For the first time in four years the Stanley Cup playoffs come back to Boston. Being picked by many to finish dead last in the NHL, Boston was supposed to be the door mat of the league. Now they are in the playoffs. That alone makes the B’s relevant in Boston again, never mind that they face off against their hated rivals, the Canadiens. What is better than a Boston vs. Montreal playoff battle? The B’s head into the series as the heavy underdogs. What else is new?They have been the underdogs all season long. B’s Habs, wouldn’t want it any other way.

2007-2008 Regular season match up

The Habs owned the season series, sweeping Boston in all eight games. To go back further, Montreal has won 11 straight against the B’s. The last time Boston beat the Canadiens was on March 3, 2007 in a 3-1 home victory.

2007-2008 Winner Scores

Canadiens 6-1
Canadiens 2-1
Canadiens 7-4
Canadiens 4-2
Canadiens 5-2
Canadiens 8-2
Canadiens 4-2
Canadiens 3-2

Playoff History vs. Montreal

The Montreal Canadiens lead the all time playoff series 95-57. In 30 series against the Habs, the Bruins have won only 7. To say that Montreal has gotten the better of Boston would be an understatement. In the last post season meeting the Bruins as the top seed fell to the Habs (eighth seed) four games to three.

Bruins Playoffs Stats

Patrice Bergeron has been cleared to play in the playoffs. The Bruins young forward has missed the majority of the year with a level three concussion. After being examined by the doctors early Monday morning, Bergeron can play in the post season. Bergeron, who had been knock unconscious in the 10th game of the season courtesy of a Randy Jones hit, has missed the last 72 games. Now Bergeron can practice with the team in full contact. Before he was not allowed to be hit by his teammates, only allowed to initiate contact.

It’s still unclear that Bergeron will see anytime in the playoff. He still needs to see how his body reacts after a full contact practice. If he is cleared to play, the team could desperately use him against Montreal. The B’s are 0-8 against the Habs this season. The possibility of Bergeron along with the probable return of Marc Savard gives the Bruins hope that they can pull off an upset.

According the NHL, the Jack Adams Award is an annual award presented by the National Hockey League Broadcasters’ Association to the NHL coach adjudged to have contributed the most to his team’s success.

Listening to the supposed national expert’s picks for coach of the year makes me sick. You wouldn’t know that Claude Julien has the Bruins, who many picked to finish nowhere near a playoff spot, sitting in 7th place. Instead, Versus and ESPN has  coaches such as Mike Babcock, Bruce Boudreau, Guy Carbonneau, and Ron Wilson picked to be leading candidates for the award. There wasn’t even a mention of Bruin’s coach Claude Julien. That reason, I have no idea.

Now I’m not just being a homer and believe that Claude Julien is the Bill Belichick of hockey, because i don’t. As a matter of fact I wanted to see Mike Milbury behind the bench when the Bruins were searching for a head coach after the Dave Lewis debacle.  So why am I lobbying for Julien as Coach of the Year, because no coach has done more with what he’s been dealt this year. No other coach has gotten more from their team than the Bruin’s coach.

The national media thinks otherwise. What really upsets me is that Julien is not even mentioned for the award after the job of transforming a last place team into a playoff contender. I was so ticked off by this, that I started finding reasons why one of their candidates were better than Julien. I couldn’t find much, so hear are my arguments. What I have done is compiled a list of the leading candidates according to national opinions.

Bruins snagged three out of a possiblefour points this past weekend against division rivals. The B’s had an impressive 4-0 win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday and manage to gain a point in an overtime 2-1 loss against the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday.

Currently Boston is tie win the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers for sixth place in the Eastern Conference. However, due to the tie breakers, Boston remains in that seventh position, with the Rangers being the sixth and having a game in hand. All three teams are three points ahead of Washington, who remains on the outside looking in.

David Krejci continued his stellar play in both contests. The Bruin’s young forward tallied a goal and two assist Saturday against the Sens and added the B’s lone goal against the Sabres on Sunday, which happened to be a short handed goal. Before Sunday’s loss, Krejci has had three consecutive multi-point game. Krejci has been the Bruins’ primary source of offense in the absence of Marc Savard. He has three goals and five assists over that span of four games.

Boston capped off a good week as they are fighting for the playoffs. "It’s been a good week for us," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "If somebody would have told me that we had a chance for seven out of eight points this week, we certainly would have taken it."

Games Remaining

Wed, Apr 2 @ New Jersey
Fri, Apr 4 @ Ottawa
Sat, Apr 5 vs. Buffalo

After another win over the Toronto Maple Leafs and officially eliminating the Leafs from the playoffs, the Bruins now sit in the seventh in the Coference with five games left to play.

In the absents of Marc Savard (broken bone in back) and Chuck Kobasew(broken leg), the B’s have managed to score four or more goals in Bruins wins. David Krejci has taken the role of Savard on the powerplay, and has looked great doing it. You have to apprieciate the play of Bruin’s rookie center. He has tallied four points in his last two game and was the best player on the ice in last night’s game.

Krejci made a perfect pass to set up Marco Sturm for the first goal of the game. Toronto tied it up on a Jiri Tlusty goal in the second. Then three third period goals by the Bruin’s Phil Kessel, Glen Murray, and Peter Schaefer sealed the fate of the game and ultimately, Toronto’s season. Tim Thomas made 30 stops in the win.

Weird stat of the night: The teams played 11:53 without a stoppage in the first period.

The Maple Leafs became the fourth team in the Eastern Conference eliminated from the playoffs. The others: New York Islanders, Atlanta Thrashers and Tampa Bay Lightning.

Congratulations to Bruins rookie winger, Milan Lucic who received the Bruins’ annual 7th Player award before the game.

Remaining Opponents:
Ottawa Senators
Buffalo Sabres
New Jersey Devils
Ottawa Senators
Buffalo Sabres

While the B’s have faltered down the stretch, the Maple Leafs have given the city of Toronto slim hope. Toronto had been one of the hottest teams in the NHL. So hot, that the Leafs have played themselves out of a lottery pick and into the playoff race going into last nights game. Essentially, Toronto had to beat the Bruins in regulation in last night’s game and beat them again on Thursday in order to have a realistic chance.

That chance, was put to an end. Playing a desperate and motivated hockey club, the Bruins all but ended the Leafs playoff chances by beating them 6-2. That win put Boston six points ahead of Toronto with six to play. The Leafs would have to surpass the Bruins and four other teams in order to make the playoffs.

You have to appreciate the resiliency of this year’s Bruins club. Toronto was playing for their playoff lives and needed that win. Boston headed into last night’s game, losers of three straight and having the worst month this team has seen all year. Everything was going against the B’s, Washington had won to move ahead of Boston for that final playoff spot (number of wins being the tie-breaker), Marc Savard and Andrew Ference were out with injuries, Big Z was banged up, and the B’s have had a whale of a time trying to find the back of the net. To make matters worst, Boston’s sniper Chuck Kobasew was injured early in the first period and didn’t return.

Boston plays Montreal. Boston loses to Montreal. Sound familiar? That’s because the very scenario has happened all seven times the B’s have faced off against the Habs this season.

The reeling Bruins dropped another one to their northern rivals last night at the Garden. Just how bad have things gotten for the Bruins in the last couple of weeks? The B’s have only managed three wins out of 11 games this month, Philadelphia and Buffalo are within two points of Boston for the final two playoff spots and Washington sits only three points back.

The B’s may have been home last night but it looked like an away game, as Montreal fans flooded the Garden. There were giant pockets of red, white, and blue throughout the sea of fans. Although, Montreal fans are well traveled and Boston is only a hop, skip and a jump from Montreal, as a Bruins fan this is like Fenway Park having more Yankee fans attending the rival game than Red Sox fans.

Needless to say, Boston needs something to hold onto a playoff spot. What that is, I don’t know if Claude Julien even has the answer. One thing that is for sure, is Boston cant score. Last night’s game the B’s scored twice on 36 shots. Both goals scored by defensemen, Mark Stuart and Dennis Wideman. The Bruins need some of their forwards not named Chuck Kobasew to start putting the puck in the net. In Boston’s last six games the B’s defence and Kobasew has scored 100% of their goals. Simply, the B’s are not getting enough production from the forwards.

The Boston Bruins seemingly played the Washington Capitals every other game in the past two weeks. The two met again yesterday afternoon in Washington. After the B’s beat the Flyers in a thrilling overtime game on Saturday, Boston lost to the Capitals 2-1 in a shootout on Sunday. The good news, Boston gained a point to move three ahead of the cut off for a playoff spot, the point also earns them a tie with the sixth place New York Rangers.

Boston, again played without their captain Zdeno Chara. Big Z missed a fifth straight game with an undisclosed upper body injury Sunday. Rumors that Chara might be shut down for the remainder of the season was dismissed by his agent, "He’s banged up, that’s about all I can say about it," said Matt Keator. "He’s definitely not finished for the season. He should be fine. I don’t think he is going to miss much time at all."

As for the game, Chuck Kobasew score again for the Bruins. After going 15 straight games without a goal, Kobasew finally scored his 20th of the season on Thursday in the Bruins’ 3-1 loss to Tampa Bay. After scoring three goals in his last three games, Kobasew has set a new career high in goals with 22.

Boston Bruins forward Glen Metropolithas been nominated for The Bill Masterton Trophy. The Masterton Trophy is awarded to National Hockey League player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey. For the second year in a row a Boston Bruin is up for the award.

You may remember last year when Boston’s young forward Phil Kessel won the award. Kessel was diagnosed with testicular cancer in early December. He played a Dec. 9 game against New Jersey, knowing he would be admitted to the hospital for surgery on Dec. 12. He missed only 12 games before returning to the club.

This year Glen Metropolit didn’t have to overcome life threatening odds but he did endured much of the same uncertainty of playing in the NHL. After splitting time last season with the Atlanta Thrashers and the St. Louis Blues, Metropolit had an extremely difficult time finding an NHL team that was interested in his services. With a rather successful campaign split between the two teams, no NHL GM had called Glen by the middle of the summer.

Metropolit was all set to pack up his bags and cross the Atlantic to play in Helsinki with his old team Jokerit. A team that Glen had played for in the 2003-04 season. He enjoyed good success with Jokerit, leading the team in points and being very popular with the fans. One of his favorite spots, on the outside of the left faceoff circle in the offensive zone, was even dubbed "Metro’s office" by TV commentators and fans.

The Bruins remained ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers in the standings after defeating them 3-2 in overtime. Tim Thomas made his second consecutive start making 24 saves. Chuck Kobasew (21) and Andrew Ference (1) score in regulation. Ference’s goal came with under a minute left in the third period to tie the game up at two. The goal was Ference’s first of the season. Aaron Ward’s slapper half way through overtime, beat Flyers goalie Martin Biron and gave Boston a much needed win. The B’s get right back into action as they skate against the Washington Capitals today at 3.

Not a good night at the Garden last night. The Bruins played the last place Tampa Bay Lightning and lost 3-1.

You can’t let yourself get beyond frustrated," said B’s head coach Claude Julien after the loss to the Bruins official website. "Hopefully that one goal will help us get a little confidence [in terms of scoring] and the third period, I thought, was a real good period for us.

"Unfortunately…when you don’t score goals, every little mistake you make becomes a lot bigger than it should be."

The difference in they game was that exact statement. Tampa Bay capitalized on its chances and the B’s didn’t. Boston seemingly out played the Lightning the entire game, out shooting the Bolts 36 to 26. The Lightning scored on an early powerplay and Boston couldn’t find the back of the net on any of its man-advantage opportunities.

Tampa made it 2-0 on a breakaway goal by Andreas Karlsson. Almost immediately after, Phil Kessel had a mirror opportunity, but Lightning goalie Mike Smith stuffed Kessel on the breakaway. Chuck Kobasew scored the lone Boston goal.

"We are in a frustrating time right now," said B’s defenseman Dennis Wideman. "Last week we had a couple of games where we didn’t deserve to win, but tonight we played well, we played hard…But we couldn’t get the puck in. We are not capitalizing."

The Bruins woes continued up in Ottawa last night, by falling to the Senators 4-1 at Scotiabank Place. Alex Auld made his third consecutive start making 21 saves on 24 shots. Ottawa’s Martin Gerber stopped 28 of 29 shots the B’s put on net. Highlighted by a great save on Phil Kessel’s point blank opportunity, Gerberwas a mystery that the Bruins scorers couldn’t figure out until late in the game.

The lone goal from the Bruins came from defenseman Dennis Wideman, his 11th of the year. Boston had no answers for Ottawa’s Danny Heatley, who recorded a hat trick.

The B’s have lost five of its last six games as the playoffs are fast approaching. The good news is that they remain as the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference, as the Flyers blew an early lead and lost to the Maple Leafs in overtime last night. With 12 games left, the Bruins need to figure out how to score and win hockey games. Or they might just be on the outside looking in.

Without Zdeno Chara and Aaron Ward, the Bruins lost to the New York Rangers yesterday 1-0 at Madison Square Garden. Playing without two of their top defensemen, the B’s did not allow a regulation or overtime goal. Boston managed to earn themselves a point in the shootout loss.

Alex Auld made his second consecutive start, making 29 saves in the game. Auld has played well replacing the struggling Tim Thomas. The Rangers’ goalie, Henrik Lundqvist made 35 saves and was perfect in the shootout. New York’s only shootout goal was provided by Nigel Dawes.

Boston gets a point but loses its spot in the standings, slipping to seventh in the Eastern Conference. The Rangers with the shootout win earn that extra point and slip ahead of the Bruins. Going into the game New York and Boston were tied for sixth, but Boston held the tie breaker by having more wins and already winning the season series.

The Bruins will be back in action Tuesday night in Ottawa, to take on the reeling Senators. Ottawa is currently fifth is the Eastern Conference and only three points ahead of the B’s. The Sens are 3-5-2 in their last ten games.

I know the Bruins are not as popular as some other sports teams in this town. They don’t have the star power that the Sox, Celts, and Pats hold in Boston. You cant see the big grin of Big Papi after hitting a walk off home run. They wont be saved by Tom Brady’s brilliance in fourth quarters. And their version of the "Big Three" has more to do with the amount of periods they play rather than having three perennial all-stars.

That doesn’t mean that there isnt room for optimism. The one thing the Bruins do have is young talent. That might not translate into much but it gives hope for a franchise that hasn’t lifted the cup since the early 70’s.

The B’s have some of that young talent already playing significant time for the big club. Unless you have been living under a rock, you’ve heard of Patrice Bergeron and Phil Kessel. Well in-case you have forgotten these two are very good and very young. Bergeron is in his fourth NHL season and is only 22 years old. Kessel, who has experience a lot in his rookie season a year ago, is just 20 years old. Its hard to imagine that I am not even going to consider these kids as prospects. But lets face it, you really cant consider them prospects if they are not even rookies by NHL standards.

In a very entertaining hockey game, the Boston Bruins defeated the Washington Capitals at the Garden yesterday afternoon 2-1. The Bruins avenged an early week lost to the Caps, in which they let in ten goals, and snapped a three game losing streak.

Alex Auld played well in net for the B’s, only relinquishing one Washington goal, an early first period powerplay tally by Brooks Laich. Auld ended with 23 saves on the day and gave the B’s a chance at the end of the game.

The game started off with two consecutive fights when Milan Lucic dropped the mitts 5 seconds into the game and Shawn Thornton 10 seconds after that.

“We wanted to try to get the momentum our side and really try to get the fans into it, and I thought maybe it was a good idea to get it going right [then],” Lucic explained. “It was back just like last year, junior-style, back up and take the helmet off.” bostonbruins.com

“I think our guys just showed that we got pushed around last time in Washington, [and] we were ready for whatever they were going to throw at us,” said Coach Claude Julien. bostonbruins.com

The real story of the game was Boston’s ability to shut down Alexander Ovekchin to only an assist. Ovekchin tallied 3 goals and 2 assist earlier in the week against the B’s. The Cap’s star seemed frustrated and didn’t have much space, as the Bruins put a body on him every opportunity they could.