The Montreal Canadiens Pull out Win with 1 Minute Left versus their Rival Boston Bruins at Home

It was a tightly contested game between two bitter rivals in the infamous Bell Centre, a place full of highly devoted and passionate Montreal fans that can influence the play of players and refs. Despite bitterly acknowledging this, I do have to say that the Montreal fans are the most die hard hockey fans in the NHL other than Bruins fans of course lulz. MTL fans are extremely intelligent about ice hockey and make for a great rivalry for us Boston Bruins fans. For my money the Boston Bruins versus Montreal Canadiens is the best rivalry in pro sports, especially when they meet in the playoffs, which they have done a record 33 number of times. The most for any pro sports rivalry I can find, surpassing even the number of times the Yankees and Red Sox have met in the playoffs.

Carey Price shines in Net, Tuuka Rask Hides on the Bench and Zane McIntyre Plays Well

Carey Price has become the best goaltender in the NHL, and in the world. He is far more reliable than the Bruin's Rask, and has a massive lead in lifetime wins 241 to Rask's 174. Though Rask has a better lifetime GAA average and Save percentage, Carey Price has won the matchup between the two teams. In fact Rask's numbers against Montreal are so dismal he is probably hiding on the bench thanking God he didn't have to play in this game. Rask's lifetime numbers; record of 174-104-43, with a GAA of 2.23 and a Save % of .925. However Rask Versus MTL; record: 5-15-3, Save percentage: .909 and GAA: 2.69 significantly worse than his lifetime numbers. Hence the reason Zane McIntyre was thrown into the fire for the second straight start of his rookie NHL career, starting his first two NHL games in the hostile environments against two top teams the NY Rangers at home and now MTL at home. Zane played really well while Tuuka hid on the bench, but MTL has the Bruins kryptonite and snuck a goal by Zane to win with a minute left. Price on the night played extremely well, his numbers reflect it: Price saved 41 of 43 shots, and only gave up 2 goals. One of the two goals was a fluke goal that hit the backboards and bounced off Price, that one was just bad luck. So really Price only let up one goal, on a nasty one timer shot on the penalty kill. Basically a perfect game for Price. Unlike Rask; Price's numbers against his rival the Bruins are better than his lifetime numbers, Price Lifetime: record 241-155-50, S% .920, GAA 2.41. Price versus the Bruins, record 24-8-3, S% .923, and GAA of 2.35. This is what you would hope for, that your starting goalie steps up in big games against your rival team and posts better numbers not worse to the point it is so bad your starting goalie is hiding on the bench.

Shea Weber and Galchenyuk Power Habs Past Bruins

Shea Weber has an absolute cannon of a shot, and scored the first goal on a power play when he unloaded a shot from the point that left a vapor trail as it passed by the Zane's glove side low. Then the absolute nonsense of Torey Krug struck again, when him and Radulov had a puck chase down the left wing, Krug held up and didn't finish his check which allowed Radulov to make a cross zone feed to Galchenyuk who was flying at full speed on net and buried a backhander for the goal. This play was something else by Galchenyuk who had a great game, but could have been easily stopped if Krug had skated all the way through the check on Radulov rather than holding up.

Positives for the Bruins Fans from the Loss

The Bruins out shot the Canadiens 43-23 in this game. The entire game was tightly contested and shows the Bruins can play with the Canadiens. The Bruins lost on a fluky goal caused by MTL flooding the net in the final minute. Zane McIntyre looks like a legit backup goalie in the NHL. The Bergeron Marchand and Pastrnak combo is dominant against any team and any line. This entire game they were flying around the ice and were noticeably dominant throughout. The second Bruins line of Krecji Backes and Spooner was not horrid, but did not produce either. The other lines were typical grinding lines. The Bruins Blue Liners mostly played well. Colin Miller is looking like a reliable third line option at worst for the Bruins blue line, maybe he is finally coming into his own, and with a lucky bounce goal that might give him a spark of confidence. Czarnik continues to impress with his speed. Those are the good things I could think of.

The Montreal Dive Team

No one dives like the Montreal Canadiens. This team fakes more falls, injuries etc. than most soccer teams. They have gained a reputation league wide for it, and well deservedly so. Of course this game was not to be without at least one blatant dive by the MTL Canadiens. None other than long time diver Andrei Markov was the scuba gear wearing Hab tonight. He blatantly dove on a penalty against Matt Beleskey who was called for roughing. If you saw it, you would agree, blatant dive which worked for MTL because they got a Power Play out of it. The refs are so biased towards MTL it is becoming a joke these days.

Conclusion for the Bruins

Just as I predicted, the Bruins will beat bad teams and lose to good teams. The Bruins wiped Buffalo out, then loses to MTL. This is because the Bruins are what they are, a barely above .500 team that can pull out just a few more wins than losses. The Bruins still have not won a game this season without Rask in net. If this trend continues, then the health of Rask will determine if this team has a winning or losing record by the end of the year. The Bruins have to figure out this Montreal rivalry because over the past few years (2014-2015, 2015-2016, 2016-2017) the Bruins have a record of 2-9 versus Montreal, with 22 goals for and 38 goals against over those seasons. That is a record that must be reversed if the Bruins ever hope to get past their rivals MTL to make a run at the Cup.

Image Credit:

• Bruins vs Habs: Image 1
• Shea Weber Scores: Image 2
• Pastrnak Scores: Image 3
• MTL Dive Team: Image 4
• Bruins Future: Image 5

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