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Some nights, the puck just doesn’t bounce your way.
For living proof of that, you can look at the Boston Bruins Game 6 showing against the Montreal Canadiens. You can take your pick, too. Whether it’s Kevan Miller’s heinous turnover 2:11 into the first that gave Lars Eller and the Habs an easy 1-0 lead. Or maybe when a pop-fly goal was denied by David Desharnais -- faceplant and all -- saved a would-be goal from crossing the red without taking his hand off his stick. And when the puck isn’t going your way, you have to find ways to make it happen while limiting the damage at your end of the rink.
In a 4-0 defeat at the Bell Centre, despite prolonged second period stretches of chances and strong movement in the Montreal end, the Bruins did not do that.
But maybe that should’ve been known when Loui Eriksson rang crossbar -- the 10th post-shot by a Bruin this series -- mere moments after Miller’s own-zone blooper.
Or when the Bruins, in search of the series-ending victory and riding the momentum of two huge wins, opened up their night with just three shots in the first 14 minutes of the first period.
The B’s simply weren’t up to the task of matching Montreal’s three-zone effort.
Even when the Bruins found an opportunity by way of P.K. Subban’s second period penalty, they failed to make it worth anything on the scoreboard. Pinning the Habs deep in their own zone, the Bruins possessed the puck well through Subban’s penalty, and even forced No. 76 to skate in his own zone as a forward for well beyond an appropriate timeframe in the eyes of Michel Therrien.
Still, nothing found its way through Carey Price and the Hab defense. Not a single thing.
Even when the Bruins poured the pressure on, fortunate bounces out of the Montreal zone put Max Pacioretty in a race with Zdeno Chara for a loose puck, and ultimately in the back of the net when there seemed to be a definite freeze on the part of Tuukka Rask. 135 seconds after that, with Gregory Campbell in the box and Miller on top of Rask, Thomas Vanek struck with his third goal of the series, beating Rask with a backhander.
Holding a 3-0 edge after two, a Wednesday night winner-take-all seemed to be a definite. An empty netter from Vanek 16 minutes into the third secured your plans for that night, too.
But naturally, the night wouldn’t be complete without some ‘message sending’ from the B’s.
Agitated with a spear -- the NHL’s newest epidemic, along with water bottle squirting -- Chara wanted a piece with Montreal’s Andrei Markov, Mike Weaver, or anybody looking at him the wrong way. That prompted Milan Lucic and Jarome Iginla to get in on the action, going at Weaver at once, and then with Iginla ragdolling Markov around.
You understand the emotional aspect of it all, but my goodness, did that look ridiculous.
For Boston, the game was decided. They were losing. They were going back home for a Game 7. There’s just no need to act like you have to make a statement against a Montreal team whose pace you really couldn’t match for almost a 60 full minutes. You had your chance, and you failed to show up.
Obvious credit goes to Price's play and a Habs club that blocked 20 shots, but was this a game where you saw the same attitude that let the Bruins run all over the Canadiens on Saturday? Absolutely not.
Gooning it up in the final minute of play wasn’t going to change that.
So, just like that, the Bruins are heading to their ninth Game 7 under Claude Julien. And while this is far from unfamiliar territory for the Bruins, Julien had some parting thoughts on the club's Game 6 disappointment.
From CBS Boston:
“We’re perceived as the bad guys and they’re the good guys,… Julien said. “When Markov trips Chara and then he puts his stick between his legs and nothing’s going to be called, eventually somebody’s going to react. So whether it’s right or wrong, Zdeno reacted and then everything else started. And there was a slewfoot before — [David] Desharnais on [Brad] Marchand. It’s a slewfoot. Those are things that we keep talking about that are dangerous in our game.…Julien then quickly noted that in no way was he saying his team hasn’t also engaged in physical behavior that occasionally crosses the line.
“It’s a rivalry and there’s some things going on both sides,… Julien said. “I’m not portraying ourselves as innocent here. I’m just saying it takes two teams to tango, and that’s what happened.…
I honestly like the admission from Julien that ‘it takes two’, because that’s exactly right.
Right or wrong, the Bruins really can’t sit there and complain about Markov’s spear in the same postseason where there’s a video of Milan Lucic trying to neuter Danny DeKeyser. If you remember, just about every Bruin declined to comment on Lucic’s incident or said they didn’t see it. And even before that, Lucic’s perceived spear on Alexei Emelin late in the regular season certainly seemed to be regenerate the hate between these two Original Six combatants.
And it’s tough to harp on the Montreal fans throwing trash at Lucic, Chara, and Shawn Thornton when the Garden crowd was doing the same thing after Game 1’s double-OT loss.
Your glass house is pretty worthless this time of year, and that’s not a one-way comment.
In the playoffs, everybody on the ice and in the stands does something stupid.
Proof:
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) May 13, 2014(Man, if that isn't the most eyeroll-inducing tweet of the season...)
This will be the third Game 7 between the Bruins and Canadiens since the 2008 playoffs.
The heavily favored Habs won the Game 7 in 2008, while the B's sunk Montreal by way of an overtime goal from Nathan Horton in Game 7 overtime in 2011.