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I don’t get many text messages from October through April. I’m just not that popular. But, oh boy, if you could see my inbox since the Boston Bruins eliminated the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday. “Hey Ty, when does the series against the Montreal Canadiens start?” By Monday, without a clue really, my answer was simple. “Eventually, I think.” But late Tuesday night, midway through a Philadelphia win over New York that forces a Wednesday night Game 7 between the two rivals, the Bruins-Canadiens series schedule (finally) hit. Game 1, Thursday night, 7:30 p.m. at Boston’s TD Garden.
You ready? My God, who isn’t at this point?
Complete schedule:
Game 1: Thursday, May 1st, 7:30 p.m. at TD Garden.
Game 2: Saturday, May 3rd, 12:30 p.m. at TD Garden.
Game 3: Tuesday, May 6th, 7:00 p.m. at Bell Centre.
Game 4: Thursday, May 8th, 7:00 p.m. at Bell Centre.
Game 5: Saturday, May 10th, TBD at TD Garden.
Game 6: Monday, May 12th, TBD at Bell Centre.
Game 7: Wednesday, May 14th, TBD at TD Garden.
Some early thoughts on the schedule? Hits and misses, really.
A Thursday start? Thank the heavens. I’m not sure that I could handle yet another day of previews and sports talk radio pump-up montages. Just get it all started, man. We don’t need anymore teasers. It’s like Godzilla. I’ve had enough of the trailers. Just let me watch Walter White (I’m only on Season 3 still, so no spoilers please) try to fight the government fight Godzilla fight some monsters already.
It’s probably the best option for the teams too, all things considered. Northeastern University will have their graduation ceremony at the Garden early Friday afternoon, so having the teams start that night would give them both some of the worst ice they’ve ever skated on. Given the Garden’s already mediocre ice conditions -- it’s a constant gripe for visitors come playoff time -- avoiding a slowed down, mucked up game between two teams off for almost a full week seems like an easy call. And a Saturday start would probably be too late for the league’s liking, especially with the Bruins’ first round series starting later than any of the other seven first round battles.
But hey, about that Saturday game…
By now, everybody seems to know my thoughts on day games. And if you don’t, let me enlighten you: I think they’re awful. I don’t see how the game will be grown with 12:30 start times. If it’s springtime in your area and you’re a casual sports fan or new to the game of hockey, the absolute last thing you’re doing at 12:30 p.m. on a weekend is staying inside and watching a sport you’re not familiar with. You’d be straight up dumb to not enjoy the sunshine, especially if you’re in a region that’s just coming off being pounded with the longest winter in recent memory (Hi, Boston here).
NBC does a huge disservice to the NHL and itself by constantly sticking marquee matchups in this wasteland of a time-slot. I mean, just look at the Stadium Series game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Chicago Blackhawks that was played at 8 p.m. on a Saturday night. That was the talk of the town!
If I were NBC, I’d be putting that Bruins-Canadiens game right on after the Kentucky Derby. I mean, worst case scenario here: People leave their TVs on after the tiny men beat up some horses in front of a crowd of people in really big hats, and they’re suddenly tuned in to the league’s biggest rivalry in front of a rowdy Boston crowd. I wouldn’t turn that off, but that’s just me. (I really can’t pretend to understand how a person watching horse racing thinks, so please don’t hold this against me.)
But the door on a Saturday night Game 2 showing isn’t out of the question just yet, either.
Personally, I’m hoping for a night game here. Hockey Night in Canada? Enough said.
One more schedule note-- Was anybody else’s PTSD triggered by the date of a potential Game 7? May 14th? Basically the worst date in the history of this modern era of Bruins hockey.
Scott Walker and the Hurricanes eliminated the Bruins on May 14th, 2009.
Simon Gagne and the Flyers completed their comeback from 0-3 down in the series (and Game 7) to eliminate the Bruins in Game 7 on May 14th, 2010. You don’t want to see a Game 7 on May 14th, 2014, really.
Oh God, I’m having another flashback of Walker scoring. Please call me an ambulance or a pizza.
On the ice, these are two teams that just sliced and diced their first round foes, really. Montreal handled Tampa Bay’s backup goaltender and AHL goaltender in four games, while the Bruins torched the carcass formerly known as the Red Wings up in four straight after dropping Game 1 by an 0-1 final. I think both of those series were surprising when you look at what most expected when they got underway. I thought Tampa would lose, definitely, but with much more resistance. Same for Detroit.
But did anybody
really think we weren’t destined for another Boston-Montreal playoff series, especially when
Milan Lucic called
Alexei Emelin a chicken following the final regular season game between the two Atlantic Division rivals? There was probably more hate in that one game than the entire previous three years of B’s/Habs hockey. Everyone needed more.
And now we have more.
“We were mediocre against them during the year, but they’re a team that has given us trouble historically, so it will be a challenge,” Boston general manager
Peter Chiarelli admitted on Monday. “That way — much is said about their size and their speed and allegedly, that’s what gives us problems. I think that’s part of it. I think it’s just sometimes, you just don’t have success against [a team] sometimes. Having said that, that applied to Detroit, too, so you see what happens with that. They’ve got some speedy forwards, they made themselves better with [Thomas] Vanek, that line has had some success with Max Pacioretty and[David Desharnais. Their goalie is good — very good.
“So it’ll be a real interesting series, I think. Despite the common belief that speed kills, I think we’ve shown that we have some speed and we have some size and we have experience, so it will be a challenge but I think we’ll overcome that challenge.”
“We have speed and we have heaviness and we have a little bit of a chip on our shoulder because of this label that we have,” Chiarelli continued, touching on the idea that the B’s are too slow for the Canadiens. “I understand where it’s come from, I understand when you bring it up in the context of the [Red] Wings and now the Canadiens because they are. They’re both fast teams. It’s about closing gaps more quickly, it’s about establishing a forecheck and leaning on guys, it’s about our special teams — both PK and PP has been outstanding. We maintain that and we’re going to have success.”
Taking three of four from the B’s in 2013-14, and six of eight since
Michel Therrien took over behind the bench last season, the Canadiens are a club that have certainly crawled into the Bruins’ head, exposing Boston’s lack of discipline throughout their regular season meetings.
That’ll obviously have to change if the Bruins are going to find success beyond the second round.
“So discipline, power play, all that stuff — that’s significant, from a global perspective. That’s significant,” said Chiarelli. “There seems to be a lot more penalties called this year in the playoffs, and I would expect that won’t change, so we have to be disciplined.”
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • 
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