Nov 22, 2014; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Bruins center
Gregory Campbell(11) fights with Montreal Canadiens right wing
Dale Weise(22) during the first period at TD Banknorth Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
The Boston Bruins once again met their old foes the Montreal Canadiens. Once again, the Bruins had to face the Habs this season in the bottom end of a back-to-back schedule(The Bruins were 0-for-3 in those matchups before). Unfortunately, history repeated itself for the Black and Gold. Carey Price stopped everything that came at him as the Bruins fell to the Canadiens at home 2-0. Here are a few of things one can take out of the game.
The Bruins ‘top’ line was an AHL squad. You won’t here that often about the Boston Bruins, but tonight the case was true. Matt Fraser, Alexander Khokhlachev, and Matt Lindblad were effectively the Krejci line tonight. The Canadiens saw this and did their best to put their top line against them. (If the situation had been reversed, the Bruins would have done the same thing.) To the kids’ credit, they weren’t responsible for either of the goals that Montreal put up tonight.
Puck Prose
Both teams did not play their best hockey tonight. Don’t get me wrong Canadiens fans, your team got it done for you. They just didn’t play like they could have, and they were taking on an AHL team at points of the game. The Bruins problems revolved around one third of their roster being on injured reserve.
$22 million in salary cap sat in the press box tonight. You know it’s going to be a rough night when one third of your salary cap are the walking wounded. The Bruins were without their captain(and their number one defenseman), their top line center (and an alternate captain), and the pest that Montreal always seems to blow a gasket over. Chris Kelly(another alternate captain), David Krejci, and the recently called up Jordan Caron were the scratches last night. The loss of two alternate captains found Milan Lucic and Dennis Seidenberg brevetted to wear the ‘A’ tonight.
Gregory Campbell has buried the hatchet with Dale Weise. Weise started to chirp with Milan Lucic but rather than risk serious injury (smartly) chose to take on Gregory Campbell instead. This time, there wasn’t an early sucker punch and a quick skate to a ref. Campbell won his fight against Weise. (While I’ve learned to respect a lot of the Canadiens team, Weise is one I still on occasion call ‘Dale Weasel’.)
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The Canadiens are playing like the Bruins. They may be our toughest rivals and they return the spite fully. They do know a good system when they see it though. The Canadiens blocked or intercepted thirty one shots that didn’t even make it to Carey Price. They played defensive-minded, three zone hockey, and they beat the (a tired and AHL filled) Bruins team at their own game.
Bruins didn’t make it hard enough for Carey Price. The Bruins know how to beat Carey Price. Had they applied that knowledge to their game, the outcome might have been different. The Bruins didn’t crash the net and make life difficult for Price. He saw nearly all thirty one shots that came on him. Without the net front presence needed to disrupt his game, Price made it look easy.
The Canadiens Power Play. Against the other twenty nine teams in the league, the Habs are 4-for-51 on the power play. Against the Bruins, they’re 4-for-11. Those are ugly numbers, and the Bruins have got to know by now that even a sluggish Canadiens squad will find ways to get a puck in the net when they have the man advantage.
Refs and their whistles. The referees blow whistles way to early, and they can’t be that incompetent to miss the puck that often.
The Bruins haven’t beaten the Habs this season. 6-4, 5-1, and now 2-0. A healthier Bruins team might have better results, but we won’t know if that argument holds water until they match up again next February. Hopefully the Black and Gold will be less black and blue by then.