Bruins Nation

I'm sorry, I just have no time this week. Don't expect a post tomorrow, but here it is finally, Game 25's summary:

I love beating Montreal and I love pissing off their fans. Whether we deserved to win the game is irrelevant. The fact is, we won! Sure we gave up a 4-1 lead, all that matters in a Canadiens-Bruins game though is the final score, and that final score had the Bruins on top.

The Bruins started off the first period playing lazily and the first goal was scored by the Canadiens in the middle of the first period. Saku Koivu managed to get the puck past Jason York to Guillaume Latendresse who skated to the faceoff circle in the Bruins zone and scored a goal on a shot that went right past Thomas.

Later in the period, Marc Savard had the puck in The Canadiens goal when he passed the puck to Petr Tenkrat (filling in on the number 2 line for the injured Axelsson). Tenkrat shot the puck but Huet, the Canadiens goalie, saved it. Somehow though Glen Murray got the rebound from behind the net. He then shot the puck from behind the net off of Huet and into the goal. Murray's 14th of the season was one of those goals that if you didn't see his arms fly up into the air, you wouldn't have known that the puck went in. Two minutes later Brad Boyes had the puck in the Bruins defensive zone. He passed the ouck up ahead to Phil Kessel who passed to a darting and wide open Marco Sturm who skated up to Huet and shot the puck. The puck barely trickled into the goal and the Bruins ended the first period up 2-1.

To start the second period the Bruins came fired up and ready to play hockey. It quickly paid off. About a minute into the period Marc Savard caught a failed Canadiens clear attempt at the Canadiens blue line. He then skated towards the goal and passed the puck to Shean Donovan who scored, giving the Bruins a 3-1 lead. Then not two minutes later, with Zdeno Chara in the penalty box for hooking Montreal had the puck in the neutral zone. Brad Stuart managed to get the puck loose and Wayne Primeau gathered up the puck, skated to the Montreal net, and scored a short handed goal on Huet, giving the Bruins a 4-1 lead.

No lead is ever safe though. One minute later, with Brad Boyes in the penalty box, Michael Ryder of Montreal shot a puck towards the net that got by Thomas. I'm not sure if it hit someone in front of the net, ir if Thomas just missed it, but Timmy sure did look upset after giving up that goal. Ten minutes later Montreal got the game within one when Mike Johnson got a rebound and scored on a nice shot. Now it's 4-3 Bruins. Then, with under a minute left in the period, the Bruins couldn't clear the puck from our zone and Alexander Perezhogin took a far shot that scored, ending the third period tied 4-4. We were up 4-1, and within one period gave up that lead.

Anyway, the third period was pretty boring through the first ten minutes. Then Brad Stuart's drive scored after Petr Tenkrat and Marc Savard did a great job of screening Aebischer, the new Canadiens goalie. Then a minute later, with Primeau in the box, Sheldon Souray of Montreal drove the puck past Thomas after Thomas was succesfully screened by a Canadiens player (I think it was Ryder but I'm not sure). So the game was tied 5-5. After some intense playing, with 1:48 left in the game, Brad Stuart's drive from the blue line went into the net. It really looked like Wayne Primeau tipped it but the goal went to Stuart, and the Bruins won the game 6-5. Montreal fans, after this goal, were really upset because what led to the Bruins having the puck was when a Canadiens player fell, it looked like he had been tripped. However the invention of TIVO allowed me to put the play in slow motion, and the refs actually got it right. The Canadiens player had just fallen on the ice. There was no trip or push or anything from a Bruins player. So it was a great non-call and the Bruins beat the Montreal Canadiens in what is the greatest rivalry in hockey.

Tomorrow night's game is against the Toronto Maple Leafs (again). I'm actually really happy to be playing the Maple Leafs. We crushed them twice in Toronto, and I am perfectly fine with crushing them here in Boston.

Sorry this post is no where near on time. this has just been a hectic week, and I don't want to live-blog the games because I feel it would take away from my enjoyment of the game of hockey. (Except if the Bruins make it to the NHL finals, then I'll live blog. But if the Bruins do make it to the NHL finals, I'm going to be asking Jeremy Jacobs for press passes so I can live blog from the garden.)