Order Has Been Restored: Habs Shut out Bruins to End the Misery

Wait, it took HOW LONG?: The Habs move on in the playoffs, finally defeating the hated Bruins 4 games to 3. Based on the regular season, it shouldn't have taken that long for the 1st place team to dump an 8th place team they beat 8 straight this year, but all credit to Claude Julien and the Bruins, who outthought, outhit, outworked, and outplayed the Habs for arguably 5 of 7 games. If Montreal had lost this, it would have meant weeks of "what went wrong" articles, calls for Carbo's head, second-guessing of Gainey's deadline moves and non-moves, and taunts from opposing fans. Now we shake our heads, curse under our breath, and sweep the glass and debris off Ste. Catherine as we look forward to a hammering from the Rangers or a borderline assault from the goons in Philly.

Welcome Back, Tits. Have a nice vacation?:The series ends how it started, with the Brothers Tit scoring mere minutes apart in a dismantling of the Bruins. Nice of the boys to show up for games 1 and 7 ... apparently there was some sort of Belarussian holiday the week of games 2 thru 6. Seriously, though, those two need to stop disappearing in games against the B's. Although last night ...

I saw the future, and it is good: Kovy and Koivu are still the engines making this team go, and bless em for it, but they won't be around forever. That's why the sight of Pleks and the Brothers Tits scoring goals, passing it around on the powerplay, and skating circles around Bruins was a very, very good thing to see. That's a potentially lethal top line for the next ten years if everyone stays on their current trajectories, folks. And the second line can be anchored by ...

Why, Mr. Christopher Higgins! So Glad You Could Join Us: Panger's Recently Reacquired Boy Higgins seems to have finally shaken off the malaise that plagued him almost all season, and what great timing. Higgins played a blinder last night and was the best player on the ice in my opinion. Thank goodness. A fired up Higgins/Koivu/Kovalev line and a flying Pleks/Tits/Tits line could give the Rangers or Flyers fits.

Zdeno Chara is a big dumb jackass: Deked out of his shorts by Streit on the second goal, in the box for the backbreaking powerplay that lead to Big Tits goal to make it 3-0, a number of missed chances throughout the series ... yep, that's money well spent by the B's. It got to the point in this series where I thought Milan Lucic or Phil Kessel should have been getting the "boo every time he touches the puck" treatment because Chara offered very little menace or threat to the Habs.

And your little sidekick too: Overheard by HF10 when the Brad Boyes/Dennis Wideman trade was being discussed between an NHL scout and another party:

Other Party: Brad Boyes sure doesn't suck.

NHL Scout: Dennis Wideman sure does.

That is all.

And a child shall lead them: Carey Price bounces back in a big way. Comparisons to Dryden and Roy to continue in mainstream media until further notice.

And yet, I fear the worst: Savard/Lucic/Kessel is a scary proposition to think about for the next few years (at least until Lucic injures himself a la Cam Neely and Kessel is shipped out West because he's too expensive). Add a few better defenders and Tuuka Rask to this team, and suddenly the Bruins are causing trouble in the top half of the East. Fuck. Well, at least we know Jeremy Jacobs will be too cheap to get them any help come trade deadline so they'll still go out in Round 1.

Lucky tie Lucky tie Lucky tie!: It's ugly, but it works. Much like most of the Bruins. (Booyah! I'll be here all week. Tip your waitress.)

Sorry to disappoint you all: Leaf fans all over rejoiced in the Sens early demise and were all excited about a potential Canadiens collapse. They remain disappointed but optimistic that the Habs will go out quickly in round 2. What they don't seem to get is that for a team everyone earmarked for out of the playoffs, this whole season so far has been a bonus ... with the promise of a young, talented, exciting team WITH some playoff experience coming back next year. It's been a fun ride already no matter what happens next ... something our disappointed Blue and White brethren can't say. But don't worry. Brian Burke will save them (just as soon as someone else builds him a farm system ... what?)

Who do you want?: Depending on the outcome of Ovie vs the Bullies tonight, the Habs get home ice versus the Rangers or the Flyers next. The Rangers might be the hottest team in the league right now, with all their talent gelling at the right time. The Flyers youngsters are always tough, and Danny Briere is starting to earn some of his keep. Both sets of lunatic fans will flood our message boards and make stupid comments (our friend Nadine excepted.) Any preferences? I think if the Rangers/Habs can recreate the awesome that was their regular season matchups, they might have the series of the entire postseason. And I think that's where we're headed. Look for Bettman to pull a David Stern and do everything possible to match Crosby vs Ovechkin and New York vs Montreal for the networks.