And you can see how this year is different. Where the frustration of some players was keeping them from being truly effective, you now have a deep focus on winning. Take Zdeno Chara for example. Tonight the giant was absolutely fabulous. He scored the tying and winning goals and was especially effective shutting down the opposition. He was once called a potential Norris winner and tonight he reminded me why.

But if you get down to the core, it’s really simple. Everything great happening in Boston right now is thanks to a coach who was treated worse than he ever deserved, Claude Julien. Getting him out of Montreal when the team was performing badly was a move to be expected, even if the fault was clearly falling on the players. But when he was fired from New Jersey only a couple of games before the playoffs, I felt for the guy. And he is showing us how effective he can be at getting the best out of his players. Ryder, Savard, Chara, Krejci, Thomas and many many others.

The Canadiens played well today. In that respect, it was the best game I’ve seen this year. Both teams played very solid hockey with a couple of scrums. It’s just a shame Chris Lee wasn’t fired yet. The boarding major call was one of the weirdest calls I’ve seen this year but my outrage came from a call on Hamerlik for cross-checking, an identical situation wasn’t called on D’Agostini in first period. But let’s not dwell on that too much.

In first period we saw a well prepared, ready to battle Montreal team. They got 17 shots on net in that period alone and if it wasn’t for Tim Thomas the Bleu Blanc Rouge could very well have claimed a 2-0 lead before the first intermission. Tim Thomas was spectacular and deserves that win. The L.A. KoLa line (Lapierre Kostopoulos, Latendresse) was magnificent to watch in that period. Lapierre was winning his faceoffs, Latendresse was an offensive threat with four shots in that period alone and Kostopoulos seems to always works well whoever he plays with. They couldn’t keep the pace up all game long, but they shouldn’t have to.

The Lang and Brothers line was somewhat effective today, but lacked something. The only goal was scored by Andrei Kostitsyn on the powerplay, the seventh goal in 4 games, but at even strength they seemed too fancy against the powerhouse the Bruins were tonight.

The Plekanec, Kovalev and D’agostini line was effective when they didn’t try too fancy also. But my main gripe with the line is when Kovy tries to keep on the ice too long. His worst decisions tonight were at the end of a shift, as his two linemates were already on the bench for 15 seconds or more and he’s still trying to get the puck in the offensive zone.

I have only two things to say about the fourth line. Kudos to Kyle Chipchura and who needs Georges Laraque. When he is in the lineup, players seem to think he’ll defend them. When he’s not, they take it upon themselves to get respected. I’d take the latter.

On defense Mike Komisarek was a machine, getting 11 hits and being in the face of his opponents all game long. And outside of the third goal, the defense played well in front of Halak. Speaking of him, he hasn’t been this good since… I can’t even remember. He was solid and I can’t fault him on any of the goals. An unlucky deflection right on Chara stick while killing a penalty and a deflected shot from Chara as they were killing two penalties. And on the third goal he made the original save, the puck went behind the net but someone had to be there to clear the crease. There wasn’t.

It’s hard for me to admit, but the Bruins were the better team last night. Both sides played well and maybe with two competent referees the result could have been better but we won’t know for sure, at least not until February 1^st at 14:00 in the traditional afternoon game. I can’t wait for that week-end and this year, it’s not because of the Superbowl.

Oh and for those interested, there is a reason I’m writing on this site instead of being wrote about. I had practice and an ego…