Canadiens Vs. Bruins, Game 2: Habs Lead 2-0 After First Period

The Montreal Canadiens lead the Boston Bruins 2-0, thanks to a couple of terrible mistakes early in the first period. Boston came out slow and sloppy, and Montreal has made them play the price. Since the two early goals, Boston has looked better, but they’re suffering from the same problems that caused them to get shut out in Game 1.

It only took 43 seconds for the Habs to jump out in front, thanks to some heads up play by James Wisniewski. The defenseman made a great neutral zone interception shortly following a faceoff, then carried the puck into the offensive zone and ripped a wrist shot towards the goal from just inside of the blue line. Tim Thomas saved the shot, but his rebound control was poor. The puck fell right to Michael Cammalleri, who was crashing the net, and he tapped it in to make it 1-0.

Just a couple minutes later, with 17:30 left in the period, the Habs scored their second just six seconds into a power play. The visitors picked up a man advantage when Dennis Seidenberg committed a silly and unnecessary interference penalty, and his team paid the price. Just after the faceoff, Andrew Ference committed a terrible giveaway, throwing the puck behind the net towards a waiting Cammalleri. The man who scored the first goal picked up the puck, came out from behind the net, and centered for a waiting Mathieu Darche, who scored to make it 2-0 to the Habs. Does that error happen if Zdeno Chara is in the game? Probably not.

Boston tried to pick up the pace to recover from their early deficit, creating a good shot for Milan Lukic just after the second goal, but Carey Price made a fantastic save to keep up his team’s momentum.

As the period wore on, Boston had more of the puck and gradually looked like a better team, but their offensive play was sloppy. Even in their good periods, they’re suffering from the same problems as they had in game one. They have plenty of shots on the box score, but they’re not quality shots, and the Bruins are struggling as a team to get bodies to the net. Besides the one great save on Lukic, they’re not really making Carey Price work that hard. Additionally, they’re consistently getting out-toughed and out-hustled by the Habs. Right now, the Bruins do not look like a team who are in a mental state to win a playoff series.