Sunday, April 20, 2008

The Boston Bruins

The Boston Bruins have battled back from a 2-0 and 3-1 series deficit to tie the first round playoff series against their long time rivals, the Montreal Canadiens. Game six was simply an unbelievable game. I've seen a few playoff games in my day, and I can't recall a game quite like this one. Through the game the B's trailed 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2. When they finally took the lead 4-3, in the 3rd period, Montreal tied the score eleven seconds later! With minutes remaining, Marco Sturm scored what would prove to be the game winner and the celebration captured above, ensued. (Photo by Barry Chin of the Boston Globe.)

I haven't written about the Bruins in some time, but I have been watching as always. If nothing else, I hope that this series, win or lose, revives this long standing rivalry which has been on life support for some time. As a youngster, there was nothing more exciting than a Bruins-Canadiens game, regular or post-season. Each game was an event and the atmosphere at the Garden was electric. It was comparable to the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry. In more recent years, the atmosphere and feeling has been that of "just another game" and the talk of rivalry wasn't descriptive as much as it was nostalgic. This series may have changed that...or well, Bruins and Habs fans can hope, anyway.

The Bruins have been pretty resilient this year and pretty exciting. They have some very young players (Kessel, Lucic, Krejci, Sobotka, Nokelainen, and Stuart) who are playing or have played a significant role this season. They have been without Patrice Bergeron, perhaps their best player, most of the season and without Chuck Kobasew for the playoffs. I have to believe Chara is not 100% either. And they've taken Montreal to a game 7 in a series no "expert" has expected them to win. Their farm team in Providence has some very promising prospects as well, most notably Matt Lashoff and Tukka Rask. The future is bright for the Bruins...and it's about time.

Go Bruins...

2 Comments:

Blogger Jackster said...

What a great game!

The diving Habs go down.

12:34 PM  
Blogger Kristin said...

sorry about tonight's game brian! paul and i were crushed for you guys. grrr.... go pens:)

11:03 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home