Who are Habs fans gonna cheer for?

That is the question. Who are we supposed to cheer for now that our Habs are on the golf course? This Bruins-Leafs series has presented quite the dilemma for us Habs fans. Here are our two most-hated teams battling it out in what I have to admit is one tremendous series.So who do you back here? I didn’t really know until I started watching the series and strangely, without reflection, I suddenly found myself rooting for the Bruins. I know, I know, we’re supposed to hate the big bad Bs and i will start hating them again – once they finish off the Leafs.

It suddenly dawned on me that I hate the Leafs more than I hate the Bruins. First off, Boston is the better team. That’s not even up for debate. But also we just live with a lot more resentment towards the Leafs because we live in a media universe – hello Hockey Night in Canada, hi there Toronto Sports Network – that just can’t control its Leafs boosterism.

Did you watch the Leafs-Bruins game Sunday night on Hockey Night in Canada? I mean the boys on the show couldn’t control their enthusiasm, waxing eloquent about James Reimer – who was amazing, I’ll grant you – and losing themselves in poetic reveries about their beloved Leafs. Don Cherry appeared in a blue-and-white Leafs wig – I swear, I’m not making this up! – and predicted that “WE” would win 3-2.

Now when I noted this on Twitter, some defended Grapes saying we all know this is part of his routine but c’mon man. Just imagine this happening in the States. That John Madden while working a Super Bowl broadcast takes sides in the game. Exactly. It’s unthinkable.

So I’m pulling for the Bruins just to p— of all the Leafs fans in the Toronto media. But once the Bruins finish off the Leafs – which they will Monday night, mark my words – I’ll be back to hoping they’re humiliated by whoever they face next.

Then I’m moving back to the team I loved as a kid in the ’70s in Montreal – the mighty Chicago Blackhawks. I’ll be cheering on the Hawks – along with great Scottish novelist Irvine Welsh, who is one of the Blackhawks’ most vocal fans.

But for today, it’s – Go Bruins Go!

Okay now I’m starting to feel the playoff fever

On Wednesday, I was saying I wasn’t feeling it, wasn’t getting any sense for this notion of a Canadiens-Senators rivalry. And let’s face it, there is no rivalry.

But I’m feeling the playoff buzz this morning. Less than 12 hours from now, the puck is going to drop at the Bell Centre and for the first time in two years, Nos Glorieux will be in the hunt for Lord Stanley’s Cup.

For sure, everyone is saying the Canadiens have no hope of going the distance. Philippe Cantin Thursday morning in La Presse, in an otherwise right-on column about Les Boys’ “brigade jeunesse” – go Brendan Gallagher go! – Cantin ends by saying “Brendan Gallagher et la brigade jeunesse du Canadien rapporteront la Coupe Stanley à Montrèal. Mais pas ce printemps. C’est encore trop tôt. Patience….”

That’s the common wisdom. That this is not the Habs’ year.

And maybe it isn’t. But let’s face it. Cantin doesn’t know for sure. Jack Todd doesn’t know for sure. And neither do you. There are 16 teams in the playoffs and any one of them could end up hoisting the Cup. Look the Blackhawks had to go to overtime to beat the Wild.

Who predicted last year that the New Jersey Devils would be in the Stanley Cup final? No one. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying we’re favourites. I’m just saying don’t count Les Boys out before they’ve even played a single shift.

Marc Antoine Godin in La Presse mentions that today – Thursday, May 2 – is the first anniversary of the hiring of Marc Bergevin as general manager of the Canadiens, the greatest moment in the recent history of the Habs. And I know that Bergevin was not thinking he was fielding a Cup-winning team this year.

He just wanted to make the playoffs and you know he wasn’t thinking those cellar-dwellers from last season were going to land in second place in the east. But they did – and they still get no zero respect. It goes without saying that the Toronto sports media mafia are already thinking “Sens in three” but we’re used to that.

A small sidebar here about that Toronto sports media mind-set. I was watching – and enjoying, I must say – that Leafs-Bruins laugher Wednesday night. I know, we hate both teams but it was kind of fun to see just how sucky the Leafs looked. Man! As my Twitter pal Rich Thorpe put it, the Leafs play so small against the Bruins. It’s downright bizarre.

It was a massacre. The Bs outshot the Leafs 40-20 and with that stat, you don’t usually blame the losing goalie. But Reims looked like Carey Price on his worst night. On his knees, praying for this thing to be over soonest! I was loving it. Hey you get your kicks where you can.

But here’s my point – the Leafs looked terrible and the Hockey Night in Canada boys couldn’t stop talking about how tired the Bruins looked and how this was going to be a long series. Earth to the CBC Broadcast Centre – that was a blow-out and if Toronto continues to play like this, this is going to be Bruins in three.

To digress even further, that Coach’s Corner was just so sad. Don Cherry went and repeated his thing about how female reporters should not be allowed in male dressing rooms and the two couldn’t have looked more uncomfortable.

This act is beyond tired. The endless fighting over timing, the endless ‘shut ups’ from Grapes, the sexism, the anti-Habs crap. It has to end. Just saying.

But more notably, Hockey Night in Canada has to find a way to stop their guys from sounding like they work for the Leafs front office. End of rant.

Back to the important stuff – the Habs-Sens series. My point, and it’s not the musings of a rocket scientist I admit, is that the Habs have as much chance as anyone else to make the final. Why not? Can they beat Ottawa? Course they can. Can they beat the Bs in the second round? Done deal. Did you see how the Habs stepped up their game against Boston this year?

So it could happen. But Price has to have his first real playoff run. Todd – still Montreal’s best sports columnist in my humble view – has a great column on What Me Worry Price Thursday morning where he ends by noting: “For Carey Price, the time is now. If he can do it, there’s a place in the pantheon with his name on it.”

Couldn’t agree more. Otherwise we’re riding the Slovakian back-up all the way…..in a repeat of the 2010 miracle on ice.

Think back to ’10. No one believed in the Habs that year either. They were laughing at us in Toronto. Caps in three. Sid will crush them. Even when Montreal beat Cup champs Pittsburgh in seven, Crosby was still whining about how they were the better team. Apparently not Sid! We won.

So all I’m saying this morning – with my 35-year-old vinly copy of The Clash’s Give ‘Em Rope blasting at ear-splitting volume – is anything’s possible.

And don’t ever tell me I never said nuffin positive about the Habs.

Go Effin Habs Go!

I’m having trouble getting worked up about a Habs Senators series

Carey Price.

Don’t get me wrong. I am super excited that the Canadiens are in the playoffs for the first time in two years and even happier that Montreal finished second in the conference, giving them home-ice advantage through at least the first two rounds. This is all good.

And I know I have been preaching for quite some time now that I believe the ideal scenario was for Les Boys to meet anyone but the Leafs. So I guess I got my wish.

So why am I so underwhelmed by the match-up? I guess it’s ’cause we have no modern post-season history with the Senators. Habs fans can’t really get a hate on for the Senators the way we do for the Leafs and especially for the Bruins.

There’s a great rivalry – Battle of Ontario and all that – between the Leafs and the Senators. But Habs-Sens? Not so much. Heck it doesn’t even seem like going to a hostile arena when Montreal plays in Kanata – there seem to be more people cheering for the Habs than for the Senators, just underlining the team’s identity issues.

The weirdest thing is that I’m actually more pumped up about watching the Leafs Bruins slug-fest right now. La question qui tue – who’s gonna try to punch our friend Milan Lucic’s lights out?

That said, I’m sure Canadiens Senators will be a good series once it’s up and running. The teams have played close games for the most part this year and it’s likely to be a long series. In other words, by game seven we might even have a rivalry going.

There will be some great mano-a-mano combats. Will Craig Anderson be the difference-maker or will Carey ‘What Me Worry’? Price finally shed his sleepy playoff past history and show that he really is a thoroughbred?

The other great duel will be between two star blue-liners, in Erik Karlsson and P.K. Subban. I’m predicting P.K. wins this one. Price vs. Anderson, I’m not so sure.

So I joked on the Daybreak podcast Wednesday that it’d be the Sens in three – the Toronto media’s wet dream – but here in the lofty confines of the Top Shelf space I’m saying it’s Habs in seven, with the seventh game going to extra time.

 

So who’s afraid of the big bad Leafs now?

Not me. Not you. Pretty well no one. With a convincing 4-1 win Saturday night over the Toronto Maple Leafs, all of a sudden all of the momentum has moved down the 401 to Montreal and us angsty Habs fans are a lot less angst-filled this morning.

The season could not have ended in better fashion for the Canadiens. They showed they could beat the Loafs in their home rink, they humiliated starting goalie James Reimer (who got the hook!), moved into second place in the conference and first place in the Northeast division ahead of Boston (who lost 3-2 in OT to the surging Washington Capitals) and generally looked liked a team ready to battle anyone in the playoffs starting Tuesday at the Bell Centre.

Even better, the Leafs looked, to quote their perceptive coach Randy Carlyle, “brain dead”. I love it.

Before the game Joffrey Lupul made widely-publicized comments about how the big, tough Leafs could take advantage of the smaller Habs – which may have excited Don Cherry but obviously proved to be inspirational bulletin board material for the Habs.

The Leafs clearly thought they could intimidate the Canadiens and it didn’t work. They started bruisers Colton Orr, Frazer McLaren, and Mark Fraser, hoping to set the tone. But Montreal did what it did against Boston in that heart-breaking first-round seven-game series a couple of years ago – basically saying, ‘you can goon around all you like, we’re going to play hockey and guess what Colton, man for man, we’re a better team than you guys.’ Against the Bs that playoff, that brought Montreal within one P.K. Subban slapshot of eliminating the team that went on to win the Cup and last night it just deflated the Leafs balloon.

So I know many out there figure I only like to grumble, but there’s not much to gripe about this morning. Who at the start of the season thought that the team that finished last in the East last season was going to finish near the top of the conference this year? Exactly. No one.

General manager Marc Bergevin has done an extraordinary job of turning this team around in short order and if you think that’s easy, just look at how long rebuilding has taken in Toronto, Edmonton and Long Island. It’s a tough job and Bergevin has done all the right things, from coaching decisions – hello Jack Adams finalist Michel Therrien – to players pick-ups – bonjour Brandon Prust.

Sure there have been mis-steps – Bergevin should never have gone near Colby Armstrong and that big contract for Travis Moen isn’t looking that smart round about now.

But the facts are right there in front of you on nhl.com. The Habs will either finish second or fourth in the conference and will start the playoffs with home-ice advantage. Amazing.

And, with 20-20 hindsight, the choice to start Peter Budaj Saturday was a brilliant move. The team, I think, plays with more confidence right now in front of the Slovakian back-up goalie (eds. note: Hmmmm that reminds me of another playoff run) but by getting a solid game from Budaj, you’re free to start the thoroughbred Tuesday and if Carey Price stumbles – and honestly I hope he doesn’t – you have a plan B, B as in Budaj.

 

Milan Lucic is public enemy No. 1 in Montreal

Filmmaker Rafael Ouellet showing his true colours!

Milan Lucic was already pretty high up on the public-enemy charts in Montreal but he soared to the No. 1 spot Monday with the news that Alexei Emelin will miss the rest of the season after smashing into the freight train that is Lucic Saturday night at the Bell Centre. The Canadiens defenseman has a torn ligament in his left knee.

This is obviously very bad news for the Habs going into the stretch and if the Habs do meet the Bruins in the playoffs, the lack of the feisty, physical Emelin will be felt within the Habs ranks.

This is of course not the first time a Bruin has sidelined a key Montreal player in recent years – there was that ugly incident a couple of years back when Zdeno Chara came mighty close to separating Max Pacioretty’s head from his body. It’s also not the first time Lucic has done some damage to a Hab. Remember that infamous fight that left Mike Komisarek hurt all those years ago. Komisarek was never the same player after that.

That said, much as it pains us, you do have to give Lucic the benefit of a doubt here. Check out the video. Emelin is lining up Lucic for a big hit and Lucic puts up his arms to fight back and leaps a little into the air. It looks like there’s some knee-on-knee action going on but it doesn’t appear to be intentional.

I got into a bit of a fight with hardcore Bruins fan – and fine, fine filmmaker – Rafael Ouellet on Twitter Monday. Don’t tell him but the director of Camion had a point, writing that “Lucic had 1/8th of a second to react/protect himself….I don’t think any of it was intentional.”

But you know the Bs are sure happy to see the back of Emelin this year. He’s been a real pest for them. Remember when he whacked Tyler Seguin and seconds later Chara was on him, using Emelin’s surgically-reconstructed face as a pushing bag. The Boston boxers don’t like Emelin and you know they’re pleased as punch – pun intended – to have one less Hab who knows how to hit.

Cos let’s face it, Montreal doesn’t even remotely compete with Boston in the toughness department. Sure there’s Brandon Prust but much as I love the guy, what’s he’s going to do after Chara pulverizes one of our guys. Prust can maybe take a swing at Chara’s mid-section.

It’s always the same. The Habs are going to have to win it with speed, skill and heart, battling against the sheer physical might and street-smart team spirit of the Bruins. And as of today, that series just got a little bit harder for Montreal to win.

http://www.hockeyfights.com/fights/49297

You ain’t seen nothing yet

Photo of Michael Ryder hanging up his skates after Bell Centre practice Oct. 22, 2003. Photo by Dave Sidaway.

B-b-b-b-b-baby, you ain’t seen nothing yet!

As usual, trust those great under-rated poets in Bachman Turner Overdrive to nail it. Cos that’s the way I’m feeling in the wake of that gripping, tight fight between the Bruins and the Canadiens Saturday night. You ain’t seen nothing yet – as in just wait for that seven-game playoff bout that awaits us! That’s going to be a dandy, I say, channeling my inner Bob Cole.

Look Montreal won the game 2-1 but Tukka ‘I can’t even break my stick properly’ Rask was right on the money when he said “If you look at all three goals scored, if you ask me or Price, it should have been a 0-0 game.”

The first goal from Alex Galchenyuk, who appears to be coming out of his long slump, was a total fluke. He tossed the puck in front of the net (from behind the net) and it bounced in courtesy of Matt Bartkowski’s skate. Michael Ryder’s goal to make it 2-0 was also a little freaky, with Bonavista, Newfoundland’s greatest export getting a weird tip on P.K. Subban’s shot from the point. Then there was the lone Bruins goal – Johnny Boychuk let loose from the blueline and it careened into the net behind Price after bouncing off Daniel Paille’s back. So there wasn’t one normal goal.

P.K. Subban, by the way, assisted on both Habs goals, and now has 10 goals and 22 assists in 32 games. Two points. One, Habs got this superstar for a steal. Two, the debate about whether or not Subban is a Norris candidate is finished. He is the leading contender, period.

So point is this – these teams are remarkably evenly-matched. I was crowing on Twitter after the game – as I tend to do – that we were in the Bruins heads and that they will not want to face Les Boys in the playoffs. But in the cold bright light of morning, I’m not feeling so gleeful. Montreal has won each of those last three games against the Bs by one goal and the games couldn’t have been tighter.

Like Saturday, Boston easily could’ve tied it up in the last minute with Lars Eller in the box and Rask on the bench. But the Bruins completely wasted the 6-on-4, not even tossing a puck anywhere near Price.

“I didn’t know what time it was,” said Jaromir Jagr, clearly a guy who needs a new watch. “We were looking for the perfect shot.”

D-U-M-B, as the Ramones put it so succinctly all those years ago.

Jagr by the way looked good, still very strong on the puck, and I have to think the Bruins are a better team with him. The other fellow who looked good was Davis Drewiske, who logged 23:50 of ice-time and played a solid, tough stay-at-home game, which is what was needed, especially with Alexei Emelin out after running into a freight-train named Milan Lucic in the first. (Emelin is out with a lower-body injury and no Habs fans liked the look of his leg twisting as he went down.)

With Drewiske playing so well, Jeff Halpern taking key late-game face-offs and Ryder proving to be the team’s best forward, I think it’s fair to say at this point that Habs GM Marc Bergevin is a genius. And what about Michael Ryder? That was his sixth goal in six games and he now has 16 goals and 16 assists this season.

Since coming to Montreal in late February in return for the sleepy Erik Cole, Ryder has scored 10 goals and notched eight assists in his 18 games with Les Habs.

And you just know he’ll enjoy lacing up against his old Bruins team-mates in the post-season.

So bring on that playoff series – right friggin now. All I know for sure is it’s goes seven games with a couple of overtimes along the way.

- Brendan

 

Carey Price faces one of the biggest games of his life tonight

Carey Price being interviewed at the Canadiens fan practice. Photo by Brendan Kelly.

Really. Think about it for a second. We’re just a couple of weeks from the playoffs, first place in the Northeast division is on the line, and it’s time for the latest episode in the ongoing on-ice drama that is by far the greatest rivalry in the National Hockey League. I’m talking, of course, about the Bruins Canadiens match-up Saturday night at the Bell Centre.

Plus it’s Saturday night. Hockey Night in Canada. The night when the entire country grinds to a halt – okay I’m exaggerating a bit here but you get the idea – to sit down and watch the good old-fashioned hockey game. And it’s Bruins Habs. Don Cherry might even find time out from ranting and raving about the Leafs to mention the game in Coach’s Corner.

And this is quite simply a huge game for Carey Price. Pierre McGuire was on the Mitch Melnick show on TSN 690 Friday afternoon and was saying that Price will have to pull out a monster game tonight. And he’s right.

This is a statement game for Price. Think about it. There have been two meetings at the summit between these two teams in the last month. And both wins came courtesy of Habs back-up netminder Peter Budaj. On Sunday, March 3, coach Michel Therrien started Budaj, apparently not a decision Price was too pleased about, and the Good Guys pulled off an impressive 4-3 victory against the Men in Yellow and Black aka The Bad Guys.

Then on March 27 – in what us Habs fans now simply refer to as The Greatest Game Since the Spring of 2010 – Montreal won in the shoot-out thanks to our new hero Brendan Gallagher, who went five-hole on Tukka ‘I don’t even know how to break a stick properly’ Rask. But it was not a good night for Mr. Price.

Price started the game and had his worst second period of the season. He let in four goals in 14 minutes courtesy of a Bruins team that had only scored nine goals in the five games leading up to this Habs Bruins battle. In the kind of ballsy move no Habs coach in recent memory would’ve made – that’s why we’re really liking Therrien right now – the bench-meister gave Price the hook at the end of the second and put in Budaj, who was a major factor in the win.

He did let in one goal in the third but he was very good and even better in the shootout, standing his ground in front of six Boston shooters, not letting any rubber get behind him.

So Price, who is starting Saturday, has to win this game in defining fashion. If he loses, that’s gonna be the story-line when that inevitable Boston Montreal playoff series starts. Every columnist will be wondering who Therrien will start for the series and that is not a good thing for either Price or the team.

That debate will be stoked by the fact – I know you don’t like to hear it but it’s true – that Price has a downright horrible career playoff record. He has never had a good, never mind great, playoff run.

So he has to stone the Bs tonight. Man he almost needs a shutout. The one thing he most definitely doesn’t need is a loss.

Right about now might be the time for Price to steal a game, something he really hasn’t done this year. Just saying. And before you call me a Habs hater, I really am hoping he performs this grand hockey theft tonight.

Can we at least start the discussion about P.K. Subban as a potential Norris Trophy candidate

It came up again last night on Hockey Night in Canada, the notion that P.K. Subban might be a Norris Trophy candidate, and the idea was quickly shot down by one of their commentators, which is par-for-the-course for that most Toronto-centric of TV shows.

But enough’s enough. Can we at least start talking seriously about the entirely reasonable idea that Subban could well be on the shortlist for the 2013 Norris Trophy? The Habs most exciting player – in a tie for that honour with Brendan Gallagher – is having a career season.

The Canadiens defenceman has ten goals and 17 assists in 28 games. He’s a potential game-changer every night. Is there a player in Bettman’s League with a better one-timer from the blue-line? When he and Markov are roaming the blue-line on the power play, it’s a thing of beauty and you show me another team in the NHL that has such a powerhouse duo on its PP defence.

And he plays the game with such passion every night. He hits hard, he skates hard, there’s just no down time with this guy. Did you see that end-to-end rush in Boston Wednesday night? Pretty sweet. And I’m just sorry he missed Lucic by a couple of inches that night. Cos if he’d fully connected, our good pal Milan would still be wondering which team he was playing for today.

He had a goal and an assist that night in Boston – the most exciting Habs game so far this season – and notched another three assists in Saturday night’s 3-0 thumping of the sad-sack Rangers.

But still the Subban hating continues. He’s booed in every rink and there’s only one word for that kind of thing – and it’s an ugly word that speaks volumes about the lack of diversity in professional hockey. Same goes for that idiotic Sports Illustrated piece that claimed Subban was the most hated player in the League. Why is it that Subban has faced so much criticism from the moment he first started creating excitement with the Habs in the 2010 playoffs? Why do so many spend so much time giving him a hard time?

But it’s the grumblers who’re going to look like the bitter, short-sighted malcontents they are when Subban rightfully takes his place as one of the dominant D-men of this era. I’d bet money on that happening. Soon.

 

A game-changer of a Habs-Bruins game

So what does that classic Canadiens Bruins game Wednesday mean for the Habs nation moving forward? Is it time to cancel that trip to Italy in late June and stay close to home just in case there’s a parade? Should I tell my son he is no longer allowed to cheer for the Bruins under threat of eviction?

Well for one thing Montreal now has sole possession of first place in the Northeast, one point ahead of the dreaded Bs. But there’s lots of time for that to change and remember Boston still has a game in hand.

No the real thing is – we’re in their heads, as Annakin Slayd so memorably put it. This is the second straight time that Les Boys have pulled out a startling come-from-behind win at the TD Garden in Beantown, following that inspirational 4-3 victory a few weeks back.

If I’m Boston – and really I’m not – I don’t want to meet the Canadiens in the first round this year because it looks like our team is back to their old tricks of somehow/anyhow beating the Bruins even though they have no reasonable right to. I have a hazy memory that Red Fisher may have written a column – or 200 – on a certain infamous playoff series in 1971 when the dominant Bruins – hello Phil Esposito, Bobby Orr and Gerry Cheevers – were deep-sixed by an under-rated Canadiens squad featuring a chap between the pipes named Ken Dryden.

So is the Habs jinx back working again after a couple of seasons when it was in the repair shop? The jinx on the Bruins most certainly wasn’t working in 2011 when if there was any poetic justice, the good guys would’ve won to give the Bs some karmic payback for Zdeno Chara’s dangerous hit on Max Pacioretty that year. The Habs lost, in overtime, in game seven, in a heartbreaker. Even more heartbreaking, the Bruins went on to win the Cup that year, which is just not right by any defintion of the word ‘right’.

It’s funny how much we hate the Bruins eh? A friend was telling me how happy he was that Jarome Iginla went to the Penguins rather than the Bruins. Now logically Habs fans shouldn’t be happy that Iggy went to either of these Eastern Conference rivals given that Montreal has to battle it out with both clubs. But we’re just happy Boston was deprived of the star veteran. Hey sports fandom isn’t supposed to be rational.

So was Wednesday night a turning point? Was this game a game-changer? Or did Brendan Gallagher – my hero! – just get lucky putting that piece of rubber through Tuukka Rask’s five hole and the whole team get lucky when that big lunkhead Chara scored on his own net in the dying seconds of the game?

Me I don’t think luck had anything to do with it. The jinx is back in full operation. We’re in their heads.

http://video.canadiens.nhl.com/videocenter/console?hlg=20122013,2,488

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L816C7e4ej0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHLAJAv7MrY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c97rfV7c6f4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svrGmHahXVM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hK0l0XEW3Dw

The Bruins are sore losers

I have to say that’s the most pleasure I’ve had writing a headline in this space in ages. The Bruins are sore losers. Doesn’t that have a great ring to it? It’s right up there with my previous favourite – Gauthier must be fired now! (I liked that one so much I must’ve used it about a round dozen times last year!)

So Sunday night, the Habs come into Beantown and win maybe the most important game of the season so far. Montreal triumphed over the Bruins 4-3, coming from behind to boot (the B’s were up 3-2 coming into the third period). The result? Montreal is in first place in the Eastern Conference and they just stole two points from one of the teams that they’ll be battling with all year.

So what’s kindly old coach Claude Julien’s take on the loss? He says the game was all about embellishment, that the Habs were all pulling out their best thespian moves, faking like five-star Euro soccer players.

Here’s Bruins coach Julien’s take on the game: “It’s frustrating because tonight, as everybody saw, there’s a lot of embellishment. This is embarrassing for our game, the embellishing. And right now they’ve got over 100 power plays so far and it’s pretty obvious why. We’re trying to clean that out of our game, and its got to be done soon.”

What a joke! Actually I love it because it proves that Julien is so upset that he’s just making up crap to justify the fact his team lost this huge game. Embellishment? What about Zdeno Chara slamming his huge fist into Alexei Emelin’s metal-plated face for what seemed like 15 minutes? Julien defended that one too, saying he was happy to see his captain retaliate for Emelin’s harmless hit on Tyler Seguin. I am a big believer in retaliation – within reason.

If someone runs over Carey Price, I’m happy to see my man Brandon Prust go after him. But don’t try to destroy the guy for heaven’s sake. Someone tweeted – I can’t remember who – to say that Emelin was one punch away from having his career ended. That’s nuts. That shouldn’t be allowed. And what’s up with the refs just standing there watching that brutal violence? Again I don’t mind fighting and having the refs let them fight because most NHL fights are more choreographed than a Grands Ballets Canadiens performance. But when a guy is doing real damage to the other guy, step in and stop it man! And for Julien to say how much he liked Chara’s psychotic behaviour is just reprehensible.

To sum up – here’s what I’m trying to say to M. Julien: You lost pal. Suck it up. Take it like a man. Admit the Habs were a better team on this night. You tried to beat up the Habs and play the usual Boston Bullies game and Les Boys out-smarted you and out-skilled you. Oh one more thing, you might be familiar with this tune – cue the Habs victory song!

Na na na na, hey hey, good-bye!