(3) Boston Bruins
(6) Montreal Canadiens
The Bruins had a very stellar regular season, finishing with the second highest goal differential in the league (+55) next to only Vancouver (+77). Tim Thomas set an all time record for save percentage and the team easily secured the Northeast Division title. The Bruins continued to play well all season and have shown consistency where many other teams had very up and down years.
The Canadiens played Carey Price hard this season and he responded with a great year leading the Habs to the 6th spot in the East. A team that I think overachieved once again, especially after losing Markov early in the season, will once again have a chance at another cinderella story, but this time Carey Price will need to lead the charge. For the Habs sake hopefully Carey is not too tired from the playoff push throughout the season to play as well as Halak did last season. This season Price played 72 games, while Halak played only 45 last season before the impressive playoff run. Another disheartening stat for the Habs is that Price has not won in his last 8 playoff starts.
The Bruins are a much bigger team than the Canadiens and this should provide them with a very important advantage in the first round playoff series. Lucic, Horton and Krejci are a very big line that the Canadiens have had trouble controlling throughout the season. If these 3 players can continue to produce at the pace they have against the Canadiens the Bruins should run rampant over the Canadiens. Not to mention the smarts and experience of Patrice Bergeron and Mark Recchi, while Zdeno Chara and recent acquisition Tomas Kaberle provide offensive help from the point, while Chara is also considered one of the hardest d-men to play against in the league.
The return of Spacek should help the Canadiens (he was instrumental in shutting down Ovechkin last season), but the Habs are outclassed in pretty much every area. This even includes goaltending as Tim Thomas was the best goalie in the league this season. For the Habs to have any chance Plecanek needs to be the best player on either team, while Cammalleri has to score like he did in last seasons playoffs (13 goals in 19 games).
Boston will have learned from their 3-0 series lead collapse last season not to give a team any life and I don’t expect the Habs to ever really have a chance in this series.
My Pick: Boston Bruins -205
Also, be sure to like our facebook page in order to receive daily predictions to your newsfeed!
Tagged with: Boston Bruins • first round • Montreal Canadiens • NHL Series • Stanley Cup Playoffs
I see your conclusion is right on.