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| Boston Bruins |
Boston Bruins Logo - Call it fate or a term more familiar to the folks here, a fait accompli, but there was no way this Eastern Conference playoff series between the Bruins and the Montreal Canadiens wasn’t going to Game 7. The final act of this pucks passion play will play out on Wednesday night at TD Garden. The Bruins and their fans were no doubt hoping to avoid such a dramatic development by winning Game 6 in Montreal. The Canadiens squeezed another game out of the series with a 4-0 victory Monday night at the Bell Centre and poured cold water on the notion that the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Bruins would escape without being taken to edge of elimination.
Torey Krug, under duress from Montreal’s Brian Gionta, tried to reverse his position and backhand a pass off the boards to defense partner Kevan Miller. The puck took a bizarre bounce, Miller couldn’t corral it, and it slid out front for Montreal as if it had been delivered via UPS.
Montreal goalie Carey Price (26 saves) stopped Patrice Bergeron at the right post. Newly-inserted defenseman Nathan Beaulieu got the puck and sent a saucer pass down the ice.
It was the first goal of the series for Pacioretty.
Bruin-killer Thomas Vanek, unmarked, did the honors.
The Bruins were buried under an avalanche of Bleu, Blanc, et Rouge desperation.
The Bruins’ best game washed the Canadiens out of the rink in Game 5. In Game 6, it was the Canadiens who poured it on.
This game is gone. Miller said the Bruins would let the loss go by midnight. Krejci played better in this one and was in the middle of several scoring chances, but he still remains a Blank Czech in these playoffs — zero goals in 11 games. It was during the infamous 1971 upset of the Big, Bad Bruins that Canadiens forward Frank Mahovlich said, “With the Canadiens, pride is instilled even in the ratholes of the Forum.”
It’s about Game 7 now.”
