Habster:

The 2008 Bruins/Canadiens playoff series has finally heated up and could be shaping up as a closer series than had been predicted by many hockey pundits. Game #3 was the most intense of the series thus far with both teams exchanging scoring chances and hits more frequently than a hot, well endowed blond in a singles bar on a Saturday night in downtown Montreal.

The Bruins didn’t run the Canadiens out of the rink by any means but have shown a lot more confidence in their overall play the last two games. They didn’t look like deers standing on the highway about to become a hood ornament and actually took the game to the Habs who were slow to start the game.

The Canadiens were able to get their legs moving after the first intermission as the game opened up and allowed both teams to get more offensive scoring chance. The Canadiens were matching the Bruins intensity for the rest of the game and had the better scoring chances in the overtime until Marc Savard ended the game at the 9:25 mark of overtime.

Here are some of my game points:

• Head’s up coaching: Both Claude Julien and Guy Carbonneau were making great coaching decisions throughout the game and making good adjustments between periods. Carbonneau occasionally double shifted Alex Kovalev and Christopher Higgins in the 2nd and 3rd periods to generate more offense. He also realized that Patrice Brisebois (surprise, surprise!!) was struggling with the pace of the game while Mark Streit made some bad positional decisions in the defensive zone (especially leaving the Lucic alone in the slot on the Bruins first goal). Carbo did well to move Josh Gorges up to the #4 spot with Hamrlik while limiting the Streit/Brisebois tandem’s ice time in the third period. I also liked how Claude Julien managed his bench, utilizing the Ward/Chara duo to shut down the KPK line. He also made sure Milan Lucic was on the ice when the Komisarek/Markov pairing were on the ice, to hit them any chance he could………..who says there isn’t such a thing as home ice advantage!!
• Where has the #1 ranked powerplay disappeared?………….You have to give the Bruins PK unit credit for taking away the cross ice pass and other Canadiens PP schemes they like to use. The Habs PK has also continued it’s much improved play from the regular season. Both penalty killing units have been great with only 2 PP goals scored on 32 chances (Mtl: 14/1 and Bos. 18/1). Even though Boston has done well on the PK, they better be careful as they’ve been the most penalized team in the playoff thus far and are playing with fire.
• Breezeby has become Chaser!!!……Patrice Brisebois might be a slightly better passer than Bryan O’Byrne but that’s where it ends. Like Rocket has rightly stated numerous times, Brisebois needs to take a seat in the press box while the bigger, more mobile and physical O’Byrne should be given his first taste of playoff hockey. Brisebois looked terribly slow in a very fast paced game after the 1st period and made some poor decisions in the defensive zone and at the point (he made an ill advised pinch on the PP which gave the Bruins a 2 on 1 rush with a great scoring chance). Let’s see what Ryan O’Byrne can do in game #4……he certainly can’t do any worst than Mr. Brisebois!!
• Where there’s Smoke there is fire!!! Once again, the “Smoke” line of Begin, Smolinski and Kostopoulos was the Canadiens best line against the Bruins and are supplying more offense than the top two lines. Tommy K is playing his heart out and is always going hard to the net like he did on his 2nd goal of the playoffs, something the other lines will have to do more of on Tuesday night.
• Introducing a more skilled Terry O’Reilly: Milan Lucic is the real deal, folks!!! He was a wrecking ball all night and was a Komisarek seeking missile throughout the game. Lucic played a solid 19:19 with a team high 6 hits, 1 goal, +1 and 4 shots on net (he also had 3 shots miss the net). He also had two clear cut scoring chances on Carey Price and was the Bruins best forward along with Marc Savard. Wouldn’t Milan look great in a Habs uniform?……he certainly would bring something the Canadiens are lacking……a big time, talented tough guy who can actually play quantity minutes.
• Tim Thomas is getting hot at the right time. As well as Carey Price played tonight, Thomas made the bigger saves when they counted most and was the main reason for the Bruins finally breaking the 13 game losing skid against the Canadiens. As Guy Carbonneau stated after the game, “I knew at one point they were going to beat us,” Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau said. “We had a couple of really good chances in overtime, but Thomas played big.”………. Not bad for a stocky little 34 year old goalie in his second career playoff start.
• Big Mikey less than 100%………Mike Komisarek is playing well enough but he just doesn’t look quite right or at least his usual self. His skating is not as fluid and he seems to be labouring at times which I guess we shoud expect after his hip injury. I’m sure we will find out after the playoffs are done that his injury probably needed more time to heal completely……..but even a Komisarek at 80% is better than most defensemen in the NHL and it’s playoff time, when players grin and bare with it. Mike Komisarek is no different and is such a warrior…….a playoff warrior!!!