I heard two pearls of wisdom the other day.

The first said that the Habs playoff inexperience would not be factor against the Bruins. The thinking was that the Habs are so young that they haven't enough experience yet to understand fear.

The second was nothing to do with hockey, but funny enough to share. An old Groucho quote:

"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read!"

The Canadiens win, as surprising in manner in which it came out of the gate, is reassuring but nothing to get overly excited about.

I'll tell myself that at least 10 times today. The series is far from done, though I have a sense that a tone and theme were set last night. It's three win away from one big step along a hard road.

Hard Hitting Habs Wanted Game More Than Bruins - Gazette

"That's nine in a row," Bruins coach Claude Julien was mentioning to a guy in the moments after yet another unproductive night against the Canadiens. "That's why you have a seven-game series," he added with a tight, little smile." - Red Fisher

Playoff Magic - Gazette

"The team fed off that electricity," said Montreal defenceman Mike Komisarek, returning to action following seven games missed with a hip injury. "It felt like the Super Bowl out there." - Dave Stubbs























Habs Draw First Blood - Gazette

"It's a shame that hockey fans in Belarus weren't able to follow the exploits of brothers Andrei and Sergei Kostitsyn on TV last night. Those wild and crazy guys from Novopolotsk made their National Hockey League playoff debuts memorable as they each scored a goal early in the first period last night to propel the Canadiens to a 4-1 win over the Boston Bruins in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series." - Pat Hickey

Bruins Bergeron Hungry For Habs - Gazette

"Patrice Bergeron believes the nightmare has almost reached its merciful conclusion, more than five months after it began. The symptoms that resulted from his first concussion have long since faded, and the Boston Bruins forward realizes it's probably only a matter of days before he resumes his career." - Herb Zurkowsky

Bruins Couldn't Match The Habs Intensity - Gazette

"We looked nervous at the beginning," Bruins head coach Claude Julien said after watching his squad lose last night at the Bell Centre. "Our team has played in this building all year. But when you're nervous, you make mistakes." - Herb Zurkowsky

For The Love Of The Habs - Gazette

"Her short-term memory fails her every so often, but Maria Sousa always seems to know when the Canadiens are playing.The 76-year-old Toronto woman is suffering from inoperable liver cancer, and the drugs she takes have terrible side effects. But she's always in a good mood when talking about the Habs." - Jason Madger

Kostitsyn's, Kostopoulos Lead Habs Over Bruins - TSN

"The brothers from Belarus - Sergei and Andrei Kostitsyn - got it started, but then the diggers got down to work for the Montreal Canadiens. The Kostitsyns each scored a goal in their first NHL playoff games in the opening 2:02 of the first period and the usually mild-mannered Canadiens crashed and banged their way to a series-opening 4-1 victory over the Boston Bruins on Thursday night."

Montreal's Band Of Brothers - Globe Sports

"Not only did the spell that the Montreal Canadiens held over the Boston Bruins in the regular season continue in the playoff opener last night, Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau's lucky necktie continued to work its magic." - Tim Wharnsby

Habs Take Early Series Lead - Lions In Winter

"Gainey made some great acquisitions last summer, but none may be more important than the big Czech defender. He may have been the steal of free-agency, a question that will be answered with a resounding yes if he keeps this play up throughout the playoffs. He was absolutely fantastic in his own end tonight, he really controlled the flow around Price. He had a game high 6 hits and they were all big hits too. Carbo recognized the type of game Roman was having tonight by rewarding him with more ice-time than any other Hab." - Tobalev

Jive Talkin' - The H Does Not Stand For Habs

"This week, the volume of traffic on Habs fan boards has increased alarmingly, with topics ranging from "What strategy should the Canadiens take to counter the Bruins' physical game," to "Should the players grow full beards or just goatees?" There are polls on everything from who'll win the series to what people think of the team playoff slogan." - J.T.

Ten Things I Hate About.... The Boston Bruins - Four Habs Fans

"While every week is technically Bruins Hate Week at FHF Headquarters, the almost annual playoff showdown rachets up the hate quotient to another level. So in the fine tradition of apparently hating the rest of the Eastern seaboard.

4-10-08: Canadiens 4 Bruins 1 - Theory Of Ice

"The Habs have a beautiful game. Go ahead and argue about what makes a team ‘best’, certainly that’s a qualitative debate open to many different perspectives, but I defy you to find a more consistently elegant game being played by any other team in the League. Not just elegant in the sense of aesthetically pleasing, but elegant in the sense that physicists might use the term- their play is a balanced equation that synthesizes speed, toughness, and intelligence in an uncannily efficient and perversely obvious manner." - E

Black and Bleu - Boston Herald

"Everyone in the hockey universe knew the Canadiens had much more team speed than the Bruins and far more pure skill. But who’d have guessed they’d be so much tougher? Taking the body, finishing checks, being a physically hard team to play against - those were key elements of the Bruins’ game all season, and they did well in the rough and ready part of the game."

Un premier test réussi- RDS

"Les gars étaient nerveux et ils ont simplement décidé de ne pas jouer du hockey de rattrapage", a déclaré l’entraîneur-chef Guy Carbonneau. "On met beaucoup de pression sur les joueurs de premiers plans et je suis simplement content de voir que tout le monde a produit."

Après 122 secondes. les doutes étaient dissipés - La Presse

"Cent vingt-deux secondes au cours desquelles les frères Sergei et Andrei Kostitsyn, deux des sept blancs-becs du Canadien, ont tour à tour marqué leur premier but en carrière en séries, à leur tout premier match, à leur toute première présence." - François Gagnon


La prédiction de Sergei Kostitsyn - Le Journal

"J'ai dit à Andrei que j'allais marquer dès le départ", a fait savoir Sergei après la victoire décisive de 4 à 1 du Canadien. "C'est vrai, a confirmé Andrei. Mais moi, je ne lui ai pas promis cela ! J'étais vraiment heureux quand j'ai vu mon frère marquer le premier but après seulement 34 secondes. Il m'a ensuite dit que c'était à mon tour d'en réussir un."

More links to articles at RDS, La Presse, and Le Journal