Note: Just for clarity purposes, today’s photos of Habs girls are simply inspiration viewings for possible Carbonneau line combinations. Some things take getting used to. This is the best avenue I understand. The remaining images are dedicated to the power of positive thinking. Check back at suppertime for voodoo update.
Remember the good old days when the Canadiens, or least fans of the team, did not need worry about a date with the Boston Bruins?
It wasn’t all that long ago.
A year ago, to be exact.
Things have changed in twelve months, and the Canadiens will not catch Boston in the standings this season.
There will be no miracles.
It would take something like a plane crash, anthrax, or Milan Lucic setting up Tim Thomas with Paris Hilton to bring them down. Phil Kessel, who just had a bout with mononucleosis, would have had to kiss all his team mates after a big win to get it rolling.
No, the Canadiens cannot catch Boston for top spot in the Eastern Conference, and for the time being Habs fans should care less, because it is hardly what matters most to the bumbling Canadiens in the present tense.
The Bruins have gotten good…real good. I save adjectives such as “great” and “fearsome” for playoff time, and that is what I am about to get at.
The 2009 Bruins may or may not be a whole lot like the 2008 Canadiens, in that they are a team that has made a giant leap forward to the head of the class. Just as it could be seen with the Habs a season ago, the Bruins were scheduled to make up ground this season.
Both team’s growth spurts resemble what goes on in teams loaded with young talent. Last season the Habs had an influx of youth with like likes of the Kostitsyn brothers, Price, and Higgins, Komisarek and Plekanec coming of age. The Bruins, whose core talent is even younger in Kessel, Wheeler, Lucic and Krejci, have experienced much the same.
With big unexpected leaps forward, there often comes improbable backwards skips. It happens to the best, like a reality check from hell.
R.J. Unberger anyone? 
No, the Habs biggest concerns when it comes to the Bruins for now, is simply to find a way to measure up consistently.
It passed unnoticed last season when the Canadiens went 8-0 against the Bruins in the regular season that Boston, disguised in losses, were making gains on Montreal each time they played. Those little moral victories, the small unseen edges, gave Boston a confidence that eventually manifested itself into resilience by the third game of round one last year. By the time the Canadiens were through with them, they had been given a good scare. The Bruins haven’t looked back.
Now is not the time for the Canadiens to think they can play leapfrog with Bruins. Leapfrog is a dangerous sport when played with unicorns.
Montreal isn’t catching the Bruins for now, but this is a tale of a rabbit and turtoise.
It’s small gains time.
Montreal, coming out of a wickedly disastrous patch, needs to find ways to measure up.
Yesterday’s win against the Kings is meaningless the minute the puck drops against the Bruins.
Was the win a confidence builder? Perhaps.
Could the game have solved certain longstanding issues? Doubtful.
Did it provide the team with a well needed 24 hour break from negative thoughts? At best, that is all it did.
It will be today against Boston – and it won’t be easy – that the Canadiens either build with a small brick or shit a big one.
Small gains, one at a time, can go a long way in a season. Especially against Boston, who the Canadiens have a history of sneaking up on when it is least expected of them.
You could look it up. It started in 1930, and matters no more today, except for the fact that it does happen.
Making it happen, starts subtly.
