The Montreal Canadiens will be the only team to sweep their opponent in the first round after an LA Kings 6-3 win last night over the San Jose Sharks.
Although the Kings certainly played with more intensity and team effort than previous games displayed, I still don't get the feeling that they are ready to outperform or knock out this particular Sharks team and the way they’ve been playing.
I have really got to give San Jose credit this year as they were matched up against a tough Kings squad who have experienced more “success… in the playoffs in recent years. That said, the two teams were fairly close in the standings coming into the playoffs and as I predicted, could go either way. And while that wasn’t exactly a solid prediction by any means, I made mention that my gut feeling was toward the Sharks taking the win given how they ended the regular season.
Where San Jose has dominated so far this series has been in their own end. The team has been able to successively keep the puck and the play, for the most part, to the outside while also suffocating their opponents down low with constant pressure. Last night, though I don’t feel they deviated too much from this, San Jose would not be as fortunate.
Despite a big 6-3 win for the Kings, I still maintain that the Sharks are the stronger team at the moment between the two. I felt that the Kings simply had a few “lucky… bounces last night and the play seemed to go their way in instances where nothing much would normally produce – see Williams tip-in goal off the end boards, great goal…but that doesn’t happen very often.
Anyways, I’ve really enjoyed this series and it’s a shame that the Western Conference has games like these including the Blues and Hawks matchups which could be Stanley Cup final type series given their commit levels.
And on that note - Am I alone in feeling that the Western Conference has been so much more interesting to watch than has been the Eastern Conference games?
I don’t know where the problem lies, but I don’t get the feeling that the players are sharing the same excitement or intensity levels between the two conferences despite how close many of the games have been. As I mentioned before, the Habs and Bolts series was (at least I felt) somewhat boring to watch. Tampa didn’t seemingly show up for most of the periods played, and the Habs play more of a finesse and speed game than gritty, in your face, type playoff game.
And while we’re on that subject, I do not feel that the Canadiens stand a chance against this current Boston Bruins team (provided they advance of course). While there is much credit to be given to Montreal for sweeping the Lightning in addition to the fact that they should be well rested, I cannot envision them winning more than a game…maybe two…against the Bruins.
Many feel that the Canadiens can and will compete as they argue that the Bruins are nothing more than a big, gritty, slow moving team which Montreal will upset using their speed. Well here's the thing - they're really not a one dimensional team.
The Bruins are built for the playoffs, despite how many of you can't stand them. The have the right level of pugnacity, grit, specialty teams, goal-tending, and one of the biggest pests in the league in Brad Marchand. They will be able to keep up to the speed game of the Habs, but the Habs won't be able to match their puck strength.
I’ve been reading a lot of reviews toward this Montreal group, and there seem to be a lot of pundits who feel that with the way they played, they could take the Bruins to game seven and who knows, maybe even knock them out!
Sorry folks, but I truly think a lot of fans are going to be disappointed if they feel that the Canadiens can knock out the Bruins or take them to game seven. Mark my words - Habs won't get past game seven against Boston, I will print out this entire blog and eat every piece of it if I’m wrong!
Just to get an idea of what the rest of you think, please take a second to poll the Canadiens vs Bruins matchup below!
Thanks for reading!