NHL Playoffs: Boston Bruins vs. Montreal Canadiens, Game 1

After a Game 1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens, the Boston Bruins were left thinking about what they did right and most importantly, did wrong.

Sloppy Play

Both goals were a result of sloppy play.  Tomas Kaberle made a blind backhanded shot along the boards, but no Bruins were close to handle it.  The Canadiens charged in to pass to Scott Gomez, then to Brian Gionta to count the goal.  Only one Bruin was near the net to help out.

The second and final goal of the game was as a result of sloppy puck handling of Milan Lucic where Gomez created the turnover and Gionta let's fly a shot that Thomas could not get enough of.

No Loitering

The Bruins let fly 31 shots on Carey Price but the vast majority of them were perimeter shots.  As I have stated before, a goalie of his caliber will stop these shots nearly 100 percent of the time.  In this case, he did.

Full Game Play

The Bruins were not playing their game.  It wasn't that the Habs were forcing them to play their game.  The first period was lackluster at best.  They came out with some more life in the second and only played half of the third period.

If you watched the game and didn't see the score, you'd say the Bruins outplayed the Habs and I would agree...on the perimeter.  

The Habs did clog up the lanes very well, but that was primarily because they noticed that's all they really needed to do.  The Bruins simply did not get in Price's kitchen and create a mess that would tick off any Mom.

PK Subban really got under Horton's skin as when he cross-checked him; Horton responded with several of his own instead of doing what he supposed to do: generate offense.

I wouldn't want to be in the Bruins' dressing room after this game as I'm sure someone is speaking up and telling his team that the stupid, lazy game that they played will not be enough to take on the speedy Habs.

Smash Mouth

The Bruins need to play their game no matter what the Habs do.  Getting away from what got them in the third seed is what put them in a one-game hole.

Fortunately for the Bruins, that is a hole that is not so hard to get out of.  A two-game hole?  A little harder.  They need to avoid that when going into the Bell Centre.

This is Cory Ducey saying "Hit Hard, But Keep It Clean."