The Canadiens Force to 7

Last night was a night for the Montreal Canadiens. Down 3-2 in the series, they needed to find some way to give themselves a chance to get back into the series and send this thing back to Boston.

They ultimately got their wish as they held off the Boston Bruins in Game 6 with a big 2-1 win and forcing a Game 7 that happens tonight in Boston. Mike Cammalleri and Brian Gionta scored on 5-on-3 powerplay chances and Carey Price held the net and made 31 saves in arguably one of his best performances in the playoff series so far.

The Bruins had a really tough time closing it out in Montreal and like I said in an earlier post, teams that go into Montreal usually have a tough time playing, either getting close wins or losing by one or two goals in a game in which the Canadiens controlled the entire ice from start to finish. Milan Lucic of the Bruins received a misconduct in the loss. He has over one hundred penalty minutes and among the players with 100+ penalty minutes, only Ducks player Corey Perry has more points than Lucic.



The Canadiens are 6-1 in playoff games where they have faced elimination and no doubt they'll be hoping to get the win tonight when they face the Boston Bruins again in back-to-back games, this time being Game 7. Will the Canadiens fire in on all cylinders tonight facing elimination? I think they have that shot. They showed Boston what happens when they face elimination and the Bruins took that bait. Now they'll have to hope they can close things out at home.

The goaltending of both teams will be the difference maker in Game 7, as both Tim Thomas and Carey Price have shown they know what it takes to win a Game 7 in hockey. This is the 8th Game 7 meeting between these two Original Six rivals and there's no doubt it's going to be this intense, so the goaltending is definitely the key in this game.

Offense and defensive woes have been problems for both these teams in several games in the series, so it looks like these problems will be addressed for both teams. At least Game 7 won't be in Montreal because last night after a disallowed goal, Canadiens fans were given a warning about a minor penalty if they delayed the game any longer. At least in Boston they don't throw stuff like that.

Game 7 is tonight. Will the Bruins move on? Or will the Canadiens finally take the series and move on to the semifinals. Anything is possible tonight, puckheads. All we need to do is sit back and watch the show.