The Hockey News (Ryan Dixon):
BIG GAINS
How good does Montreal GM Bob Gainey’s decision to jettison Cristobal Huet at the trade deadline look now? The move obviously paid dividends for Washington and was worth a second-rounder merely for the fact Huet was instrumental in the Caps reaching the playoffs. But it was hard for a channel surfer to miss the fact that mere minutes after Carey Price blanked the Bruins for his first post-season shutout, Huet couldn’t come up with a crucial save on Mike Richards’ penalty shot to keep his team one shot away from overtime.
Huet isn’t hurting the Caps, but there’s little doubt at this juncture that Gainey’s assessment of Price’s abilities was right on the money.
MIKE, MEET MILAN
I think it’s fair to say a rivalry within a rivalry is born.
Montreal defenseman Mike Komisarek and Boston left winger Milan Lucic are injecting new animosity into an Original Six hate.
Both are big boys who enjoy taking anybody in the opposite uniform into the boards, but seem to extract extra pleasure from hammering each other every opportunity they get.
Lucic even decided to take some time out during Game 4 to get right in Komisarek’s face and ask him whether the boards in Boston give enough or if the arena staff should increase the flexibility.
This feud not only fuels one of the NHL’s oldest rivalries, but also could play out on the international stage. Komisarek, an American, is a sure bet to man Team USA’s blueline at the 2010 Olympics to be held in Lucic’s hometown of Vancouver.
Lucic, who blogs for THN.com, is anything but a sure bet to represent Canada at the next Olympics, but the Bruin banger – still only 19 years old – will almost surely develop into the kind of power forward who gets you 30 goals a year and hits everything that moves.
My suspicion is Team Canada will be happy to have a force like that come 2014.