Canadiens vs. Bruins playoff preview

by Dirk Hoag on Apr 15, 2009 11:37 AM EDT

The Blogs

Habs Eyes On The Prize vs. Stanley Cup of Chowder

A grand old rivalry returns, as Montreal faces Boston in the first round.

The Storyline

Montreal has been celebrating their "100th season" for months now, but the party turned sour after Alex Kovalev won the MVP at the All-Star Game. A season-ending injury to Robert Lang, the Kovalev benching, then the firing of head coach Guy Carbonneau have left this team scrambling just to make the playoffs.

The Numbers

	Montreal		Boston
Record	41-31-10	15th	53-19-10	2nd
Pts %	.567	13th	.707	2nd
Goals For/Game	2.95	12th	3.29	2nd
Goals Against/Game	2.93	19th	2.32	1st
5-on-5 GF/GA	0.96	17th	1.42	1st
PP%	19.2	13th	23.6	4th
PK%	82.4	11th	82.4	11th
Shots/Game	30	13th	30.3	11th
Shots Against/Game	31.7	24th	30.8	21st
FO %	50.9	14th	51	13th

How does the line go? Oh yeah... "Abandon hope, all ye who enter here."

Goaltending

Montreal

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2008 - Jaroslav Halak	34	1931	18	14	1	0	92	2.86	1077	985	.915	1
2008 - Carey Price	52	3036	23	16	10	4	143	2.83	1513	1370	.905	1

Boston

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2008 - Tim Thomas	54	3259	36	11	7	4	114	2.10	1694	1580	.933	5

Penalties

No OtF preview would be complete without a look at Penalty Plus/Minus, to see which players will head to, or send other players to, the box:

Montreal	Penalties Drawn			Boston	Penalties Drawn
Player	Draws	Fouls	Pen +/-	Player	Draws	Fouls	Pen +/-
Maxim Lapierre	45	28	+17	Milan Lucic	34	39	-5
Alex Kovalev	38	36	+2	Shawn Thornton	33	31	+2
Mike Komisarek	35	55	-20	Zdeno Chara	30	38	-8
Tom Kostopoulos	34	36	-2	Steve Montador	29	47	-18
Andrei Kostitsyn	28	17	+11	Marc Savard	31	23	+8
Alex Tanguay	25	17	+8	Mark Recchi	24	11	+13
	Penalties Taken				Penalties Taken
Mike Komisarek	35	55	-20	Steve Montador	29	47	-18
Alex Kovalev	38	36	+2	Milan Lucic	34	39	-5
Tom Kostopoulos	34	36	-2	Zdeno Chara	30	38	-8
Roman Hamrlik	9	31	-22	Shawn Thornton	33	31	+2
Maxim Lapierre	45	28	+17	Marc Savard	31	23	+8
Tomas Plekanec	24	22	+2	Mark Stuart	14	27	-13

There is an interesting contrast between these two teams, as Montreal games usually involve more special teams work (2nd-most PP chances, 6th-most PK's in the league), while the Bruins play more 5-on-5 (#27 in both PP and PK frequency). It's not something that would tip the balance of power, just a difference in style.

The Prediction

There's simply no logical reason to pick Montreal here, all one is left with are the "emotion of a rivalry" intangibles. Take the Boston Bruins in perhaps the biggest mismatch of the opening round.

And oh yeah, Boston wins the "coolest commercial" award as well: