Every Montreal goal in this series has come thanks to a Bruins' defenseman giving the puck away in a dangerous area. Five times. And it's been a problem with this team, no matter who the defensemen have been, since Julien took over. I still have nightmares about Carolina's forecheck in the '09 playoffs.
The Bruins don't seem to realize that the Habs are trying to intercept the puck from them. Not only are the Canadiens skating faster than the Bruins, they're thinking faster.
On the other end of the ice, Recchi, Marchand, and Bergeron finally got one past Price. That's not too complicated either. Get him to move side to side, and block his vision. One thing you can't do is lazily dump the puck into an area that he can play it or smother it. Hard wraparounds, and cross-corner dumps. And someone apart from the dumper has to be skating into the zone with speed. Too many Bruins' possessions ended with soft dumps that Price easily fielded.
And the power play. Special teams are extremely important in the postseason, and are often the difference between losing a series and winning it. The B's are 0/7 on the power play, 6/7 on the kill. Had Chara been on the ice Saturday night, maybe they'd be 7/7 on the kill. I'll get into that later.
David Krejci is not a playoff forward. He's not a scorer. He's not a grinder. He had a golden chance to slip a backhander over Price in the 2nd, which would have made it a 2-2 game, and would have swung all the momentum to Boston's side. But he dangled, whiffed, and was generously rewarded with a shot on goal in the box score. Krejci also found himself completely owned by P.K. Subban on the boards (unless Subban was trying to induce a call). Krejci can't score. He can't win battles. There aren't any great point-guard, "distribution" type players in Stanley Cup history. Those players get 50 assists in the regular season, then disappear in the playoffs.
At least Krejci is trying, though. Where was Milan Lucic? I saw him drifting around the faceoff dots as Krejci was struggling behind the net. Lucic has become the Bruins' best scorer, but he needs to remember his physical roots. He shouldn't be trying to slip into a seem while Krejci's 178 pound frame is being manhandled. Lucic has been a ghost this series. That's okay for the Michael Ryders of the world, but Lucic is better than this.
Now to Chara. Getting medical information during the Stanley Cup playoffs isn't easy. All we know is that he has a virus, and he was dehydrated. He skated in warmups on Saturday, then the coaches decided to bench him, deeming him unable to play.
What's the virus? It better be serious. Because Chara is the heart of this team. He doesn't have a good playoff record. But without him, this team cannot win anything. He's my 2nd favorite player behind Thomas, but if I find out that he just has a touch of flu, I'll never forgive him. Nothing short of the Hantavirus will suffice.
The B's go up to Montreal tonight. Chara's still questionable. The Bruins play better on the road, but Montreal plays good with a lead. Whoever scores first will win Game 3.
Photo Credit:
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