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Playoffs - Day 13

Patrice Bergeron isn't expected to play. The rumors were stoked yesterday when the CBC's Hockey Night in Canada utilized a Claude Julien quote to infer Bergie's likely return. Today however, Julien said Bergie's not likely, Patrice skated for an extra 30 minutes or so after the morning skate, which would strongly suggest he's not playing, and Peter Chiarelli, although refusing to give us the definitive answer until game time (keep Montreal guessing I guess), led us to believe it wasn't going to happen. Again, compromising Bergeron's health in any manner is not an option.

All that aside, the line-up which has brought the Bruins to the brink of a first round series win will remain intact for Game-7. There will be nerves on both sides. When asked about how long in a game it takes to get over the nerves of a Game-7 (from when he was a player) Guy Carbonneau said "about sixty minutes". Funny, but I'm sure true. The tighter the score remains, the tighter everyone could potentially get. Hopefully the players aren't thinking about it too much, they're just reacting. Leave the angst to the rest of us.

All the history lessons point to a Montreal win. You'll hear about the various tidbits during our coverage to put it in perspective. Fortunately, history has no direct affect on the play on the ice tonight.,

Pre-game coverage begins at 6 pm this evening on NESN. We'll have some good stuff from the rink. Enjoy it. Hold on tight. There's nothing like the NHL playoffs and there's nothing like a game-7 especially in hockey. A great combination. All the best.

RS