It's over: Bruins end Habs season in Game Seven OT

Good summary of the game, Kevin. The ice was indeed awful, how many times do you see Cammalleri completely muff a shot like the one he did late in the third? BTW, I thought they were done when that play unfolded. Great effort all around, but the B’s broke everybody’s hearts in the end. A great season for many individuals, and definitely one that the team as a whole can be proud of.

Congratulations on the wedding, my friend!

Have you ever seen a guy who did absolutely nothing for 400+ minutes impact a series so dramatically? Horton was invisible ALL series except for about 6 seconds.

I don’t see much of a point in getting rid of Kostitsyn. He has his faults but don’t see many oppurtunities to get anyone significantly better for his role. If you do have the oppurtunity to upgrade, it would be better to keep him to play with Eller on the third line

The team put forth a really valiant effort, particularly given the injuries we faced. Its too bad we couldn’t play the spoiler for a 2nd year in a row.

I completely agree Stephen. Kostitsyn’s skills are often overshadowed by the fact that we play a defence-first system. The guy is an incredibly competitor, and on a team with a bona-fide No. 1 centre, would easily score 30 goals.

I don’t mean to denigrate Martin’s system. Its held us into games we had more business being in. But that seems to speak to the dearth of offensive creativity amongst our forwards beyond Cammalleri, Kostitsyn, Gionta and Plekanec, the latter of whom is more of a two-way shadow centre.

The Hammer comes off the books this summer, and as much as I love the guy, we need to look for more offensive forward depth. I’m sorry, but Deharnais, Darche, Moen, etc. cannot be expected to shoulder 2nd line offensive responsibility. A comeback by Patches will help, but he’s far from a certain commodity.

At this point it’s customary to tip one’s hat to the winning team. But let’s not be afraid of reality, shall we?

The better team has lost this series. I think that’s pretty clear.

The Bruins were not a bad club, they were close to Montreal, but yet the much diminished, beat-up Habs were still the better team.

But the Habs lost, mostly because as was the case all year, they couldn’t buy that bounce that would make them win games they outplayed their opponents in. It’s something that happened in hockey. 3-0 in overtime? Really? That’s luck.

Montreal having lived by that sword last year, they can’t really complain about dying by it this year. Still, I think we now understand (albeit to a lesser degree) how Washington and Pittsburgh fans felt last year.

The Habs’ future is bright. This year marked a massive turnaround in the team’s ability. With Markov and Gorges and Pacioretty back next year, they should be the best team of the division, ahead of the Sabres (with the Bruins slotting in third).

As for Boston, I don’t see them going deep. They were very overrated to start the playoffs (living on the percentages gravy train will do that to you) and they will have to face superior clubs throughout the playoffs — most of which will be better than Montreal, a team they already really shouldn’t have beat. They might get lucky again, like the Habs did last year, but it’s going to catch up to them just like it did the Habs.

Depends on the money, but I think that if Kostitsyn isn’t a Hab next year, it’ll cast Gauthier’s competence as a GM in doubt.

The guy is a fine hockey player who can dominate easy matchups and handle tough competition. He’s got an underrated defensive game and while his scoring is streaky, his ability to help outchance the other guys isn’t.

If they can re-sign him for what he’s paid right now it’s a fantasitc bargain.

Kostitsyn will be back. Pouliot, on the other hand, may be gone.

"I think it’s important to understand that you can’t change the result,’’ said Montreal coach Jacques Martin on the disallowed goal. "What’s important there is how you handle it. Your reaction is that you’ve got to keep focus and keep your concentration on the task at hand.’’ April 26, 2011.

This statement by Jacques Martin has been the summary of this team. Once agin tonight, poor officiating led to goal that came of a speering infraction and high sticking. The Canadiens had to deal with it and come back and score to tie the game with about a minute left in the 3rd period. A great effort after falling behind 2-0 and fighting back.

The Canadiens had to overcome alot this season. In their 100+ seasons have they ever had to overcome so much in a single season? They were the most penalized team in terms of minor penalties. They lost two top defencemen with Markov and Gorges. They found the big two-way forward they were looking for in Max Paccioretty and lost him as well for the season. They had to rely on young players from Hamilton to salvage a season and yet still made the play-offs surprising everyone.

In this series against Boston they battled hard every game and had a chance to win every game. Their penalty killing was perfect and their depleted line-up lost in game 7 in overtime when nobody gave them a chance to win. They made Canadiens fans proud.

Even though nothing came out of them, I think we can all agree that Eller had some dandy looking shifts in game 7. The production isn’t there yet and he has a lot to work on (including improving his physical strength) but you can see his potential to be an impact player in the future. I really hope he realizes it.

Habs choked. Winning the first two on the road and then failing to put them away says it all. Gil & Hammer (joke) at what, $8 million combined salary. Pyatt over Pouliot? Hammer can take all the stupid penalties he wants, and be on the ice for every goal, and JM will give him a regular shift. Hope this is last time I see Hammer and Gil in a habs uniform.

This was really tough series that certainly could have gone either way. I thought going in that the Bruins were the better team and would win this series in five games. I underestimated the Canadiens, they are a better team than I realized. Also, I know that a lot of Habs fans don’t care for J. Martin’s conservative style of coaching. Style aside, this Montreal team is very well coached and makes very few mistakes. Coaching is a significant part of their success.

I know that Habs fans get tired of the flopping comments coming from other fan bases and media but perhaps its time to take a closer look at how your team operates. As a Bruins fan it was sweet justice when Kelly scored after Hamrlik was flopping looking for a cheap call. The Habs should just play the game, let the officials do their job and stop all of the embellishing.

So, the Bruins get to move on against the Flyers. It’ll be a tough series against perhaps a more talented team. There will most certainly be some rough play but at least there will not be the constant diving and whining that has come to mark every game played against the Montreal Canadiens

The Hamrlik flop (from my perspective) was just that, a flop. And I agree that Montreal fans need to recognize it for what it is.

Which is exactly what Bruin fans should be recognizing when players like Ference go head hunting, or Marchand tries to coax retaliation by slashing a Hab only after making certain no officials were watching. You know something is blatant when even CBC announcers (who often times seem to be calling a different game than what they are watching)step away from their pro-Bruin soapbox and actually criticize them. Hell, the CBC has more Bruin fans than NESN!

Habs had their chances to win the series but couldn’t get it done. Kudo’s to the Bruins and best of luck against the Flyers.

Does anyone really think there will be any suspension?

No penalty called, no blood, Halpern was able to come back. Ference is one of the better Bruin defensemen, its the playoffs, and besides all that Campbell’s son is a Bruin.

Campbell will look at a few second clip. then ask Ference if he meant to target his head, to which Ference will say no. And then Campbell’s office will release a statement that after extensive review it has been determined that no offense took place. Easy, fast and simple. I really don’t see why the NHL even has to go through the charade of even trying to appear impartial. This is a whole lot of wasted effort on a decision that has already been made.

Bruins earned the win. They came back after loosing the first 2 home games, which really says a ;ot about their character. Habs had their opportunities, but couldn;t get the job done. Kudo’s to the Bruins … and please … beat the Fyers,

Nah. I thought my response was better than playing the sarcastic messageboard tennis that these threads usually devolve into.

And didn’t I accurately predict the outcome of its review? I still believe that the reasons why nothing was done can be found on my list. Particularly the last one.

I agree with Mathman regarding both the NHL’s willingness to accept headshots and its bias towards certain teams and players. Until a player is killed or paralyzed because of a headshot, the NHL will continue voicing its desire to protect players, while actually doing nothing. Sad but true.

… and Pacioretty. Whew, that was close. You almost forgot to add him to that list. No need to thank me, I was just happy to help.