Montreal Canadiens vs. Boston Bruins
March 13, 2010, by Homme De Sept-Iles
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 (34-29-6) host Boston Bruins (30-24-12)
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Game Seventy (score posted following scribbles)
Missed it? Musings capture the game in writing. Based on the RDS telecast, Musings take about 20 minutes to read. More detailed than an article, fresher than a looping highlight and good with morning coffee.
Gomez line will start. Roman Hamrlik and Jaroslav Spacek will be the starting defence pairing.
Now we are forced to see the Canadian women’s team and some other industrial games specialists. They come out on the carpet to warm applause.
The hockey team.
The anthem is sung with a bit more body English (body French) than usual. Monsieur Charles Prevost-Linton.
Finally the pointless gesture ends and we can get on with Canadiens business.
Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak are the goalies. Neither is Canadian. One is Canadien.
First Period
Dennis LaRue and Francois St.Laurent are the referees. LaRue is American and St. Laurent is Canadian. The NHL website includes players’ nationalities. Why shouldn’t I.
Tall Quebecaine, Benoit Pouliot, rings one off the post. Long shot from just inside the blue line. Pass from the left; Americois Scott Gomez.
Tom Pyatt, Tomas Plekanec and Andrei Kostitsyn are on next. Canuckistan, Czechworld and Belgrade.
Plekanec removes Boston’s David Krejci from the puck behind Halak. Bruins retain control.
Canadiens get it out.
Amerilander Josh Gorges is hit by Boston’s Scott Thornton as he carousels the puck along the boards. Good hit with a flying lead-up.
Boston defenceman Johnny Boychuk fires from outside the blue and Halak has trouble with the high drive.
Glenn Metropolit line is on. I’m stopping now.
Maxim Lapierre is back in the lineup tonight and he accompanies this line.
Faceoff outside the Boston blue is won by the Bruins.
Long pass for Boston centre Brad Marchand (he’s only played thirteen games this season). He catches up to it and controls it briefly, swerving towards the circle. And Roman Hamrlik is called for elbowing.
Crowd is booing.
Replay shows a light elbow. On the border.
Broons go to the power-play.
Mark Recchi versus Gomez and Gomez wins it.
Bruins kept it in on the blue line. Pass to the circle. To the hash. Up to the blue line. To the corner but Recchi’s board-around is intercepted and cleared.
Bruins rush. Pass to Krejci in the slot is a bit far for him and he can’t do much but lightly deflect it.
Canadiens send it out.
With under a minute in the power-play the Bruins reset.
Three passes and a shot from Zdeno Chara. Rebound is cleared.
Chara retrieves.
Up for Marco Sturm. Sends it around the net.
To Chara. To the high slot for Michael Ryder (Saku’s former linemate). Shot is high. Ryder chases it.
Can’t control. Brian Gionta takes it instead for Montreal and clears it up. Penalty ends.
Pyatt now takes an errant pass from the side of the net. Sends a long pass. Too long. But a penalty is called on Boston at the same time.
Holding called against Boston’s Mark Stuart. Colour-man Benoit Brunet says that if Stuart hadn’t held AK, the fleet Belarusian may have escaped for a breakaway.
Pouliot, AK and Plekanec are on the first wave. New alignment. Roman Hamrlik and Andrei Markov accompany on the blue line.
Plekanec has it in the corner. To the point. They move it along he boards. Bruins are defending it high. Bergeron is taking the point pass away where he can.
Two more passes. To the blue line. Markov. Fires it through and in.
Montreal 1, Boston 0
Houde thinks that there may have been a deflection
Metropolit line is next.
Metropolit drives down on the off-wing and a back-hander results in a ripe rebound. No sticks reply and Boston is able to clear it.
Lines change. Gomez is on.
Gomez has it going right mid-way down in the Boston zone.
Sends it to the slot. Big vectors but no shot.
This line retains control.
Hal Gill pinches. Twice. Second time he is caught out but Pouliot is there to cover. Boston can’t get a rush off the play.
Dominic Moore line hops on for (the) Canadiens.
Long Montreal pass from the neutral zone goes long and icing is called.
Faceoff is to Halak’s right.
Sergei Kostitsyn (bay-bruh) is on with Moen and Moore.
Bruins win it. Shot from Chara. Halak freezes it.
Houde tells us to expect a nice visit in the booth next.
It’s some player. Charline Labonte. Canadian team. Goaltender. Women’s.
Gill takes it in the corner and sends a long pass that doesn’t connect. Bruins retrieve. Incursion is ended with another Montreal clear.
Bruins enter offside.
Faceoff is won by Boston. They have to retrieves. Andrei K makes the exit laboured.
Finally the Bruins create a shot. Stopped. Another exit and another re-entry and mild save by Halak.
Spacek to Metropolit. His pass goes off target and into the corner.
Sobotka is in on the left side. Supported by Marchand.
Bruins get their longest control of the night. About seven seconds.
Canadiens are called for icing about six seconds later.
Lines stay on.
Interview with Labonte is ongoing. Houde is not calling the game. At least they’re interviewing a woman. Progressive (for those of you who don’t know me).
Crowd is booing again. Offside is disagreed with.
Canadiens head coach Jacques Martin has a calm expression.
Bruins win the faceoff. Chara fires it in.
Bergeron is chasing it. He is muscled off the puck by Gill behind the net. Gomez has it circling back and into the Bruin zone. Stops at the hash. Tries a slot pass. Pouliot is there but the puck deflects away.
Paille attempts a left side entry but Spacek pokes it away one-handed.
Puck goes out of play.
Martin’s eyes are flicking from here to there quickly. Almost a side-long glance. He’s checking who Boston is sending on next.
Moore has it inside the Montreal zone. Spacek supports. Some more dithering before Spacek’s short pass to the side-boards allows Montreal to exit.
Big hit attempt by a Bruin fails. He fell despite greased tracks.
Travis Moen’s trio is controlling. Mix of players. Markov keeps it in on the blue line while Montreal players change all the while. Impressive. Hit attempt was by Boychuk. He ran into a statue of Moen (not to be confused with a statue of Fuhr – you know which Fuhr).
Canadiens continue their controlling ways. Boston seems slower and less committed somehow.
Lapierre line is on.
Spacek takes a pass along the Boston blue line and skates down the right. Puck is in front. They jam at it. Rask is down. Small crowd. Inoffensive smothering and a faceoff to follow.
Replay shows that Wideman covered the puck. Penalty should have been called.
Metropolit is behind the net. Quick, quick stick. Leaves it for Lapierre. To the slot. Nope.
Ryder gets a chance going the other way.
Gionta starts the home team out. Uses the space to send the puck up for a line change.
Boston tries a dump-in. Halak interrupts it behind his net.
Canadiens and Bruins work the boards. O’Byrne and Recchi and two others.
To the other side. Markov has it. Fires it. And it becomes icing.
Faceoff to Halak’s left.
Gomez wins it. Markov gets it. Puck goes around the other side. Lucic tries a high shot. Halak gloves it. Holds onto it.
O’Byrne leaves the ice.
Gill pairing returns.
Bruins look gassed on the bench. End of shift expressions.
The unsavoury Milan Lucic has it in the high slot following the faceoff and sends it just to Halak’s right. Great chance.
Gorges helps break up a middle incursion.
Bruins have to retrieve.
Boston’s Blake Wheeler is in on the left. Wheeler falls over Jaroslav Spacek’s stick. Accidental and Houde agrees.
It’s called. Boston power-play. They have to call that.
Canadiens win the faceoff to Halak’s right. Hamrlik tries to boom it out but it’s stopped on the other side at the hash.
Bruins control.
Chara is the solo man on the blue line. Middle.
Canadiens clear twice.
Bergeron starts the next rush but Wheeler goes offside on the left side.
Mark Recchi leads all the Bruins with eight power-play goals. Forty-two.
Years of age.
Impressionant.
Bruins win the faceoff outside the blue line and carry it in. They work the boards. Gorges is there. Moen. Now Gill. Six guys. Great work from both Moen and Gorges. And they improve on it. Gorges is something else this shift. Uh, something good.
Bruins finally get it unimpeded to the blue line and a long shot forces Halak out to make the save.
Interception.
Plekanec. Near breakaway. Enough room to try. But not enough for a good angle.
Canadiens keep the pressure short-handed as Plekanec leaves. Sergei, Andrei Markov and Moore in the slot. Sergei passed to Markov on the left. Markov went around the back. Passed to Sergei on the side. Shot And in. Sergei Kostitsyn.
Montreal 2, Boston 0
Time runs out and the Canadiens maintain possession through these final fifteen seconds.
Julien leaves the ice just as calmly as Martin.
Montreal leads on shots 7-6.
First Intermission
Montreal 2, Boston 0
I’m disappointed for Boston. Something’s wrong. Turnovers have been an issue for the team this season. They rank eighth with 250 coming into the game tonight. And the takeaways don’t balance it, they are 24th in the league with just 178.
Francois Gagnon and Alain Crete discuss the injury situations in the NHL.
Tampa Bay has the fewest man-games lost to injury, 55, yet is still well out of the playoff hunt. Edmonton has the most. They have been adversely affected; last in the NHL. Gagnon’s point is that man-games lost don’t necessarily correlate with losses.
They interview Andrei Markov. Markov is smiling and relaxed; much moreso than in the past.
Second Period
Montreal 2, Boston 0
Early incursion by Montreal ends in a shot and a whistle.
Plekanec line is on next.
Boston movies out of the neutral zone. Pass to Ryder on the left side. Ryder skates in that slow wobbling bicycle way of his. Backhands it to he slot. Wheeler puts it in. Lovely piece.
Montreal 2, Boston 1
Sergei, Moore and Moen follow. The control on the Boston boards. Moen does the work. Moore has it in the corner and gives it away. Bruins enter.
Sergei now leads a three-on-two. Cuts to the middle. Looking all the while. Sends a shot. It’s managed by Boston.
Metropolit line hops on.
Montreal’s Mathieu Darche is on the left side. Slot pass. Gloved by Rask.
Metropolit wins the faceoff to Rask’s right.
Lapierre on the ice is like playing with the invisible man. Again he is of no use. Chasing and unable to effect any advantage for the team.
Metropolit loses the puck behind the Boston net.
On the boards, Lucic moves it up on the left side.
Bergeron falls in the corner. Montreal has it again.
Pouliot is taken down in the neutral zone. Marco Sturm. Helmet went off. Elbow. Brunet says it’s dangerous. Sturm elbowed Pouliot directly in the face. Brunet says checks are fine but that these types of plays have to be quietly eliminated from the NHL.
Plekanec line for the man-=advantage.
Shot fails. Boston gets a three-on-two. Inconsequential. Houde says that Plekanec’ impatience caused the Boston outsource.
Markov is very low. Slot pass. Andrei K. Can’t get enough composite on t it.
Rask just takes it away. Dribbler. Brunet suggests a lack of confidence for AK.
Just under a minute in the penalty.
Canadiens have to regroup.
Gomez line.
Gomez carries it in.
Bruins take it away on the boards and clear it.
Gionta enters and takes a direct shot. Turned away. Huge rebound. No Canadiens are nearby.
Canadiens are now bottled in their own zone. Small bottle. Penalty ends.
Canadiens keep the possession with Moen and Sergei doing good work. O’Byrne gets two cracks form the blue line.
Long pass for Moore.
Right in front. Turns. Shoots. Too sharp an angle.
Canadiens retain.
O’Byrne pushes it to Sergei. Back to “O’Byrne.
Boston lets the Canadiens move it around.
Finally the Bruins move it out. And a whistle.
False hockey modesty is a French art as well, I’d guess. Just a random thought.
Bruins control. Shot from the point.
Lapierre fails to gain control of the puck. Again. And again. And again. And again.
Lapierre does some work that could indirectly relate to Metropolit generating a shot from the slot now.
Some pressure from Montreal.
Bruins clear.
Pyatt is on and chasing. He beats Chara to the puck. And knocks him down legitimately. Wow. Crowd loves it.
Hyatt scoops a slow puck near his crease now.
On the replay we are shown a hit by Andrei K as well. And some yap from AK, following. He’s a bit bolder than in his first season.
Play resumes. Stuart is going to be called. Interference. He took Gionta down. Brunet calls it a stupid penalty.
Faceoff is to Rask’s left.
Bruins make the first mark of the segment by forcing the Canadiens against their own boards deep.
Another waste of time interview takes Houde away from the action. In the meantime the bruins are knocking down Habs and sweeping pucks.
Just under a minute as the play is stopped.
Montreal wins the ensuing faceoff. They control.
Gomez line. Better spacing.
Spacek goes to the hash. Stays there.
Back to the blue. Drops the puck for Pouliot.
Action moves to the other side. Gomez has it on the hash.
Cross-ice pass. Now it’s behind the net. Penalty runs out. Great movement but no quality shots.
Boston resumes five-on five with Krejci and Wheeler skating with great purpose. Ryder joins the tempo.
Sergei’s line is on. They match it. Puck ends up in the neutral zone. Canadiens get control of it.
Marchand is in. Shot. Point-blank. Rebound. I look for it to go in. Somehow it doesn’t. But he net gets filled by a falling Halak and a teammate. Whistle.
Some car talk. Grand Prix.
Faceoff is to Halak’s left. Puck is dropped. And another whistle immediately. Not sure.
Marchand loses the faceoff to Metropolit.
Lapierre picks it up and has it behind the net. Passes it. Exit is stopped at the blue line. Boston controls. Pass to Chara. Shot. Legs.
Metropolit exits. A check and a bounce. Bruins exit. No money, no Montreal and definitely no maxim.
Plekanec line is back. Whistle moments later. Just a banal stoppage.
To Rask’s left.
Plekanec loses it. Behind the net. To the hash and Boston pours in. Krejci’s line is working hard.
Ryder slams into Hamrlik but Spacek is there for support and carries it out.
Montreal drives in. Pass to Andrei K. Shot. Blocked. He picks up the rebound.
Andrei is working hard again. Here’s hoping he’s back for good.
Work in the corner. Pinching O’Byrne is saved by Markov. Puck is sent back in after a three-on-one foreshadowing.
Gill advances for a shot. Blocked.
Gill has it on the blue line now. Sends it diagonally.
Canadiens are starting to get ahead of the Bruins.
Lines change and so does the mood slightly.
Begin sends a no=look backhand pass to the slot and Montreal takes over. Begin is in chase mode. Hunwick retrieves and bounces it along the boards. Begin gets it at the neutral zone and sends it down for a line change.
And a whistle soon afterward.
We are shown the respective playoff races by conference.
Boston wins the faceoff to Halak’s left.
Shot. Handled.
Canadiens exit. Plekanec comes up with a puck entering the Boston middle. Shot. Rask makes a good save. Difference-maker, perhaps. Just need to see a replay to know how tough the save was.
Whistle.
Andrei Kostitsyn.
Lucic hits somebody now. Houde says it’s an idiot gesture.
Replay?
Penalty first. Kostitsyn for interference. Lucic for roughing.
Lucic got boomed by Andrei. And the Broons didn’t like it. Both Martin and Julien have philosophical expressions on their faces.
Double-minor. Four-on-four.
You don’t hit a Canadian boy, Rooskie. Ya hear me Rooskie? Ok, Rooskie?
Good for Andrei. Go soak your flag.
First minute is slash and slush.
With a minute left in the penalty, a slow Boston change results in a skate and shoot for Montreal. Just wide and out of play.
Pouliot is on with Plekanec. They (this week’s articles and comments) say six million. I say let’s find a way.
Twenty seconds. Boston enters. Gorges interferes.
Crowd boos in vain. Light booing ends quickly.
Now Boychuk is flexing his armbands. Against Markov. You doan come err-oun’ here no moah.
Boston goes to a power-play. Around thirty seconds left in the period.
Five-on-four.
Bruin Dennis Wideman breaks his stick on a blue line shot.
Bruins have to retrieve.
Siren goes to end the period as some digging goes on the boards near the Bruin blue line. No rough stuff.
Canadiens lead on shots again. Nine to five this period.
Second Intermission
Montreal 2, Boston 1
Bouchard says that if Moore had a Quebecois name, perhaps the fans would appreciate him more. He shows Moore’s good puck protection work on a shift and compliments his tenacity and effort.
Alain, Jacques and Joel are unanimous in wanting to keep the shootout. Joel says you need a hero and a storyline and that the traditional non-shootout method remains for the playoffs.
I agree. Keep the shootout. Unskilled players oppose the shootout. Or traditionalists. What is more reflective of hockey than skills? In Quebec, growing up, there was nothing else to consider.
Canadiens won Cups on better shooting, passing and skating.
I maintain the position. In every sport there are traditionalists who want to see the unskilled survive. Tice versus Walsh. More, they wish to see the unskilled rewarded. Knicks versus Jordan. Reminds me of my blue collar summers. Suncor versus Apple. Illiterate managers complaining about immigrants taking their jobs. Imports versus Locals. Turns out those immigrants could add and subtract.
Shovers want to keep shoving.
Then shove off.
The continent ain’t yours anymore. It’s for talented people. Not for lazy, blood-pressured loafers. Take your Uncle Toms with you.
Third Period
Montreal 2, Boston 1
Canadiens score. Rask made an error playing a puck off the end boards. Sergei shot it in. A freebie.
Montreal 3, Boston 1
About two minutes in.
Boston defenceman Matt Hunwick moves it up for Ryder but the puck is sent back. Boston sets up. Montreal spends more time in five-on-five than any other team. One of the reasons is the drop in team speed. Speed draws penalties. They have some speed, true. But not like last season.
Hamrlik is rubber-band legged as he looks for a receiver. Moves it out.
But the Bruins are back in quickly. Down the right. Pass. High slot. To Thornton. Shoots. Hard shot. Save by Halak.
Montreal goes in offside. Whistle.
Begin and Lapierre go up against one another. Lapierre is smiling like Begin used to. We don’t get to see Begin’s expression. Lapierre hit Thornton and Begin stepped in. Begin was looking around for someone else to take the task; methinks he didn’t want to wipe up the surface with Lapierre’s jersey.
Nothing came of it.
Darche is in. Uses the screen. Sneaks a weak wrister at Rask’s logo.
Faceoff. Bruins win it.
Stuart booms Sergei behind the net. Some members of the crowd don’t like it.
Markov is irritated. He goes after someone at the whistle. Stick high and arms up. Small crowd. Very little aggression left. Moen’s helmet is off.
Recchi gets Markov to laugh. O’Byrne’s helmet is off, too. They settle down like good bubble-gum boys.
Sturm took the brunt of Markov’s irritation.
We resume to Halak’s left. Penalties are announced first.
Houde says that Sturm and Markov both go.
Four-on-four.
Sturm takes a sip of water, takes off his glove and spits while sitting, spear in hand, in the rubber-floor black box. Stick.
Spacek and Andrei K. With Hamrlik and Tomas. Plekanec.
Shot by Spacek from the blue line as AK took it down the right side first.
Canadiens re-enter. Andrei K is crusiing again, taking it a bit easy on the backcheck. For the sake of.
Gionta is on.
Gomez, too. Gill and Gorges switch on, as well.
And another idiotic booth visit to come. Who’s next? Rogge? Why don’t they just arrest the Prime Minister and report that in the booth? Get a French Mountie in there.
Faceoff is to Rask’s right. Habs win it but Gill loses it on the blue line.
Canadiens retrieve. Gionta carries it to the red line. Leaves it for Gomez. He circles back and then is stopped at the blue line.
Hamrlik retrieves it as the penalties end.
Gomez circles back a lot. Remember when the Canadiens were forbidden from continuing the many fancy back passes? Sometime during the 05-06 season. I think it was one of the first thing Carbonneau commented on after taking over. We aren’t going to make back passes. Or maybe it was Julien before the big losing streak. Or during. Oy. Sad to see both go.
Another hockey player is talked to in the booth. Yeah, yeah.
Faceoff to Halak’s right.
I never said I was a hockey fan. Je suis Canadien.
Eleven and a half minutes left in the third.
Drive in.
Giveaway. Pyatt. Turns like a Corgi and shoots at the doorstep. Rask somehow is in position.
Bruins have it deep. Lucic line. Lucic gets a chance to tuna-fish Andrei K. But AK avoids it partially. Puck is moved out, as well and then a whistle.
Faceoff to Halak’s left.
AK is still on.
Bruins enter. Ryder on the right. Tries his new move. Loses the puck.
Gionta on the other end. Tries a weak pass to the slot. Intercepted. Pouliot follows it into the corner. Can’t come up with it and is bodied down. He has to get lower in the corners.
Just a suggestion.
Sergei pushes it down the left. Gets it on a stick. Shot. Nope.
Puck is cleared out.
Crowd is waiting. Canadiens are playing with purpose but Boston is playing like it’s 2007.
Lapierre in on a near two-on-one. Why even bother.
We skip ahead a sequence to a Boston goal.
Shot and a goal. Lapierre. Every time he’s on the ice; nothing-man.
Long shot. Amateurish. Lucic beats Halak like it’s 1975.
And I’m irritated like it’s 1866.
Montreal 3, Boston 2
Boston seems heartened.
Houde cuts this in-booth interview short. Good. We have a game to focus on. We don’t need to chew on precious memories.
Faceoff. Moore wins it. Montreal is too mild closing to the puck. But Boston is sloppy. Ryder line is on.
Plekanec for Montreal.
Wideman falls going for the puck behind his net but gets his stick on it, a swipe and he avoids a nasty turnover.
Gomez. Waits. To the middle. Gionta. In. Passes. Shot. Rask loses the rebound. Here’s the chance. Gionta, no.
Moen line.
Moen is in on the right side.
Back to neutral zone dithering.
Along the boards in Montreal ice.
Moore. Gill loses it.
Moen gets away with one. Houde notices and says that the refs tolerated that one.
Lapierre on the right side. Puck touches his stick and turns to gold. Boston gold. Every time. Midas Lapierre.
Just under five minutes.
Boston is still benefiting from the earlier Maxim turnvover. Finally Andrei K takes it out. Loses it deep.
Other end. Halak makes what may be his best save of the night. Crowd gives its loudest reaction to one of his saves, anyway.
Boston retains. But then they lose it.
Halak got across. On the save.
Rask holds it.
No replay yet.
But that was a difference-maker. A play above the ordinary play level of a game.
Replay shows that Sturm couldn’t get enough on the puck but Halak was across so quickly that he would likely have been on time for a harder shot. This shot was hard enough, though.
Moore loses the faceoff outside the Boston blue line.
Chara has it. Loses it to Moore.
Seidenberg exits with it. He follows the puck into the corner to Halak’s left.
Whistle. Puck goes out of play.
Faceoff. Halak’s left.
Just over three minutes.
Brunet says this is where we see if Montreal can finish important games.
Moore wins it. Spacek sends it down.
Spacek now stands up Krejci on the blue line. Chara tries a dump-in.
Pyatt beats Ryder and company along the boards.
Canadiens are staying ahead of the game. Crowd starts booing Chara puck touches for the first time tonight.
Sense of urgency from some members of the crowd. Fools.
In the corner to Halak’s left.
And another puck exit. Sergei beats his man and prevents the icing. Houde exclaims positively.
Just over a minute.
Recchi carries it up. Drives it in.
Rask leaves the net.
Recchi’s pass to the blue line hops over Chara’s stick and Chara has to retreat and start out again.
Spacek blasts it from behind the Montreal net. Stopped at the ablue line.
From the corner it’s lobbed out.
Puck stays in the Boston zone. Lapierre does good work to keep it in the Boston zone. Siren goes.
Montreal 3
Boston 2
HDS Stars: Mark Recchi, Blake Wheeler, Sergei Kostitsyn
RDS Stars: Sergei Kostitsyn, Andrei Markov, Dominic Moore
Vos Glorieux have won five of their last six. It’s all 22-20 folksy 8-8 team kinda stuff. Special teams and grit. Salad and a fork. Whatever it takes. Turkey and pie. No ribbons for Copernicus. Yeah, alright, I hear ya.
And they’ll take it.
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