The Philadelphia Flyers downed the New York Islanders 6-4 tonight in Philly to clinch the Atlantic Division and the #2 spot in the Eastern Conference, which locks the Bruins into third place in the East. Meanwhile up in Toronto, the Montreal Canadiens beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1 to stake claim to the #6 seed in the East setting up a first round match-up between the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens.
This will be the third time in four seasons that the these familiar foes have met in the first round and the fifth time since 2002. The first round series between the B's and Habs will mark the 33rd time the two Original 6 teams have met in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The NHL will announce the schedule for the opening round playoff series tomorrow night.
Some things we have to look forward to in this series:
- Montreal fans and media complaining about how the Bruins are a bunch of goons.
- Hundreds (possibly thousands) of annoying Euro-trash wannabe Habs fans invading The Hub boasting about Cups that were won long before they were born.
- The possibility of Zdeno Chara doing a perp walk at a Montreal court house.
- More unintentional comedy from the delightfully out of touch Pat Hickey.
- The possibility that Jack Edwards' head will explode on live television.
- A tripping call that leads to 3,000 phone calls to the Montreal Police Department.
- Misguided Nationalism by both fan bases.
- Habs fans acting like they have never been to the playoffs before (ie: torching police cars) after a win in a first round playoff series.
- Mike Felger stirring up trouble with Tony "Meatball" Marinaro.
- Carey Price hitting the wall after starting 72 games this season.
- Great stories about naive Habs fans trying to get a beer at Sully's or The Penalty Box.
- The most talk about turnbuckles since Summer Slam '89.
- 2 great Original 6 franchises with passionate fans going at it in the playoffs!