Canadiens Clinch Season Series; Habs 2 Bruins 1

The final tilt between the Canadiens and Bruins of the season, one of the best rivalries in all of sports. The Habs lost the first game against them back in February at home but the boys in bleu, blanc et rouge clinched victories in both games on the road at TD Garden. A battle for top of the Northeast division was at stake. How did it play out? Well, let’s take a look at what happened.

The Canadiens started the game with Moen – Eller – Prust, which was not a line in morning practice. However, it seems that maybe Therrien wanted to set a certain tone early. As usual, the boos were loud when Bruins captain Chara touched the puck. What could have been the first fight of the game, was nothing much at all between Ference and Bouillon. Ference tends to play a bigger role within the Bruins line up, therefore, the trade off is something that is not too bad from Montreal’s point of view. Early on, the Habs were creating more chances than their opponent but could not capitalize. However, Alex Galchenyuk would get his 5th of the season at 6:49 in the opening frame. It was not the prettiest of goals as it went off a Boston player’s skate, Prust and Subban notched the assists on the play, P.K is continuing his Norris argument. The Habs did not tone down the pressure after opening the scoring. Between Emelin’s big hit in the defensive zone and the back-to-back solid shifts in the Bruins end, Montreal is definitely awake for this game. Galchenyuk in particular probably had his best shift as a Hab during that span as well. Emelin went for another big hit against tough guy Milan Lucic, but unfortunately the russian defenceman got the worst of it and went to the locker room with what appeared to be a knee injury. The Habs down to 5 on the blue line early in the game and would remain that way. As reported by Renaud Lavoie, he would not return and Halpern left before the period ended as well. The first powerplay of the game came late in favour of the Canadiens as Lucic went a little too far against Plekanec. It would transfer over to the second period. Habs up 1-0 following 20 minutes and outshot the Bruins 10-5.

Montreal started the second with the man-advantage and were able to double their lead with a tip from Ryder off of a Subban shot. Plekanec registered the other assist on the marker. Ryder has looked like he has had a blast being back in a Montreal Canadiens’ jersey. Many fans hope that Bergevin will re-sign him and if he can be had at the right price, you have to think that the GM will get it done. Following the goal, the Canadiens kept up the intensity, buzzing all around netminder Rask. The Bruins have tried to answer with a few of their own chances but were unable to find one as time was dwindling down to the half way point of the second period. Boston would get on the board at 7:10 with a weird one. Boychuk took a shot but it went off what appeared to be Paille’s backside and in. Price was set up, however, cannot anticipate it taking that sort of deflection. The blame that Price has received this year has been mostly misplaced and in this case particular, it is quite sad. The Canadiens had lost their step at this point in the middle stanza, allowing Bruins to add up multiple opportunities to try to tie the game. Montreal continues to have issues with the second set of 20 minutes throughout the season for whatever reason it may be. The Bruins are not a team that you can take your foot off the pedal against or they will make you pay more times than not. With just over 5 minutes left, RDS’ Lavoie stated that Pacioretty had left the bench for the dressing room. The Habs created a couple of chances with the line that has been probably the best all night, Galchenyuk – Eller – Prust. Rask was up to task to keeps the Bruins only down by one, but it was close. While it is known that Subban takes his game to another level against Boston, it can be said about Eller as well. He plays with a certain edge that does not go unnoticed even if he does not pencil his name in on the scoresheet. Fortunately for the Canadiens, Pacioretty returned indicating that the reason for his departure was not serious. At the period’s end, Canadiens lead 2-1 but were outshot 12-11.

The Bruins started the third period with a couple of icing calls. However, the Canadiens did not generate too much off the face-offs. Both teams providing no serious threat in the first few minutes. As the period ticked away, Boston turned up the heat and were able to get some good shots in on Price but he closed the door, most notably on Chara. It seemed that it was a revolving door to the Habs dressing room as Lavoie noted that Moen left. Canadiens decided to sit back as if Jacques Martin was behind the bench again. They were not doing that all year but it keeps creeping up as of late. Come playoffs, they cannot play that way at all or they will have an early exit. Montreal had a golden opportunity to take back a two-goal lead as Pacioretty came down the wing, sliding the puck in front for Ryan White but was unlucky and could not bury it home. After several minutes, Moen returned from the locker room and according to Stubbs, he took a little skate on the ice during the TV timeout. He would stay in the game. Carey Price, on his mark all game, cut down the rebounds as time went on. Plekanec had a close chance when Lucic gave the puck away in his own end, trying to deliver a pass to his defenceman. Luckily for him, Plekanec could not get much on it and Rask was alert plus ready to make the save. There had not been many penalties in the game, however, Eller was called late on Chara (who went down pretty easily from a tug on his sweater) to go up by two men since they pulled Rask too. The Canadiens were able to hold on and win the game 2-1. The Bruins outshot the Habs 10-8 in the period, however, Montreal ended the game with more on the board (29-27).

Overall, it was not as exciting as Habs-Bruins have been in the past but still had a number of moments that defined what a good hockey game is all about. For the Canadiens, the best line of the night had to of been Galchenyuk, Eller and Prust. All the defenceman did their jobs after Emelin went down, with just Bouillon playing under 20 minutes on the night. Drewiske was pretty solid and reliable when he was out there. Price was fantastic as we all know he can be and shut the door when he had to. All the goals in the game could be said as lucky, however, Ryder’s tip was nice to watch from a Habs standpoint. With the win, Montreal pulls three points ahead of their rivals and wins the season series three games to one.

CBC gave the three stars to Subban, Rask and Price in that order while NHL had Galchenyuk, Price and Ryder.

Next up: Washington on Tuesday at the Bell Centre