BRUINS-CANADIENS PREVIEW

The Bruins will be playing the Montreal Canadiens starting Thursday night. Montreal beat us eight times this year, and eleven straight overall. The Canadiens have faster skaters, better scorers, and as always, the officiating “ghosts” that they travel with. But they don’t have the amount of heart or physicality that the Bruins do. The Canadiens are a dazzling ice show with neat tricks and pretty uniforms. The Bruins are the guys waiting outside the ice show to take their lunch money away.

The experts are predicting a route in this series, with the only question being “Will Montreal win in 4 games or 5 games?” But these are the same people who forecasted a 15th place finish for the Bruins.

The Bruins have a few things going for them in this series, and will give Montreal one hell of a fight. The physical but ungoonlike play of guys like Chara, Thornton, Lucic, Reich will bruise the Canadiens. And if the referees are half-decent, when Twatreal’s players start diving around like soccer players, they won’t get many penalty calls.

Patrice Bergeron has been cleared to play in the post-season. He probably won’t make an appearance until later in the series, but his return will be an emotional lift and an added advantage for the Bruins.

Tim Thomas has been steady this season, and lately has stood on his head to win games for the B’s. If he piles up a few 1 goal outings, then the Habs will be in big trouble.

Montreal has all the pressure on them as the top seed and as the historic Canadiens. The Bruins are like the George Mason of the playoffs. They’re not expected to go far so there’s no pressure on them to do much. Montreal has some young, inexperienced players, and they might succumb more to the Canadien’s ghosts than the Bruins do.

I’m making a bold prediction here. The Bruins will beat Montreal in 6 games. Place your bets.