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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
