Montreal Canadiens Versus Boston Bruins

Musings and In-Game Scribbles

My English is as good as yours, I just write these in a stream-of-consciousness mode that I insist excuses me from small things like rules of grammar or general etiquette. Let’s call it conversational English, hopped up on beans. You know what kind of beans (no, Carl Mellesmoen, not the magic ones)

Montreal Canadiens (12-14-2) host Boston Bruins (14-8-5)
Friday, December 4, 2009
Game Twenty-Nine (score posted following scribbles)
Musings and In-Game Scribbles are a “live blogging” of the game that are compiled (typed, actually) during the game and edited and posted shortly after the game.

Today marks the Canadiens 100th anniversary. December 4, 2009. It’s a long celebration but the guest list makes it a memorable moment. Gordie Howe, Viggo Mortensen and so many former Canadiens. We’ve spent more than a year celebrating this team’s birthday. A long, complex, cake-filled birthday, eh.

Player after player is introduced. Speeches will be the order of the evening. At least until the game starts.

Dick Irvin calls Markov an “assistant captain”. He, along with Ryan O’Byrne will be assisting with the banner-raising which commemorates tonight’s surprise retirement of both Elmer Lach’s number 16 and Emile “Butch” Bouchard’s number three.

The Canadiens alumni are here including Guy Lafleur, Patrick Roy, Larry Robinson, Guy Lapointe and what appears to be a full 18-man roster. Yes, I’m thinking it, too. But I’m not going to be so rude as to type it.

Some bad David Foster-style music accompanies the banners to the roof of the Bell Centre. Kovalev could have been a part of all this if the team had won a couple of Cups while he was here. And who knows, he may be back to finish his career in Montreal one day. Stranger things have happened (remember the respective returns of Shayne Corson and Patrice Brisebois?).

A team picture is organized and several more players are added to the on-ice gathering. The current 2009-10 team is included in the photograph.

Viggo Mortensen’s introduction of Guy Lafleur was half in French and all memorized. Great touches by the respectful actor.

Saku should have been here. As far as I’m concerned he remains and is now the longest-serving captain in Montreal franchise history. Captain in spirit, Koivu’s ghost is the haunting figure tonight.

Pierre Houde and Benoit Brunet are both in tuxes.

What kind of reactions ripple through the current players as they each experience this event, each in their individual manner?

Stars love this pressure. Nights like these were made for Wayne, Mario, Bobby, Doug and Maurice.

Georges Laraque is dressed for tonight and I expect Price to start.

Alain Crete, Jacques Demers and Joel Bouchard are at their pre-game desk, also tuxedoed and polished.

Michel Bergeron is dressed in black but not in a tuxedo. He gives us three picks for tonight’s games from the studio.

The Centennial logo is just as elegant as always. They are showing it often tonight.

Dickie Moore and Henri Richard are interviewed as we near eight o’clock. What sorts of advice is being given to the current team from the patriarchs? Is any of it going to have an impact?

Hal Gill is ready to go and it’s his first game back since his injury. We go back to Alain Crete and Jacques Demers and they have former captain Vincent Damphousse with them. His suit is not camera-friendly. Blackish-grey with striping. Stripes ain’t good for the camera. Steel blue dress shirt.

More interviews. Ca m’ennuie. Commencons already.

And finally the team is introduced and the anthem is at hand. Anthem is by some band. Orchestral and brass. Silver instruments. Tuxes. Blue carpet disheveled and heaped on the ice. No vocals. The Montreal Symphonic Orchestra. If Graeme Hamilton thinks he’s had enough I wonder what he’ll say when we get the Toronto version in a few years. It’ll be a litre of blue Pepto-Bismol, I assure you. And it will last longer than this past year’s worth of Tricolore.

Gary is here, I think. Quick glimpse shows the commissioner.

Tim Thomas and Carey Price are the opposing goaltenders.

Stephane Auger and Bill McCreary are the refs tonight.

First Period

Lapierre’s line starts. Maxim against Steve Begin for the faceoff. Boston gets the early drop but they are shooed out quickly. Laraque is on with Lapierre.

Line change occurs at 45 seconds elapsed.

Cammalleri, Plekanec and Andrei Kostitsyn form the next trio.

O’Byrne is now wearing number 20 and he carries the puck deep and is behind Tim Thomas before returning to the blue line. Metropolit led a virtual two-on-one just prior and his shot was sighted wide.

Price ends the action on the other end on a harmless shot and save pairing.

Faceoff to the BC Prince’s left. Lapierre contre Begin un autre fois. Lapierre wins it.

Canadiens have the intensity and purpose tonight. So far.

Stuart’s pass to Paille works but O’Byrne comes up to flatten Paille. Pass preceded that and the Bruins move it down. The puck interruptions are the constant so far and neither club has been able to slow it down enough to get it to the point.

Metropolit receives a pass above a circle and fires a high dangerous shot. It misses the net and is either team’s best chance so far. Five minutes have expired.

Kostitsyn turns it over, dropping a backhand puck inside the Boston blue line. Wheeler and Savard benefit and have a short wheel and pass along the Montreal boards inside the blue line to Price’s left.

First whistle. Bruin forward, David Krejci, #46, is going to the penalty box. Better than Jagr? Stay tuned.

Brian Gionta, Ryan White and Tom Pyatt are not in the lineup tonight.

Krejci’s penalty is interference.

Julien has a wry smile as he leans on the support behind him.

Bergeron gets an early shot that is almost rerouted past Thomas.

Reset. Bergeron to Hamrlik who blasts it in. Bergeron has it on the right point. To Kostitsyn (Andrei) and he shoots. Nope.

Carey Price just made the save of the week for Red. One-on-one stop. Gallant. Gymnastic. Grim.

Thirty seconds left in the penalty and Montreal controls for a last thrust. Metropolit, Gomez and Pacioretty are on the second weave. They circle convincingly. Great movements and decisions with the puck from the wheeling Gomez. Love it. Puck goes to the point and bang. It’s in the net. Loud crowd. First goal.

Montreal 1, Boston 0

Plekanec line is on next.

Boston’s Derek Morris has it behind the Bruin net. Moves it up. Former Hab Mark Recchi has it in the corner to Price’s left. Pass to the slot fails.

Montreal’s forechecking is leading edge. Carey is on his game and he makes a very good save. Way ahead of the play. C’est tout bon and Pierre Houde says Price is at full concentration tonight.

Pacioretty line is on and Max is chasing with help from Moen. Two guys forechecking deep and even a third as Metropolit joins them.

Price’s save was on Ryder and the likeable winger is getting some light booing when he touches the puck. It’s almost unnoticeable.

Paille is sent in against one defender and his striding slot shot, lefty, sails to the right of Price and out of play.

Commercial. Do you share Ford’s confidence in their products? When is Porsche going to make trucks?

Pierre Houde says that Carey Price loves playing against Boston.

Another new mask for Price. He’ll be selling it to raise money for charity. Tonight is the mask’s first and last appearance in a game. The top part of the mask is a compelling deep red but the blue and white “C” underneath fails in my view.

Seven and a half minutes left in the first period.

Plekanec and Cammalleri pass back and forth as they enter the Bruin zone and Plekanec brakes and circles back with the puck. This move has not worked for the offence for many, many games, if ever. If he brakes, I’d like to see him move toward the slot on occasion from that angle. Like Richard Zednik used to before the McLaren hit. Can’t do it often but often enough and Montreal will get some zany spaces to score from.

Ryder wheels in front of the Montreal net with Gill chasing him. Weak backhander. I’ve never seen Ryder wheel in a semi-circle on that part of the ice before. He’s added to his game.

A Bruin and a Hab both fall on Boston white. Laraque. Crowd thinks it’s a Bruin penalty. Houde says it could have been call but that the refs are overlooking it. They don’t overlook a Montreal penalty moments later on Montreal white.

Commercial.

Ryan O’Byrne for interference. Fair call.

First kill pairing is Plekanec with Moen. Gorges and Gill are the first defensive pairing.

Canadiens win the faceoff. Price whips it out of the zone. Gomez and Plekanec team up to keep Boston out for fifteen seconds.

Boston sets up with a minute left. Ryder shoots. Stopped.

Puck moves in a trapezoid. Another shot from Ryder. Price in a spray of snow makes the stop.

Canadiens create now. Sergei with Gomez and Gorges trailing create a good scoring chance. Thomas is on it but the Bruins seem to flail on the possession. And moments after a collision, between Metropolit and Krejci, Boston forward Blake Wheeler, #26 is
called for tripping.

That ends the Boston power-play and puts the teams in a four-on-four situation.

Gomez and Metropolit are the first pairing and as they skate, the Montreal penalty ends and the Canadiens move to a one-minute man advantage. About a minute and a half in the period.

Montreal sets up for one shot in the first thirty seconds. Boston deftly reduces the next thirty seconds. Begin and Paille continue the good work and Montreal cannot exit their zone for the duration of Wheeler’s penalty.

Sixteen seconds left. Boston is moving the puck and Montreal’s pursuit is successful.

Period ends. Houde says it was a very good period.

Shots on goal are in favour of Montreal, 10-8. Quality scoring chances favoured Montreal; I’d estimate 6 to 4.

First Intermission
Montreal 1, Boston 0

Alain Crete teases Francois Gagnon for being a guy from Ottawa and Gagnon says that in the old days, he was certainly a Canadiens fan but that the key is to be objective in his position. He does that very well. They have a laugh.

Gagnon talks about his first Canadiens’ game as a fan. He shares that Jacques Laperriere was the reason he became a Habs fan.

They move on to the Centennial and highlights from the Canadiens’ history. We get a shot of former (and briefly tenured) captain Pierre Turgeon holding up a lit torch in strange lighting in an arena. Assumedly this was the last night in the Forum or the first night at the Bell Centre. This would have been in 1996.

It was a mistake for the thin ring along the bottom of the Forum boards to be painted yellow. That ring remains yellow in the Bell Centre and I think going back to the distinctive light blue would be a nice touch and a nod to history without causing too much pain. Or perhaps the light blue is more difficult to perceive the puck’s location on the ice?

Guy Lafleur interview. Jean Beliveau is shown seated next to the interviewer and Lafleur moments later. Potpourri talk. Lafleur has a blue Sharpie in his left hand. Probably for signing autographs. Or maybe he’s doing some whiteboard work downstairs for Jacques, eh.

Interview-ending handshake is extended by the interviewer holding Guy’s hand a bit long. Guy wipes his hand very quickly and firmly immediately afterward. Sweaty?

The interviewer has a Norman Mailer quality and is “sort of a big deal”. But I don’t remember his face or know his name.

Prior to the second, a quick chat with O’Byrne. He says that it is a privilege to be the last Canadiens player to wear number three. He says he had a choice of three jersey numbers and picked #20. We aren’t told what the other two choices were.

I wonder who the first triple-digit player will be. Was #333 available?

Second Period
Montreal 1, Boston 0

Boston gets the first possession. Ference and Bergeron pass to one another before the puck goes out of play. Faceoff to the left of Price. Montreal wins it. Andrei Kostitsyn carries it at high speed. Into a gap along the teeth of the Bruins blue. Skates down. Straight line. Waits. Shoots. Very sharp angle and his confidence in his shot is evidenced. It misses but it had a chance. Gretzky kind of angle. Impossible.

Bruin falls. Metropolit and Moen enter on a swift two-on-one. Metropolit shoots. Bad angle.

Now Bergeron comes in, one Bruin. Shot. Thomas. Rapid. Left pad; all reaction. Great save. Part of a grand oeuvre of athletic saves from the thirty-five year old goaltender.

Carey Price makes a puck theft in his crease.

Blades and bombast. Skates and stick. It’s Andrei Kostitsyn leading the way down again. His confidence is something different these days. He may go off. Break out. Bloom.

Gomez line is on next and they win the faceoff and exit. Bruins dump it back in from the lip of the zone.
Gill and Gomez combine to drive the puck around the Boston net. Gomez wins a battle. Kicks it to D’Agostini. It goes to the point. Shot is wide. Bruins exit but Hamrlik has it quickly behind Price and the Canadiens are chasing well again. Icing. Against Montreal. But Lapierre nearly beat it.

Faceoff to the left of Price. Boston wins. Wheeler shoots. Price saves it. Pas commode. He was falling forward to make the save. Puck is trapped.

Penalties. McCreary sends Spacek and Lapierre to the box. Five-on-three advantage for the struggling Boston power-play. They are ranked 24th in the NHL.

Chara is on the point. Bergeron and Savard are on with Recchi. Plekanec is the first forward. Montreal clears it.

Boston resets. Gorges blocks a shot.

Boston pressures. Gorges clears it.

Fifty seconds. Plekanec is still on.

Forty seconds. The Bruins pass it. Looking for the opening.

Plekanec captures it in the corner. Clears it. Crowd cheers and whistles. They quieten as Boston resumes.

Price. Great save going right to left. Pad lowered. Sure scoring chance thwarted.

Boston can’t complete it. Montreal survives. More, they managed the situation.

Now AK46 puts Plekanec in alone. Deke. Misses. Puck rounds around. Shot. Cammalleri. In. From the slot. Thomas couldn’t do more.

Montreal 2, Boston 0.

Brunet says that’s how you play hockey. I grimace in joy and nod. It’s not a pretty sight, no.

Paille tries a delayed wrap-around type of play. Price gives the puck away behind the net seconds later. No Bruin sticks can articulate.

Crowd is jeering, calling someone’s name. Puck is deep. Slot pass. Metropolit. Misses. Another chance as the puck returns to Thomas’ sphere. Stopped. Also Metropolit.

D’Agostini is on with Sergei and Gomez. Cycling. To the point. Gorges. Long shot. Wide to the left of Thomas. Bounces back. Thomas tortoise-shells it.

Metropolit beats Savard on the draw. Puck moves. Boston clears. Montreal carries it in again and dumps it in. Metropolit passes to Gill, advancing nearly to the slot. Thomas gloves the puck as it lobs high, looping.

Sergei is interfered with as he escapes for a drive down the left thanks to a pass up by Paul Mara. He retains the puck. Swerves. Releases. Legs and pads. Thomas’ glove.

Another whistle.

George Gillett is in the crowd tonight. Houde says that Gillett is very proud to have been the owner of the Canadiens. He was a good owner, yes.

Eight minutes left. Paille and Wideman and Ferrence move the puck out of the Boston zone. Now Mara and O’Byrne do the same for Montreal. Puck is whistled behind the Boston net. O’Byrne sent it in offside. It’ll be called icing.

Plekanec loses the faceoff. Puck is cleared regardless. Very few collisions. Each team is respecting the other’s speed and are trying not to get out of position for the sake of a hit. So far.

Cammalleri, Moen and Metropolit enter. Cammalleri works hard under the end-line. Emerges with the puck on the lip of the crease. Backhands it in. Thomas had the puck, crouching like a washer on his knees but it escaped him. Cammalleri is a goal-scorer. Rehearsed backhand was true.

Montreal 3, Boston 0.

Sergei blasts it now. Thomas can’t glove it. It’s still a save. Houde says that Thomas is having trouble with the glove hand tonight.

Begin skates down the left side. Fires. Right at Price. Puck bounces away from him a few feet and Price leaps to cover it. Gets snowed by Morris but it isn’t seen as intentional by the four Habs that come to a stop around the goalie.

Commercial. I wonder how many games a year Viggo Mortensen watches. And when did he start watching? We may get the chance to ask him this spring.

Price has to freeze it soon after the faceoff.

We see Sergei fall on a replay; collision. Optimism is expressed. Knee. Fell backward. Houde and Brunet both mention that the younger Kostitsyn is playing good hockey since re-joining the team after his banishment to Hamilton earlier this season.

Four minutes. Pacioretty tries to stickhandle around a defender in the neutral zone. Fails. Next time he bangs it down and the puck moves quickly to Gill’s stick to Metropolit’s in the slot and into the net.

Very nice pass from Gill. Ok. He can stay.

Montreal 4, Boston 0.

Oh, and you never change your mind? Inflexibility doesn’t land men on the moon. And won’t land any women either.

Crowd is yelling something. They are mocking a Bruin or a ref. Can’t make out the gurgle-echo.

Three minutes left in the second period.

Boston has signed on for some checking now. We hear some booms as Boston delivers some Adams Division fare.

But the hits don’t gain the puck and Montreal enters again. Morris gives it away. Gomez gets it. Passes to Cammalleri in the high slot. Thomas should have had it. Goes over his left arm. Hats float, flip and revolve down. Cammalleri has a hat trick. All is forgiven.

Jean Charest stands and joins the Bell Centre ovation for #13. It’s his 15th goal of the season.

Montreal 5, Boston 0.

This Boston game is a different linchpin. It’s Red. And White. And Blue.

Two and a half minutes left in the second period.

Lapierre is chasing. Laraque’s deep support is too late and too slow.

Montreal re-enters on the left side. Lapierre takes an uncharacteristic 45-foot slapshot at about that angle.

AK46 line jumps on.

Canadiens are looking to create. Canadiens are free-wheeling. Pass goes to Gorges just inside the Boston blue line. He fires. Big rebound but no sticks.

Montreal is playing the same as they have all game. No increase or decrease in intensity. Just a shift by shift focus. Yup.

Forty seconds. Chara shoots it into the opposite corner from the right point. Boston is beating Montreal to the pucks. Savard and Chara are doing the most work. Bitz is providing support and Stuart’s pinch keeps the puck in the Montreal zone to close the period. No shots from Boston but good movement and the puck is behind the net, disc in logs as the period ends.

Boston’s 18-13 lead in shots gives them a 26-23 game advantage.

Second Intermission
Montreal 5, Boston 0

Patrick Roy is on with Alain Crete and Jacques Demers. Roy says that the key moments of a career are when you carry the Stanley Cup. He still describes things the same way.

Demers tell Roy that the fans have voted him the fourth greatest Canadien of all time behind the three you’d expect and is the highest-voted goalie. Another example of Latest-Greatest; the dim public perception and its five-year memory. Plante, Durnan, Vezina, Hainsworth and Dryden all rank ahead of Roy on my lists. And that is no slight on Roy. Worsley and Hodge may also have been better. And I haven’t even mentioned Rogatien Vachon.

It’s not easy to be recognized in this group. Montreal’s goaltending history might be the richest in league history.

He is modest in hearing this and changes the subject to the fans and the “magical atmosphere” tonight.

Cammalleri is interviewed and we hear his comments prior to the third. Houde says that Cammalleri is also sounding like a captain.

Third Period
Montreal 5, Boston 0

Brunet says that he has only one regret about tonight and that is that Pat Burns was not here. He says we are thinking of him. I was wondering if he would be here but was also disappointed. He’s like a bear. But shorter.

Both teams are playing for show right now. Boston’s backup goalie Tuukka Rask is in net for Thomas for this period.

It’s workmanlike and plain. Puck is along the circumference of the oval. Nobody feels a need to risk anything. Boston should show more tenacity and force Montreal to play harder. Third period coasting creates bad habits.

Plenty of time to rest after the game.

Bruins are free to operate and a very dangerous shot from the slot is tracked by Price easily. Great save. Made it look easy.

Just over three minutes elapsed.

Whistle. Offside. Boston.

Embarrassing puck battle just inside the Montreal blue line. Lots of reaching with one hand. Someone has to yap something on the bench to get a sense of urgency. Isn’t it worth protecting your young fella’s shutout. Show him some respect.

Moen line shows the first signs of hard work and a bit of on-the-hop personality.

We get a shot of Sergei Kostitsyn leaving for the dressing accompanied by a Canadiens official.

Moments later a long shot eludes Price. Deflected on the way in by Vladimir Sobotka. Beat Price to the short side. It’s the 22-year old’s second goal of the season.

Montreal 5, Boston 1

Boston has an interest in the game again. Just under fifteen minutes left.

Mara beats his man to the puck and Boston is called for icing.

Are there any coaches that don’t wear a suit? Must be league regulation.

O’Byrne should have picked a longer number. Taller, I mean. Twenty is best on a more compact guy. O’Byrne might be a good 55. Or 59. He’d mature into the 59. Well, what’s your theory, then?

Lucic wasn’t here tonight and we are told that it is his second injury of the season.

Maxim Lapierre checked Andrew Ference in the corner to the right of Thomas and because Ference was cut and bleeding, a two-minute high stick (accidental) became a four-minute major. Lapierre serves it in the penalty box and four Canadiens go to work.

First minute. No shots. Price is defended. Second minute sees Pacioretty with Metropolit on a two-o-one. Pacioretty shoots. And I can see the puck all the way from my couch in Toronto. Weak wrister.

Boston gets set up for about ten seconds and poor passing selection puts a Bruin at risk of turning it over on the point. Turnover. Boston has to reset.

They do. And Montreal’s Matt D’Agostini, number 36 in your program, is called for slashing. Matt D’Agostini, number 36. Brunet says it was a useless penalty. Seconds later Montreal incurs yet another penalty. Third one.

Bergeron fans. Five-on=-three. Gill blocks a side-door pass. Slides to do it.

Plekanec is the lone forward.

Price makes his third Hart-trophy save of the night. And then follows that up with a mere All-Star save. Well. Carey Price seems to have improved. Permanently.

Plekanec joins #36 and Lapierre in the box.

Montreal assistant coach Perry Pearn puts a lot of care into his appearance. He’s going with the living room silk Harley-man look favoured by Don Cherry.

Marco Sturm gets called for tripping. All calls are legit. But Sturm’s gesture was accidental.

I can’t speak for the rest of the games but in Montreal games, I find that players have progressed to a new level in avoiding penalties. They’ve adjusted to the new rules almost fully.

Montreal stays out of trouble til we hit the last ten seconds of Boston’s one-man advantage. They endure one long slapshot at this point and the puck is cleared shortly thereafter. Icing.

Faceoff to the left of Price. Gloved.

Brunet says the Canadiens have showed a lot of character tonight. I agree. It’s not easy to play well and play a mortal’s game on a night when mortals are perceptually immortalized. But if one sees enough of these celebrations, one becomes impervious to them, I’ll venture.

Four on four dissolves with both teams showing commitment to the game. Just under eight minutes left in the third period.

Stuart sends it down for Gill to retrieve and he rounds it to Gorges. In the neutral zone it reverts to Boston control and they generate two long shots that can’t increase the danger.

Recchi controls down low and gets it to Chara to the point. Shot is wide. Boston fires five long shots in these past 50 seconds. Looking for something. Bomb, bomb, bomb.

Now Recchi is at the side and sends a Bobby Smith-style pass to the crease. The kind goalies fear. Price is in textbook angularity. Stops and holds it.

D’Agostini nearly sets up Cammalleri on a delayed pass as he goes left. But it hits a Boston stick as it crosses the slot.

Lapierre takes the faceoff outside the Boston zone following a commercial. Montreal defenceman Marc-Andre Bergeron is on the left wing next to him as Martin often likes to do. Then Bergeron drops.

Ference is bleeding from a cut under his left eye. The cut from Lapierre. Long maroon line.

Another faceoff follows after some neutral zone mucking.

Four and a half minutes left.

Chara quarterbacks a rush.

Boston has control deep but the puck escapes on the blue line.

Metropolit line is on. They have it and get a shot. First dangerous shot of the period for Montreal. Pacioretty has a follow-up shot from the slot. This one also lacks velocity.

Boston’s turn. D’Agostini dives to block a shot. Great play. Two Habs did simultaneously. I think Pacioretty was the other.

Boston wins a subsequent faceoff.

Gomez ends it with help from short lead pass from the defensive.

Montreal occupies the deep Boston area to the left of Rask but they can’t keep it in. It allows them a line change however.

Just over two minutes. Both teams gear it down a nudge.

Long shot, high, is stopped easily by Price and held against his chest.

Begin has some comments after the whistle but nothing develops. He is not smiling and agitating. He is unsmiling. Always a winner, the scoreboard is the number one measure for him. Yes, he’s older and banged up and all that but couldn’t we have kept him if we couldn’t keep Kosto? Those guys matter. I know they know. I just have to say it aloud sometimes.

Crowd rises to its feet as the announcement is made for the last minute of play.

Finally the screeching centennial is over. Now we can watch the games and focus on X and O stuff.

Clock runs out. Big train horn. Reminds me of Sept-Iles boats in the bay. And the big green church.

Players salute the crowd. I really miss Saku Koivu in moments like these. He is always emotionally invested when these kinds of gestures are made. And then I remember how he’d often be happier than the goal-scorer. That’s a teammate.

Montreal 5
Boston 1

HDS Stars: Mike Cammalleri, Carey Price, Tomas Plekanec
RDS Stars: Mike Cammalleri, Carey Price, Glen Metropolit

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4. Buffalo Sabres Versus Montreal Canadiens
5. Boston Musings and In-Game Scribbles
6. Boston Game Two, Musings and In-Game Scribbles