getting ready for the game.  No rah-rah, Tomas Plekanec seems downright pensive.
• Breaking down the game, Marc Denis of RDS calls the goaltending faceoff essentially even, except that he thinks Carey Price is in the Bruins' scorers' heads.
• Mario Tremblay reduces the blueline matchup to a confrontation between Zdeno Chara and P.K. Subban, with the former having the edge on the toughness angle, but P.K. providing much more of a spark to his team.  Boston media has singled out Mr. Chara, calling this a 'legacy game' for him.  Mario thinks P.K. has been at his best in this series, and expects "du grand P.K. ce soir."
• Benoit Brunet breaks down the forwards, focuses on Patrice Bergeron and Max Pacioretty.  The Bruins alternate captain is a leader for his teammates, being vocal and fiery, while Max leads by his play, his skating and offence.  
• In the name of all that is decent, with the magic of 21st century PVR technology, we skip over camera-whore René Rancourt and his 'Look at me!' histrionics.  He's a worthy representative of the classless Bruins.
• The numbers favour Tuukka Rask in the playoffs, he has a 7-4 record, with a 1.90 goals-against average and a .933 save-percentage, vs. Carey's 7-3, 2.25 GAA and .922.  I know this includes the first round, but I still think Carey has outplayed Mr. Rask, and that somehow it's not reflected in the stats.  Maybe we can come up with an 'advanced statistic' that measures clutchitude.

First Period:

• 19:37  Brad Marchand strikes early, high-sticking Michaël Bournival in the mouth, with, of course, no penalty awarded by the refs.  Uh oh. 
• No changes in the lineup for the Canadiens, Daniel Brière and Nathan Beaulieu get the nod again.  
• I see Sean Thornton's worthless mug on the Bruins' bench, I guess he gets another kick at the dishonour can tonight.
• David Desharnais buzzing around in the Bruins' zone, going up against Zdeno Chara with no apparent fear.  I think the constant booing he's subjected to at the New Forum, and the fact that he never had a chance to expiate his crime against Max, plays on this guy's conscience.  He could obliterate David and the refs wouldn't twitch, but he holds back against him, as he has generally in this series.  There's a theory that he doesn't enjoy being the villain, that it weighs on him, maybe that's the observable result, that David gets to live.
• 17:42  Weezy!  Brandon Prust forechecks Johnny Boychuk, grabs the puck and feeds it to Daniel Brière, who sets up Dale Weise for an easy tap-in.  1-0 for the Good Guys.  
• The Bruins' defence is ripe for the plucking.  Matt Bartkowski also was ineffective on this play.
• 16:15  Max accepts contact from Zdeno Chara, forechecks hard, deals out a couple of hits.  Good start by him.
• The Bruins trying to thump the Canadiens in the offensive zone, but the Canadiens skate out of trouble, are often first on the puck.
• 13:42  Brad Marchand is handed a penalty for goalie interference, but he was kind of pushed by Andrei Markov.  With all the crap that Mr. Marchand gets away with, you can't really call this an injustice, more of a karmic rebalance.
• Zdeno Chara, looking as ungainly as ever, stumbles while handling the puck and coughs it up.  Thomas Vanek can't cash it in though.
• 11:12  Shameless diving sequence by the Bruins, with Brad Marchand plunging to the ice after being brushed by Alexei Emelin, and Reilly Smith who falls over backwards with contact from Josh Gorges.  Did they have a plot or marching orders from the bench, to try to induce the refs to 'even out' things after the dubious call on Brad Marchand?  I wouldn't put it past them.
• I'll take my previous statement back on Zdeno Chara, he goes in elbow first against Max, and then does a wrestling takedown when he misses.  Somehow that results in a four-on-four situation, with both getting minor penalties.  Good old NHL.
• 5:47  Zdeno Chara goes off for a deserved holding call.  Surprising that it actually gets made though.  No damage done by the Canadiens, they can't get their powerplay organized in the Bruins zone.
• Frantic moments at the end of the period with the Bruins trying to even the score.  I wonder what has to happen for a charging penalty to be called as Milan Lucic skates from the blue line, and possibly from his bench, to hit Lars Eller behind the goal line.

Second period:

• 19:53  Brad Marchand gets penalized for giving Carey Price a snow-shower.  Finally, the refs are on to this little puke.
• Good powerplay by the Habs, in that they were able to set up in the offensive zone, but no real shots on net, everything was blocked by the penalty killers.
• 15:11  Bruins are buzzing in the Canadiens zone.  We need to settle things down, start making better breakouts.
• Brian Gionta misses a great opportunity on a 3-on-2, all alone in front of Tuukka Rask, can't get a precise shot off on net.
• 11:30  Again Brian Gionta can't cash in a clear shooting opportunity.
• 9:38  Maaaaax!  Brendan Gallagher wins the draw and the Canadiens keep applying pressure, good work from the Desharnais trio and Josh and P.K.  Just as it seems the Bruins can clear the zone, the puck takes a bounce on Patrice Bergeron, and David is quick on his feet, grabs it with lots of room to operate, feeds a perfect pass to Max clear on the other side of the slot who one-times it in.  Delicious stumble and pratfall by Tuukka Rask as a result.
• Brendan and David are too small to play in the NHL, except that in this instance, when they're not getting crosschecked and tackled with impunity, their quickness and agility is too much for the Big Bad Lumbering Bruins.
• David actually ripped the puck away with his quick stick, it wasn't a bad bounce on Mr. Bergeron.  2-0 Canadiens.
• 6:11  The Canadiens kill a Bruins powerplay, and the fans at the New Garden are starting to boo.  Awesome.
• 3:55  Referees trying to even the score, Max gets a borderline holding the stick penalty against Dougie Hamilton in the offensive zone.
• Jarome Iginla used to be a 50-goal scorer, but no longer.  He misses a wide open net.
• Oops.  After failing to clear the zone when Brian Gionta had full control of the puck, the Bruins buzz around and Mr. Iginla deflects a Torey Krug shot past Carey Price.  2-1 Canadiens.
• 0:45  David Krejci penalized for holding Lars Eller's stick, the Bruins were scrambling in their zone trying to contain the Canadiens' forecheck.  Good work from Lars Eller, Dale Weise and René Bourque.  
• No damage done.  Flagrant crosscheck in David Desharnais' back by Zdeno Chara goes unpunished, no ref would have the stones to put Daddy Campbell's team in a 3-on-5 situation.

Third period

• Canadiens start off with a 75 second powerplay, with a fresh sheet of ice.  Although apparently it's not great ice, the puck is skipping around a lot, which is par for the course on a warm spring day.
• Bourque doesn't have the same drive, jump or confidence he did against the Lightning.  I'd like him to come up big here, to see him use his speed and size to put this game away.
• Bruins kill the penalty, start buzzing in the Habs' zone.  Carey plucks a shot out of the air with his glove, calmly stopping play.  The Bruins scowl a lot.
• 14:57  Jarome Iginla again, with an open net, lays the puck flush on the post.  Are they trying the perfect shot to beat Carey?  
• 14:07  I'm not liking how the Canadiens seem to be attacking less, defending more.  If we try the rope-a-dope so soon, it will come back to bite us.
• Dirty, dirty play by the Bruins' designated rat Brad Marchand, who while waiting for a faceoff, punches Tomas Plekanec in the head, after ascertaining that the refs were otherwise occupied.  I won't rant on the need for video replay to be used to suspend transgressors like this, like Milan Lucic with his spears, like Zdeno Chara with his punches.
• Further, why are linesmen so impotent in these situations?  In flagrant 'personal fouls' so-to-speak, the linesmen should be able to talk to the ref and tell him what he saw.  NHL refereeing is such a joke.
• What the refs were busy doing was trying to figure out who should be on the ice for the Bruins after an icing call.  The Bruins milked two minutes while pretending they didn't know that they had substituted a player.  Why don't the refs hand out a delay of game penalty in cases like these?  
• The Bruins are cheating up a storm, Don Cherry must be turgid.
• 10:47  The Krejci line pressing in the Canadiens zone.  Me no likey.
• 8:34  More life by the Canadiens, Michaël Bournival is a whirling dervish.  Zdeno Chara can't skate, can't move.  We have to take advantage.
• 7:15  Good hit by Alexei Emelin on Milan Lucic.
• 4:35  Dirty, dirty Bruin Johnny Boychuk commits interference by crosschecking Michaël Bournival in the jaw.  Powerplay Canadiens.
• 3:32  Andrei Markov with a great look at the Boston net, on a David feed, but can't find the net.
• 2:53  Daniel Brière!  I never doubted Marc Bergevin's decision to sign him to that two-year deal, always knew he'd come through for us in the playoffs.  Honest.  3-1 Canadiens.
• Succulent detail?  Seeing Zdeno Chara stand all forlornly forlorn after getting scored on, and being all frantic giraffe before the goal, and catatonic horrorionette bathed in red light after.  That one is kind of on you there, big jerk, you potted that one past your own goalie.  You stupid jerk.
• Did René Bourque blow a hammy?  He's almost crawling to the bench, but nobody touched him.
• On replay, we see that the Lars Eller shot went off his foot.
• 2:01  Interference penalty on Andrei Markov.  Now they call that?  I thought that rule was repealed, judging from all the Bruin transgressions.  
• Bruins pulling Tuukka Rask, we have an empty net to shoot at.
• 0:20  Faceoff in the Bruins zone.  Deathly quiet at the New Garden, except for scattered booing.  P.K.'s prophecy that he'd take all the energy and excitement out of that place is coming true.

Post-game:  

• While I prize the work that RDS does covering the Canadiens, I have to chide the director for showing us a long crowd shot from the New Forum immediately after the game, instead of the players' celebration.  Or the uncomprehending countenance of Zdeno Chara.  That's what I want to see, the handshake line, whether Tomas will shake bRat Marchand's hand or give him a forearm shiver in the teeth.
• Or Claude Julien lardness melting away in squealing rage.
• Cool shot of Marc Bergevin greeting his players and coaches in the tunnel as they came off the ice.  Big hug from P.K. Subban.  Don't worry folks, the contract is a formality.
• Carey Price clearly outplayed the Bruins 'tender, stopping 29 of 30 shots, while his counterpart only managed 15 stops on 18 shots.  Further, Carey calmed things down repeatedly, while Tuukka bobbled and fumbled again, a few times.
• The P.K. vs. Zdeno Chara confrontation was a technical knockout for our boy.  The Bruins morloch seemed dead on his feet in the third.  P.K. didn't score, the Bruins were on him like a bad smell, but it opened up others for opportunities.
• Nathan Beaulieu picked up another assist, kept his head while the Bruins were clearly targeting him for big hits.  He didn't play much at the end of the game, but he pitched in and was rewarded.
• The Canadiens are really tough when they get their seemingly-trademarked early goal.
• The Bruins do have Montréal issues.  Thugs like Milan Lucic were more interested in administering a beating and being faux-tough than winning this series.  
• The Bruins have this arrogance, they were so wrapped up in being the Big Bad Bruins, that they probably felt the whole time that they'd come back.  After all, they'd done it against the Leafs right?  But it was telling how few minutes they actually led in this series.  They had a big comeback in Game 2, and a lucky-bounce win in Game 4, but couldn't shake the feeling that they should be winning, they had all these chances they said, they hit all these posts.  You could see them pouting: "We should be ahead!"
• Tonight almost makes up for 2011.  If not for that pinball Nathan Horton overtime goal, we could have kept those degenerates from befouling the Stanley Cup. 
• We get the Rangers at home, I won't be so naturally pessimistic about the next series

Of course Sidney Crosby is injured. There is no doubt.

I think to ask the question “What’s wrong with Sidney?” is to answer it. He must be injured in some way. His performance didn’t drop off so much because he wanted it less, or lost his timing. The rest of the NHL treats him with something that borders on contempt, bash him at every turn, that’s going to take a toll.

Leave it to the NHL to tilt its rules towards Brandon Dubinsky over Sidney.

Nathan Beaulieu is a natural fit on Mike Weaver's left.

Something which makes the insertion of Nathan Beaulieu in the lineup even more apt is that now he is playing on his side, the left side. Earlier in the season, he was playing with Francis Bouillon, and he was on the right side, the Canadiens had to play both him and Alexei Emelin on the right since P.K. Subban was the only rightie when Raphaël Diaz fell out of favour.

Now with Mike Weaver having been acquired and playing beyond expectations, it’s an easier decision to put a rookie d-man on his left, he’s not having to compensate for being on his off-side as he acclimates to the NHL. Plus, their skillsets complement each other’s well. Mike is the trusty stay-at-home type who can mind the store and communicate with his young partner, learn him the ropes, point out the pitfalls before Nathan blunders into them.

And for next season, Magnus Nygren and Greg Pateryn can’t be ready fast enough. We need at least one other rightie besides P.K., and I hope one of these guys can show up at camp and do what Marc Bergevin says a young player has to do, which is prove that he belongs with le Grand Club, and force the GM to make room for him.

'14 Playoffs Round 2, Game 6: Canadiens 4, Bruins 0

Again, waddya know, a hockey game broke out at the New Forum, largely devoid of Bruin idiocy, save for maybe a knee-on-knee from Zdeno Chara, and a paroxysm at the end from, sigh, again the Bruin captain and his horde of usual suspects.  Aside from that, the game was a fast-skating, hard-hitting affair, with the Canadiens not shrinking from contact as opposed to last Saturday in Boston, but rather taking the game to the Bruins and finishing their checks, and coming out 4-0 winners to bring about a Game 7 on Wednesday.

This strong response to the disappointing effort on Saturday is a little unexpected, but not really shocking.  While it seemed that the Canadiens were outmanned, and that the referees were going to let the Bruins cheat to a series win, starting with the two blatantly obvious crosschecks by Brad Marchand on Brendan Gallagher and Lars Eller, and finishing up with the continuing idiocy of Don Cherry-favourite Sean Thornton, and that the Canadiens had a "knee on the ground", to quote Michel Therrien, they didn't put the other knee on the ground tonight, but rather got back up, to continue with the head coach's preferred image.  And that has been a theme this season, that the team has undergone adversity but never gave up, perhaps best encapsulated by the three-goal comeback win against the Sens late in the season.

We saw some of the good things that the Canadiens were doing earlier in the playoffs, with strong defensive play from Mike Weaver, effective, relentless forechecking from Michaël Bournival, Dale Weise and Lars Eller, and solid goaltending from Carey Price, who cooled things off repeatedly for the Bruins.

What was different tonight was how the Canadiens didn't seem spooked by the physical game of the Bruins.  While les Glorieux may not be able to crunch opponents like the biggest Bruins, what they can do is assert themselves, and not allow their opponents to play unconcerned and unmolested.  Les boys did what they had to do, they did what they can, and the Bruins weren't playing as confidently with the puck tonight, they bobbled it a few times and turned it over in the face of the Canadiens' pressure, one instance which led to Lars Eller's early goal in the first period.  

Another difference from the previous game was the long-awaited arrival of the Canadiens best offensive elements.   Thomas Vanek and Max Pacioretty both had a goal and an assist, and David Desharnais also had an assist.  Which is what they have to do.  I wrote at the end of the season that this trio had to chip in at least a goal per game, minimum, no excuses, and they've fallen quite short of that level during the playoffs.  The Canadiens have managed without their contribution so far, but P.K. can't score two powerplay goals every game, and with René Bourque's enthusiasm apparently flagging, these guys can't come up snake eyes.  They have to produce.  No excuses.

I've thought that Max might be injured, he's been given a rough ride this series, by Zdeno Chara notably, and I remembered a series in the 80's when the Canadiens were unceremoniously bounced out, and General Manager Serge Savard announced at that point that Bob Gainey had played with two separated shoulders, which was meant to explain his ineffectiveness and demonstrate his great courage.  The latter was never really in doubt, but the wisdom of having him on the ice thus enfeebled was certainly questionable.  

The same goes for Max.  If he's not able to play, if his shoulders ache and he can't get the puck in the corners or get his shot off, let's sit him out and put in someone who can play against the Bruins.  I'm sure Whitey is chomping at the bit, he won't be an offensive threat, but his effort and desire won't be questioned.

Tonight, Max did go in the corners with authority, and finished his check a couple of times, hard, enough to get a Bruin thinking the next time he had to go get a puck with his face in the glass.  Max also skated really hard, was a constant worry for Bruin defencemen, and generally fulfilled his assignment with honours.

Another forward who seemed revived was Brandon Prust, who played a lot more like last season's version than the one we've seen lately.  While he and Dale Weise may seem like an unlikely pair for Daniel Brière, the combo worked, they spent more time in the Bruins' zone than theirs.  

The biggest change for our team was the insertion of Nathan Beaulieu as the left defenceman on the third pair.  Francis Bouillon had a long productive streak playing alongside Mike Weaver against Tampa and early in this series, but when he struggled Douglas Murray got the nod, with mixed results.  He chipped in some thunderous hits and yeoman effort on the penalty kill, but his pairing were bottled up in their end for long stretches.  

The expected response might have been to put a fresh, rested Francis Bouillon back in, but Michel 'The Gambler' Therrien played a hunch and put in the rookie instead.  Nathan played a good game, using his mobility and puck skills, and picking up an assist on Max's breakaway goal.  There was some talk on l'Antichambre that it wasn't a sure thing he'll be in the lineup in Boston for Game 7, what with him being a rookie and the Bruins having the advantage of the last change, but it's difficult to see how his pairing is more prone to being exploited than one with Douglas Murray or Francis Bouillon.  Also, the coaching staff will be leery of breaking up a winning lineup.

With the game out of reach, we saw Milan Lucic, with his team playing 5-on-4, long after a whistle, with a linesman insulating him, take a few gloved punches at 5'10" Mike Weaver.  I thought Milan wasn't supposed to fight fourth-liners, that his coach wouldn't let him.  I guess that only applies when Georges Laraque or Colton Orr are the scrubs in question.  Plus ça change, plus c'est la même pourriture.  

So a good, clear team win, with the Canadiens outscoring, outshooting and outhitting the Bruins.  Carey Price was better.  We won more faceoffs, caused more turnovers.  Generally, we wanted it more.

So my prediction of the Bruins winning in 6 games at best if the Canadiens played well is in great jeopardy of not coming to pass, and I couldn't be happier.  I pronounce the series now a tossup, despite the Bruins playing at home.  We have the forces of darkness on the run.

Team Canada 2, France 3 (SO)

Team Canada faces off against lightweights France in Minsk and lose 3-2 in a tiebreaker shootout.  Maybe they had a long train journey from Milan that tuckered them out beforehand.

Same old song and dance for Canada at the Worlds, a jetlagged disjointed team, made up of disparate parts, dispirited players bounced from the playoffs, playing for pride, for free, but wondering if they should have stayed at home to heal up all the nicks and sprains from a long season.

Mix in James Reimer in nets, and having to cheer for Nazem Kadri, and this will be a tough team to love.