Montreal losing steam
Gritty Bruins able to get back on track
The Montreal Express kept rolling past the Bruins in the regular season, during eight victories in which its opponents showed scarcely more than a flicker of life. Through two playoff wins in Montreal, a series-opening, 4-1 drubbing of the Bruins, then Saturday's overtime win, the train kept chugging.
The train rolled into North Station last night, but instead of continuing along its path to the Stanley Cup, for one night at least, the hard-working Bruins knocked them off the puck, and off the rails.
Marc Savard's strike at 9:25 of overtime was the capper of the best Black-and-Gold effort this season. For two consecutive games, the Bruins have shown they are no longer Montreal's whipping boys. And now, the Canadiens will try to seize back momentum in tomorrow's Game 4.
"It's tough, but we know we are not going to win all of them," said Montreal goalie Carey Price, who followed up Saturday's 37-save effort with 29 stops. "They deserved to win that one. Kudos to them for bearing down when they got their chance. They buried the one that we didn't."
The odds are still against the Bruins, but they look much better this morning than they did yesterday morning. Boston has never come back from a 2-0 playoff deficit (0-31 in franchise history), but the Bruins are 7-24 when trailing a series, 2-1.
"It's not regular season anymore. They're playing for their lives," said Montreal's Bryan Smolinski. "They're playing harder, that's it."
The Bruins were the aggressors last night from the first period. They made Price work, barreled into Canadiens defensemen on the forecheck, and created offense with focused, crisp passing.
It was an effort that had the fans shaking cobwebs from the rafters of TD Banknorth Garden, ones that had been collecting since the last Bruins home win in the playoffs - a 2-1 victory in Game 2 of the 2004 first round against Montreal.
Though the rivals were once again battling in Boston, Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau said it didn't feel like the old Garden.
"I don't remember having that many fans from Montreal," he said. "They didn't have the courage to wear their jersey here."
Still, the Bruins fed off the crowd as much as Montreal did in the first two games of the series.
"Obviously the fans and the ambience made it tough on [Boston in Game 1]," said Carbonneau. "We took advantage of the chances we had early, and the game was almost over then. We haven't been able to do that the last two games, but we've still been able to come back and play a better game after.
"Right now the momentum is on their side. We'll regroup, and come back strong."
The Bruins put 10 straight losses to Montreal this season behind them, and grabbed momentum with a snarl. Despite the legion of Bruins fans with awakened hopes, Carbonneau denied feeling that this is a new Bruins team.
"They're playing a better game right now," he said. "They have confidence in themselves because they beat us once. There's still a lot of games left."
For the Bruins, that's a welcome line from the opposing coach, because there will be at least two games left for the Bruins. For one night, they derailed the Montreal juggernaut, earning themselves another ticket to ride on that old, rusty track toward the Cup.
