Remember the good old days of the Habs-Bruins rivalry when the outcome was actually in doubt? Oh, there are still some elements left from more intense times, like, the jerseys. The booing of P.K. Subban. A stupid penalty by Brad Marchand. But the only real drama left in these match ups is the shelf life of Claude Julien.
The Bruins have lost their first two games of the season at home by a combined score of 10-4. Their top two defenseman – Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg – are a combined 73 years old. Not surprisingly they’re not playing. Without the two injured vets Boston’s top blue liners are Torey Krug and Joe Morrow. Julien, left twisting in the Massachusetts breeze after Don Sweeney replaced Pete Chiarelli as GM, will almost certainly welcome a coaching mercy-killing while owner Jeremy Jacobs decides to squeeze as much as possible out of the remaining term of his contract.
Maybe the rivalry gets reinvigorated, at least momentarily, when the teams meet outdoors on New Years day. But the only toque Julien will see is when he opens his closet.
THE GOOD
- Alex Galchenyuk. The Habs have scored five non-empty net goals in two games to start the season. Galchenyuk has been in on four of them.
- Lars Eller. Figures to get plenty more scoring chances playing alongside Galchenyuk and the veteran right winger. Short term goal is to match the offensive totals of last year’s second line left winger (Galchenyuk): 20 goals, 46 points.
- Alex Semin. Impressive puck skills, huh? Of course he should have shot when he passed to Eller to give Montreal a two goal lead early in the second. But really, who’s complaining? Put Eller in a position to score a hat trick when he sent him in alone early in the third. And that wicked snap shot from well out late in the 2nd period that handcuffed Rask? You see that kind of shot and you wonder – what is he waiting for?
- Tomas Plekanec. You won’t often see a veteran player raise his hands after scoring an empty netter but Plekanec had reason to celebrate. It was the 500th point of his terrific career. And it capped off a very good night, especially in the face off circle where he dominated (67%) the best in the league (Bergeron 43%).
- Max Pacioretty. Not quite the same jump as opening night in Toronto but still, typically, controlled the puck.
- David Desharnais. Got Habs going with quick power play goal. Seems the little guy has buried a lot of those second and third chances in tight on Rask, especially in Boston. But turnover in his own zone led to Boston’s first goal.
- Andrei Markov. Nifty pass to set up Desharnais. Played nearly 25:00 in the first of a back to back but nearly 7:00 of it came on the power play – hardly killer minutes.
- P.K. Subban. Struggled at times with the puck by Subban standards. Still played nearly half the game in yet another convincing Montreal win in Beantown.
- Nathan Beaulieu. Perhaps disappointed by his so-so opening night in Toronto, Beaulieu was a lot more friskier in this one. Very involved.
- Torrey Mitchell. Mitchell also rebounded from a shaky night in Toronto. Will his late slew foot on Zac Rinaldo get him suspended for a game or will Hockey Ops thank him?
- Carey Price. Not very busy but back to back saves from in close on David Pasternak – easily Boston’s best forward – while the game was up for grabs slammed the door until a sliding Jeff Petry inadvertently deflected a Matt Beleskey shot into the net late in the second period. The late Bergeron goal to make it 4-2 was the first actual clean shot by an opponent that has beaten Price in two games. Although the net was empty at the time as Price moved out for an expected shot from Pasternak.
THE BAD
- No goal call after Louie Eriksson beat Price from in close when the Habs were up 2-0. I can see why referee Dan O’Rourke waved it off with Patrice Bergeron leaning over Price. But the coach’s challenge should have determined that Bergeron did not get in the way of Price’s ability to stop the shot. Price was screened not bumped.
- Alexei Emelin. It was Emelin who was draped all over Bergeron forcing the Bruins forward into Price. Anyway, he wasn’t that bad but going low on Bergeron in the third period to give Boston a power play with the game well in hand (3-0) was just plain dumb.
- Sportsnet. Sorry guys but this is not gratuitous. The zebras usually get a lot of attention and/or become a factor in Montreal-Boston match ups. But analyst Gary Galley kept referring to “the referee” all night, not once mentioning the name of O’Rourke or his partner Mark Lemelin. Is it really that difficult to look at a scoresheet to inform viewers? At one point I flipped over to the Mets-Dodgers game in LA. Analyst Ron Darling mentioned “the home plate umpire” and I thought, “Here we go again”. But a split second later Darling identified him – Jim Wolf. All it took was a quick glance at his scorebook.
- Habs power play. Here we go again. The quickness of the Desharnais marker was impressive. It took 11 seconds for the PP to work after Beleskey was sent off for a high hit on Emelin. But it was all downhill from there. And in the third period when the Habs had a chance to bury the Bruins as badly as the streets of Boston last winter, it fizzled. Not even a five minute major with a bonus 5 on 3 in the middle of it and a J.J. Daigneault time out could erase the impotence of a season ago. Warning sign or just a blip?
THE UGLY
- Back to that memorable ballgame. The Chase Utley “slide” that broke the leg of Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada was one of those made-for-Twitter moments. Unfortunately it was also a reminder of how many “fans” need anger management help. It’s a shame to read so much vitriol and personal insults pile up in the middle of an otherwise lively and important debate about baseball rules. Hall of Fame Shortstop Cal Ripken, who had his share of base runners barrel into him, had it right, in my opinion. Tejada was in a very awkward pivot position. Utley, like every major league baserunner with the game on the line, has one thing in mind – break up the double play. I grew up watching runners take out middle infielders which resulted in the old “neighbourhood play” – where umpires provided fielders with a bit of protection by allowing them to take the ball somewhere “in the neighbourhood” of the bag. There’s much less of it these days. Utley – always an aggressive runner – is 36 years old. He too, has been on the receiving end. Maybe this play is a rule changer. In any event I feel sorry for nameless families out there who I can imagine deal with much worse than a Twitter insult when the game is turned off. On the other hand, thank goodness there are others who can make you laugh.
Tony Corcoran @tdot_tony 15h15 hours ago
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