Habs Plan Worked: Almost

Everything was working as planned.

They came out hard; they got the Bruin's on their heels; they dominated the shot-clock early; they got the line match-ups they wanted; they heavily outhit the Bruins; and they got the first goal.

Still, the Bleu, Blanc & Rouge were not able to pull off a victory.

If you thought that the Habs may have been a bit outclassed in this first round match-up before, try deducting Schneider and Tanguay from the line-up and see how you feel. Both players were announced late as not being able to play due to injuries.

Although the Habs faithful like to focus everyone's attention to the injury list (and rightly so), this blogger isn't convinced that these players would change the overall result of this series.


The Bruins appear to be back to their old ways of crisp breakouts, unforgiving forechecking, and a lethal powerplay. In the third period, not only could Montreal not generate any scoring chances, but they couldn't even get into the Boston zone.

The Bruins are showing the depth in this series. They've got 8 NHL ready defensemen and two of those guys play forward as well. As for up front, they have 5 NHL-ready lines and of course, the two floater Dmen. Lots of bodies around. The Recchi signing has been great for making up for the Sturm injury and despite having Hunwick and Ference out, the Bruins still don't look shorthanded on D.

It will be interesting to see how Montreal responds to the Game 3 loss. No word yet on whether Tanguay or Schneider will be back in the lineup. If this series gets stretched out, there is a slight possibility that we could see Markov or even Lang return to action. Both players were skating in full gear yesterday and Lang looked good.

Despite being pulled in Game 2, Price got the start once again in Game 3. Although the loss can't be put on his shoulders, he didn't exactly pull off any saves that could have stolen the game. It will be interesting to see who Gainey goes with in Game 4.

Either way, don't look for the Habs to sit back and watch this go by. They've got a playoff game coming up in their own Barn and they'll be looking to take it to the Bruins early again.


Ryan D. MacIntyre
www.hockeyjackass.com