Game #67Boston Outdo Themselves, Again

Details

Date: 8/3/2011
Opponent: Bruins
Location: Montreal

Win: 4-1

Habs Goalie: Price (W)
Opposition Goalie: Rask (L)

Habs goalscorers: Eller (2), Gionta, Wisniewski
Opposition goalscorers: Lucic

Play of the game

The second that they left our ice.

Dome hockey team

The 6 players we're playing in a no changes, do or die contest in the dome

Forwards

Lars Eller - Game Puck
Lars got this game off to a very nice start by scoring twice in the first; after which point the Habs never looked back. His line was our best tonight and on a night when the Habs played two of their best periods of the year that says a lot. He got the job done in both ends which is fantastic, but he now has to work on face-offs - I guess a season at wing has its disadvantages.

Andrei Kostitsyn
Andrei only picked up one point tonight, but was key on three of our goals. The excitement on his face when Eller scored his second says it all to me. That line is playing for each other and all three have gone from question-marks in certain people's eyes to mainstays of our attack in a few short weeks.

Brian Gionta
Brian scored a goal, shot the puck more than any of his teammates and wasn't intimidated by big players who seem to have no problem drilling smaller ones, with regularity. His line was on again tonight as he has gelled with his two compatriots. The captain will have to play an important role tonight and in the coming days as they'll need a leader in the aftermath of one of the worst incidents we've seen at the Bell Centre in years.

Defencemen

James Wisniewski
What was great about James tonight was how he showed Boston what a real, effective defender can look like. He can carry the puck, make legal hits, block shots, control a PP and score a goal. He was great throughout this one in every part of the rink.

PK Subban
Bullies like to pick on the same person over and over and they like to think they are justified for doing so. That is why you'll see teams like the Bruins focusing so much on PK. They do it because he is 'cocky' and has 'no respect', because he 'talks too much for his own good' and has 'too much of a swagger for a rookie'. Funny though that he was one of the cleanest players out there and has been for his whole NHL career. Why the NHL allows teams to target one player is beyond me, but I guess when your Dad is in charge of the punishments your team can act like idiots over and over and over and over again.

Goaltender

Carey Price
Carey would have got a shutout had the Habs cared to show up in the 3rd. They probably felt that the game should have been called, but the NHL must get 60 minutes in, NO MATTER WHAT. Unfortunately for Carey's stats this meant that Boston would keep playing the same game that should be being questioned as you read this. They still came at us hard in the third and with our minds elsewhere they got one by us. Price dominated this team tonight and showed that he is ready to beat these guys again when the time comes.

Comments

The NHL wants a rough game. Certain coaches who never really get punished want a rough game. Players on certain teams want to show fans that 1970s hockey (not the type that was built with speed and winning, but the other type) wasn't just a fad. When a lot of people are all trying to prove the same thing things happen, bad things. Tonight the Habs played hockey and Boston had no answer. This was a change from last month where we didn't impose our style enough. Tonight we showed people that being big and tough doesn't really matter. That was until the end of the second at least. See, when ill-tempered people are losing they get mad and they look for someone to pay. They want to make sure we all know that they are tough and that if they wanted to they could kill us. Well, Chara came very close to doing just that. We still don't know how Patches is, but it did not look good at all. I have no doubt that Chara made that hit on purpose. I do doubt that he wanted to hurt Max that bad, but I think with the 0-4 score and a player right beside the partition he felt that the timing was right. Will the NHL let him off lightly? Will they base it on the severity of Pacioretty's injury? I think that the answer to both of those questions is yes as the league has done very little to discourage this type of play and this type of culture. Someone will die one day if players like Chara aren't punished and I mean severely punished. To me, this could be a season-ending suspension which may not match a potential career-ending injury.

Thanks NHL for the product you have given us - Big, Bad, Disgusting, Dirty Boston Bruin 'Hockey'.