Sorry about the lack of coverage of last night's game. I was in the city of Kyle McLaren's minor league exile for the night visiting some old college buddies and we hit the bottle harder than a Patrice Bergeron left-handed haymaker to the throat. Chances are that if you are reading this you watched the game or have already read a recap of the game some place else by now. So, I am not going to write my normal recap but just touch upon some of the bigger story lines in this game.
Paul Pierce and Gang Green fell short against the Chicago Bulls at the The Garden yesterday afternoon but the boys in Black & Gold restored the city of Boston's hopes with an impressive 5-1 victory over the hated Habs.
"Jesus Price" looks like a mere mortal
Carey Price looked very shaky in Game 2. After giving up 5 goals on 26 shots, the Montreal netminder was replaced by Jaroslav Halak after the second intermission. Halak stopped all 5 shots that he faced in the third period. I would not be surprised to see Halak get a start in one of the next two games up in Montreal.
Matt Hunwick misses game after having spleen removed
Rookie defenseman Matt Hunwick was rushed to Mass General by ambulance after feeling ill during a team meeting at the team's practice facility in Wilmington on Saturday morning. Hunwick's spleen had ruptured, forcing doctors at Mass General to perform a splenectomy. Hunwick will likely be on the shelf for the remainder of the playoffs. Andrew Ference, who has missed several games with an undisclosed injury made the trip with the team to Montreal for Games 3 and 4. If Ference can not play, the Bruins will call up a defenseman from Providence, likely Johnny Boychuk.
"I told we were looking forward to seeing him back around the team. He's going to spend a couple days in the hospital. He's feeling better. I told him there are things that are more important in life than a hockey game. It's taking care of himself. We're going to do our best to make this playoff series as long as we can so we can give him a chance to come back and participate with us again." - Claude Julien
Patrice Bergeron fights his own fight
You may recall that Josh Gorges slammed Patrice Bergeron from behind during a game late in the regular season after Bergeron scored a goal. Last night, Gorges threw a quick punch at Bergeron after finishing his hit on Begeron in the neutral zone. Begry decided that he had enough of Gorges' act and made the Habs defenseman accountable for his actions on the ice. Bergeron, who up until last night had never earned a fighting major in the NHL, more than held his own against Gorges.
Watch Claude Julien and Patrice Bergeron's reactions at Boston.com
Milan Lucic recieves match penalty for cross-check
Milan Lucic was initially given a game misconduct for what is being described by some as a cross-check on Maxim Lapierre but the officials later changed it to a match penalty, which means that the NHL will investigate the incident. No ruling has been made yet on any disciplinary actions but the NHL will likely rule on the a possible suspension sometime today. At first glance, it looks like a dirty move by Lucic but after watching the replay, it seemed like a reactionary move by Lucic who saw Lapierre coming at him hard from the blind side while he was engaged with Mathieu Schnieder. If Lucic gets suspended for this after there were no suspensions for the Montreal players' actions late in Game 1, there is something wrong. My question is why doesn't Mike Komisarek get a penalty for being the third man in? Lucic is tied up with Lapierre and Komisarek starts throwing body shots at Lucic.
Michael Ryder makes the Habs pay
Michael Ryder had a 2 point night against his former team and beat Carey Price top shelf with a quick snap shot. Nobody is calling this guy a one-dimensional player anymore and he certainly won't be watching from the press box this year.
Habs have a deep hole to climb out of
The Bruins are 24-6 all-time in playoff series after going up 2-0. Of course stats like this don't mean anything, but you have to feel like the Bruins are firmly in the driver's seat in this series.