Predictable

Game one of the series with Montreal was exactly what I expected. I hoped for more, of course, but had I been forced to make a detailed prediction before hand that's pretty much what I'd have come up with. This is why I didn't want the B's to play the Habs in the first round this season. It isn't difficult to see how this first playoff game for a young inexperienced team, played in a roaring Bell Centre against a team that has owned them all season, would send them reeling. It would have been a miracle if they'd won that game.

It was obvious that the Bruins played poorly all night in their own zone and everyone else has already written about it. I'll just add that Dennis Wideman in particular had a terrible start. He was totally off his game right from the first shift, bobbling the puck in his own zone, making poor decision, getting out of position, losing the puck at the opposing blue line on the PP, and letting Habs fly right past him into the zone unhindered. It was painful to watch. I kept yelling "Aw, no Dennis!" at the TV. What is his nickname anyhow? And why don't I know it?

But I did think the Bruins looked good on the PK. And until the Habs scored their 3rd goal the B's were doing that thing where they slowly take away the momentum of the other team in a grinding fashion. And if you take away the first two "gimme" goals the Habs win 2-1. So take heart, Bruins fans. It's a long series and nobody should have expected a win in the first game.

So now it starts in earnest. Lets hope the B's all pat themselves on the backs and say, "Wow we played in a playoff game!" and then decide their next goal is to win one.

As an aside, I read what Kevin Paul Dupont had to say in this morning's Globe and I am left bewildered. What did he expect? Hasn't he been paying attention? I think his tirade was out of place and poorly informed. He seemed angry that the Bruins didn't suddenly revert to, say, the 1972 team in the locker room before the game. I've been meaning to say this about KPD for some time, so here goes. I think he's a dinosaur. I've been reading him for years and once upon a time he seemed to have an inside track. He'd predict a trade and it would happen. It was like he had Sinden's or O'Connell's ear. Or they tipped him off to their moves or thinking ahead of time. But when management changed he became just another observer. Witness his claim that the B's were going to make a move before the trade deadline this year... and then his excuses afterward for why it didn't happen as he had predicted.

Not only does he no longer have the inside track, but he doesn't even seem to be paying attention. Toss in his ugly cynicism and I no longer see a reason to read him. Sadly there are bloggers out there who cover the B's better than KPD does. Here are two: Gerry Bourdeau and The Bruins Report.