The Ghost of the Bruins' Past

Everyone knows by now that the Bruins went 0 for 8 against the Habs in the regular season. The 3 - 2 loss in game 2 of this years playoffs meant 13 in a row (dating back to last season). Then Marc Savard scored one of the biggest goals that I've seen since following the Bruins in the mid- 90's. Honestly, I am being serious. Savard's goal will never compare to Bobby Orr's Stanley Cup winning goal against the St. Louis Blues in 1969-70 (you've seen the famous snap shot of him airborne with his arms raised) but Savard's goal earns my recognition. Forgetting what it did to keep Boston in the series, it mentally sent a message to the fans in Bruins Nation that we can finally beat the Montreal Canadiens. When you play a team 8 times a year with 16 points on the line, that message is a costly one. The Bruins now have to beat the Habs in one game, forget a series or coming back from 3-1. This is game 7; win and advance or lose and hit the golf course. When the game is over you can talk about history and statistics, but just play one more game against your arch enemy and make it a game that will never be forgotten.

Ok, now I know i predicted Montreal in a sweep, but I am very pleased to be wrong. Anything can happen now. Despite the game being in Montreal, the Bruins are playing with that "nothing to lose attitude" which can make even the most heavily favored team seem vulnerable. The way this series has progressed the Bruins have the edge. The Canadiens are against the ropes and will be desperate. The result will be sloppy play and may test the Bruins power play skills throughout the night. Truly, this game will test the character of the Canadiens. The Bruins have already performed miracles in this series by forcing a game 7. One more miracle does not seem to far fetched.

Now for all you naysayers out there who only want to eat the statistics and crap out the facts: the Canadiens are 26 - 0 when leading a series 3 - 1. The Bruins are 0 - 20 when trailing 1 - 3 in a series and have never won a series when even being down 0 - 2. O.K. so thats a few bottom lines, the point is that when Marc Savard scored his goal in game 3 to beat the Canadiens 2 - 1 in overtime, he sent a message. That message was the past is the past, forget about 13 - 0 or 0 - 20, tonight is the best of a 1game series.

Keys to success:
For Boston:
After being a healthy scratch in the first 2 games, Phil Kessel has scored 3 goals leading the Bruins. Yes, a healthy scratch, maybe Claude Julien is a genius, maybe the series would be different if he had started every game. Either way the 20 year old is on fire and challenging the Montreal defense with his quickness and agility.

For Montreal:
For the first time this season Carey Price has looked his age. The 20 year old rookie has been playing like a seasoned veteran all year. It looked like the Habs made a good move to trade Cristobal Huet to the Washington Capitals for a 2009 2nd round pick freeing up a spot for Price. It is looking like Carey Price will live up to the expectations of the Canadiens. 10 goals against in 2 games are a concern but there is one game remaining to live up to his talent. If he has his third bad game in a row, he may, for the first time, make the Canadiens regret trading away Huet.

My pick is the Bruins, I used to always fall asleep in history class anyway.

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