VS

The Bruins rolled into "Le Centre Bell" for their first game of the season against the hated Canadiens, and probably would have preferred that they missed their flight. On a nationally televised game (or, perhaps more specifically, a game on Versus) the Bruins were outplayed in nearly every aspect of the game. I missed most of the first half of the game, and caught it with the B's down 2-0. Manny Fernandez got the start again, and, to be honest, I don't fault him for 4 of the 6 goals that were scored on him. The first two goals were scored off of faceoffs on which he had little chance, the third was on a 2 on 1, the fourth was on a well executed power play, the fifth was another 2 on 1, and the sixth was on another power play.

Fernandez, I think, should have saved the third and the sixth. Though the third was on an odd-man rush, the pass went right through Fernandez' crease, probably an inch from his pads. Had he simply attempted to stop the pass or poke the puck away, it never would have found its way onto Steve Begin's stick. The other one he should have saved was the sixth goal. Even though it was a nice wrist shot, it was, after all, simply a wrist shot that Fernandez didn't stop. He left an opening over his shoulder, and let the Habs get their sixth goal of the night.

As for the Bruins, there wasn't much to be proud of in this game. Claude Julien was right when he called the game "humbling", as their 4 game winning streak was quickly and violently snapped. The power play was OK, keeping up the pressure, but they couldn't hit the net at all. They didn't really challenge Cristobal Huet much, though he did make a spectacular save on Glen Murray, who admitted that he misfired badly on the puck. Milan Lucic nearly changed the game around in the third, as he made a great individual play: he took the puck through center ice into the Montreal zone, absorbed a hit, kept the puck and unleashed a laser from the slot that beat Huet, but struck the post and bounced away. Zdeno Chara then couldn't keep the puck in the zone on the ensuing rebound, and the Canadiens scored their fifth goal on the odd-man rush that followed. It was a 2 goal swing that locked up a game that was essentially over anyways.

The Bruins need to play much better in their defensive zone, and really need to work on faceofffs. No, one can't expect them to win every faceoff, but at least don't lose them so cleanly, as Marc Savard did on the two Habs goals. They also need to work on hitting the net more with their shots, which I'm sure will come with practice. Claude Julien most likely didn't take kindly to the blowout, and I'm sure the team was worked hard this week. Let's hope they come up with a better showing the Thursday's second original six matchup of the season, this time against the Chicago Blackhawks.

GOALS:

Bo
ston- Dennis Wideman (1)

Montreal- Chris Higgins (3), Alexei Kovalev (4), Steve Begin (1), Patrice Brisebois (1), Mikhail Grabovski (1), Andrei Markov (3)

SAVES:

Boston- Manny Fernandez, 14 saves on 20 shots

Montreal- Cristobal Huet, 31 saves on 32 shots

NEXT GAME: Thursday, October 25 vs. Chicago Blackhawks, 7:00 PM EST