Official Discussion Thread - Round 2 - Boston Bruins vs. Montreal Canadiens

[RGM81]

34th playoffs meeting all-time between these two great rivals. This will be an amazing series between the number one and number three seeds from the Northeast Division. It doesn't get any better than Montreal and Boston!

Post your predictions, insights, thoughts, and chatter about the series here.

Schedule:

Game 1: Thursday May 1 at Boston, 7:30 p.m.
Game 2: Saturday, May 3 at Boston, 12:30 p.m.
Game 3: Tuesday, May 6 at Montreal, 7 p.m.
Game 4: Thursday, May 8 at Montreal, 7 p.m.
Game 5 (if necessary): Saturday, May 10 at Boston, TBD
Game 6 (if necessary): Monday, May 12, at Montreal, 7 p.m.
Game 7 (if necessary): Wednesday, May 14, at Boston, TBD


As always, please keep the discussion respectful and avoid any unnecessary personal pot-shots or rude comments - things will no doubt get heated during this series but don't let that spill on to the boards.

[RGM81]

[RGM81]

Great article from Dave Stubbs...

Bruins vs. Habs: How it must be

The Canadiens' road to the Eastern Conference final will go through Boston, just as the Bruins' road to Round 3 will go through Montreal.
This is how it is, how it should be. How it must be.
A playoff clash is how it has been 33 times since 1929, when the 5-year-old Bruins swept the Canadiens in a three-game semifinal on the way to the first of their six Stanley Cup victories.
The Habs, as they would come to be known, beat Boston in the playoffs both of the next two years, indeed for the Cup in 1930. They would not meet again for a dozen years, the Bruins winning a 1943 semifinal.
And then came The Streak — 18 consecutive Canadiens wins over the Bruins in the post-season, from 1946 through 1987, including six meetings in the Stanley Cup final.
Had Bruins executive Harry Sinden joined the Choir Invisible during this span, he'd have arrived at the Pearly Gates to discover St. Peter wearing a Habs jersey.
And calling himself St-Pierre, just to build Harry's personal hell in the afterlife.
But Boston has enjoyed the edge in the rivals' 11 series since 1988. From 1988-94, the Bruins beat the Canadiens in five of their six playoff series. Montreal won the next three, Boston has been victorious the last two.
Their last six meetings, dating back 20 years, have been in the Eastern quarter-finals, three of their last four going the seven-game limit.

[centrehice]

What do you guys think of this US College Basketball bracketing nonsense?

If Columbus somehow wins, or anyone with less points than the Habs, they should not have to play Boston immediately. I don't like it one bit.

Why have a regular season if it means you have to play a much higher team than you are suppose to. This sucks for both teams if you ask me.

[Kessel_fan_87]

Bruins in 6

[RGM81]

What do you guys think of this US College Basketball bracketing nonsense?

If Columbus somehow wins, or anyone with less points than the Habs, they should not have to play Boston immediately. I don't like it one bit.

Why have a regular season if it means you have to play a much higher team than you are suppose to. This sucks for both teams if you ask me.

To be honest it doesn't bother me very much.

Let's assume for the sake of discussion that Columbus pulls off the upset of the Penguins and that the Rangers triumph over Philly. Under the old system of re-jigging the brackets each round Montreal would play the Rangers while Boston would play Columbus. If Pittsburgh wins it would be PIT-MTL and BOS-NYR/PHI. Either way, the new or the old system, there are no easy outs in the playoffs once you're past round one.

The one drawback to the system in place now, I feel, is that it while it attempts to guarantee we will see a Montreal-Boston playoffs series (a good thing) almost every year, unless one team has a significant drop-off in years ahead it will always be in one of the first two rounds (a kinda bad thing). The only way you could see a MTL-BOS conference championship is if one of them finishes in a wild card spot but is bracketed with the Metropolitan Division based on points. And that sorta takes the starch out of things. Sure they can bank on knowing each year that "The road to the Cup goes through..." their hated rival, but that particular point in the road is moved up to a fixed location rather than a floating area of the journey.

[centrehice]

Yeah, agreed, but some teams need 2 series to get them to the point of being able to knock off a big team. Asking for a team to play the best team when the regular seasons of the past show that they didn't have to is HUGE.

It makes no sense. I don't think the Habs are ready for the Bruins, there I said it. They might be with one more series under their belts, but not now.

You did not address - Why have a regular season then if it only puts you into a difficult bracket? If I am a team next year, I make sure that I finish 5th or 6th overall, as it's the easiest way to the Conference Final. It's a cakewalk in fact.

The regular season has just been deemed meaningless.

It's nonsense, and Bettman needs to GO.

[RGM81]

The way the Bettman-led NHL is set up though is all about parity so they're likely hoping that next year the Metro won't be the weak sister of the East as it was this year. If Philly and the Rangers play up to snuff they're for sure contenders. But right now when you look at the Atlantic they are as close as it gets to a "group of death" when you look at some of the teams involved that are primed to remain at the top for many years to come.

[centrehice]

Again, you are looking at only the Playoffs. Why bother playing 82 games? Hoping for a division to not be weak, is a child's folly, not proper Hockey thought.

Not saying you yourself, but the league hoping that. Parity is achieved by putting the best product on the ice. You either have the nous to do so, or not. But the regular season should not be the bleeding victim of uncertain hope.

[Pheebs888]

Can't wait for this one! It's going to be hell of a battle!

As for the new format, it's all about the rivalries and the 82 game season matter because that's how you get home ice. Besides, it's kinda back to the way it was in the days of the Adams, Patrick, Norris and Smythe division and I use to love playoffs back then playing the usual foes early on! Some of my best playoffs memories are from the days of the Adams division.