When I asked Steve Begin if the Bruins had seen the Canadiens best at all in this series, he responded in a frustrated tone: “Nope, we’re not playing our game, we’re not skating, and we’re not doing what we’re supposed to do.”

How will you remedy that?
“We gotta start playing hockey right now, because were going to Boston and it’s not going to be easy,” said Begin shaking his head.

The Montreal Canadiens got off to the exact start they wanted in this game. They had Tim Thomas scrambling. They got an inspiring goal from Alex Kovalev who had been knocked around earlier in the shift only to get up and become the aggressor. They kept Boston’s chances to the outside with the exception of their final one, which Carey Price made a miraculous play on.

But, unfortunately for the Canadiens, Carey Price’s heroics in the final seconds of the 1st period were the beginning of their demise in this hockey game. The Boston Bruins won all the little races from that point forward, forcing Montreal into penalties, leading to two powerplay goals that eventually put this game out of reach.

Montreal’s powerplay, which steamrolled the Bruins at a success rate of almost 30% during the regular season, came up with another stale effort. Why, you may ask? “We’re not working, bottom line,” offers Guy Carbonneau. I suppose there’s an easy solution to that problem…

Phil Kessel got back into action, and with one swift motion of his stick scored the equalizer on the powerplay, 7:45 into the second period. Sweet vindication for Kessel who had been sat out from games 2,3, and 4. The goal came on his only shot of the night. Claude Julien felt Kessel’s effort throughout 12:32 of icetime was as good as he could’ve hoped for. “When a player comes back from being out, you hope he makes an impact,” said Julien about his young star, after the game.

The Boston Bruins pumped four goals past Carey Price in the third period. What started off as a safe 1-1 hockey game, ended as a 1-sided affair after Glen Metropolit scored his 1st goal in 33 games, off of a terrible miscommunication between Carey Price and Maxim Lapierre. "I just picked up the puck, and saw Max there," said Price, "I didn't see the guy come in behind him, and he chopped it from Max and that was it." We all know what happened next.

Metropolit was one of five Boston players to score their first goals of the series last night. The insurance marker, scored on the powerplay came from Zdeno Chara, slapping his patented one-timer from the off-point, right by Carey Price’s glove. When asked about his teammates’, and his own, first offensive contributions to this series he said: “We just want to win hockey games as a team. It’s a great feeling when you do it as a team.”

So there you have it. The story of game 5 was a terrible let down for Carey Price and the Montreal Canadiens, as the Bruins take momentum back to Boston for game 6. No one anticipated this series would play out the way it has, but nonetheless here we are. In 2003-04 the Canadiens made history, coming back from a 3-1 series deficit for their first time. In their history, they’ve never surrendered a 3-1 series lead. You can be rest assured that Guy Carbonneau will do everything possible to prevent making history in that regard, this year.

Join the Discussion: » Comments » Post New Comment

» Heartbreak> Brian Bannan

» Game 3 Preview: Brian Bannan

» Will the Real Habs Please Step Forward? by Andrew Wright

» Game 2 recap- Jennifer Berzan Cutler

» New Habs Blog> M.R. d'Awe