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Bruins Win Insane War Against Habs

I have never seen anything like that. There hasn’t been action that chaotic in Boston since the Royal Rumble 10 days prior. The final victory, 8-6, seemed more like something Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford will put up in a few months. These two teams are supposed to be built on defense, but they scored like the Celtics and racked up more penalty minutes than there have been minutes in the history of the universe.

You could tell the game would be fun when every few minutes to start the opening frame, heated arguments and almost-fights broke out, keeping the officiating crew quite busy. The spark that lit off the game came at 13:16 into the 1st, when Brad Marchand hit a backhand into the net for a 1-0 lead. In addition, Dennis Seidenberg swatted the puck out of the air 12 seconds later for the 2-0 lead. Before the face-off could even happen, Milan Lucic and Travis Moen received matching cross checks.

Things really got rough right at the end of the period. Carey price deliberately exited the crease to shove Milan Lucic in the numbers, twice, followed by a similar shot from P.K. Subban. All shoves looked suspiciously like cross checks, and as a result of everything that happened, Carey Price was called for roughing, Lucic for two roughings and Travis Moen for misconduct.

Montreal roared back to tie the game, but Adam McQuaid gave the Bruins the lead once again, 3-2. After Montreal tied it at three, Boston took the lead again 31 seconds later. After the Bruins retook a two-goal lead, 5-3, then all hell broke loose. Reminiscent of Survivor Series, a massive 5-on-5 brawl broke loose, with Carey Price looking around in amazement. That was, until Tim Thomas came wandering over to join in the fun. Neither Price nor Thomas was used to fighting, but they still took a few nice swings and got the jerseys off while Thomas slipped and fell to the ground. At one point while things were being sorted out, six Bruins could be spotted in the penalty box together.

The Canadiens just wouldn’t go away, and when it looked like Boston had just gone up 7-5 with 10:42 left in the 3rd Period, the official looking on called interference on Brad Marchand, which took away Michael Ryder’s goal. The thing was that Marchand could be seen being pushed right into Price. It’s not like there were bodies in the way; it was just a blatantly blown call, and the crowd made that abundantly clear. Ryder scored anyway 43 seconds later, so whatever.

Up 8-5 with 2:54 left, the Habs, obvious frustrated, vented some frustrations with the second 5-on-5 brawl of the night. And if that weren’t enough, with 40.5 seconds remaining, Andrew Ference crushed Travis Moen, which sparked the third 5-on-5 slug-fest of the night. Tom Pyatt of Montreal was cut open pretty cleanly on his right cheek.

Montreal caught Thomas napping with 14 seconds to go, but at 8-6, there was nothing the Hab nots could do in that time. Get all that? No? Don’t feel bad.

JERRY!! JERRY!! Moment of the Game: The Game

It’s a good thing the stat sheet was electronic, or we would have had to completely deforest the world to print all of it.

But even if it is a bit dull compared to the rest of the action, you have to unconditionally love a good goalie fight.

Bruins Banter:

“By the time they get to the penalties, it’ll be like a filibuster in the Senate.” – Jack Edwards and Andy Brickley bantering during the penalty fiasco in the 2nd.

Scoring Summary

Penalty Summary

Goalie Stats

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Shots on Goal

Game Notes:

• Montreal now has eight 4-on-4 goals, tying them with the Islanders for the best in the NHL. Boston remains the only team without one.
• The 12 seconds between goals in the 1st Period matches Boston’s closest goals of the season.
• Nathan Horton had five points on the night. The last Bruin to do that was Marc Savard against the Kings on October 12, 2007.
• Adam McQuaid’s goal was his first career home goal. Well, second if you include what should have been his first against the Stars on that blatantly wrong interference call.

Tags: Adam McQuaid, Andrew Ference, Andy Brickley, Blake Wheeler, Boston Bruins, Brad Marchand, David Krejci, Dennis Seidenberg, Jack Edwards, Mark Recchi, Michael Ryder, Milan Lucic, Montreal Canadiens, Nathan Horton, Patrice Bergeron, Shawn Thornton, Steven Kampfer, Tim Thomas, Zach Hamill, Zdeno Chara