'Slay the dragon'

GM Peter Chiarelli spoke for approximately 20 minutes this afternoon to address the upcoming series against Montreal.

"We have to face up to slay the dragon, so to speak," said Chiarelli.

Tentatively, Chiarelli's been informed that the series will start on Thursday in Montreal with Game 2 taking place on Saturday. It would return to Boston for Game 3 on Sunday and Game 4 on Tuesday.

* Chiarelli expressed confidence in Tim Thomas being the No. 1 goalie. "I think he's playing very well," Chiarelli said. "The thing we tried to manage this year was overplaying him. He tends to get busy in net. Tim recognizes that. He's been a lot more calm lately, squaring to shooters and being in the proper position to handle rebounds. He's had a very good year. I'm confident in his play as of late."

* No definite word on the availability of Patrice Bergeron and Marc Savard for the series. Bergeron is scheduled to meet his neurologist tomorrow. "He's progressing in the current play that we're in, and he's progressing well," Chiarelli said. "He may return for this round. He may return for the next round if there is one. He may not return at all. He has made a lot of progress, but we have to treat this condition very carefully." Chiarelli said Savard is close.

* Chiarelli on first-year netminder Carey Price: "We have to get him moving and get the puck high. He's very big. He's a pads-down, blocker-down goalie. We have to get pucks high, get him moving, and keep pucks away from him on dump-ins and hard-arounds. He's going to have pressure. He's young and it's his first NHL playoff series. We have to get in his head in a variety of ways."

* Chiarelli will not call up any "Black Aces" from Providence as extra bodies.