Primal urges (not the ones for procreation) are what the Montreal Canadiens have to resist tomorrow night against the Boston Bruins. A good portion of fans have been screaming for retribution, for the Habs to call up whatever goons that they can find in the minors to hurt the Bruins. I’m inclined to agree with Arpon Basu that this would be a disastrous decision, and the team should be focusing on the scoreboard.
The myth of February 9th that the Bruins gooned their way to victory is exactly that. The game was actually won in the first period, when Boston was playing hard-nosed and physical, but not fighting. They jumped out to a well earned 2-0 lead off of two terrible plays by the Canadiens. The gooning started in the second period, and from that period on the score was a 6-6 tie. A 6-6 tie without Cammalleri. A 6-6 tie with Gomez playing the worst game of his career, and Andrei Kostitsyn doing his best to match it.
A final of 8-6 in an anomaly game where Claude Julien was so insecure he felt he needed to send out a bunch of fighters in the final minute to beat up on two 37 year old Czech defensemen who don’t fight, and 5’11 Tom Pyatt who hadn’t fought since he was in the OHL 6 years ago and was jumped by a goon named Michael Haley, who has since become known as one of the idiots on the Islanders who started the joke of a game against Pittsburgh that resulted in all those suspensions.
Despite what many will assert, what we saw on February 9th was a mentally weak Bruins team, that’s been told for 3 years now that they’re a Stanley Cup contender, yet they keep losing consistently and convincingly to their bitter rivals, who everyone tells them are an inferior team. The truth is that the teams aren’t very far apart, and it bothers the Bruins. It bothers their fans too.
They can’t understand why a small speedy team can continually outplay their big, tough squad. They’re bewildered as to why Tim Thomas looks super human against everyone else, but ordinary against Montreal. The fact is, we’re in their heads more than the other way around. It was never more clear than when Brad Marchand went on his incredibly unprofessional rant after the game. So top fretting Habs fans, we’ve got these guys.
The view from the other side: Stanley Cup of Chowder
What’s more important tomorrow?
| Getting 2 points | 92 |
| Getting retribution | 15 |
