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What Does A Bruins Cup Win Mean For Our Habs?


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So, after the Bruins shutout the presidents trophy winning Vancouver Canucks and allowed only 8 goals against in a 7 game final series... What do we as Hab fans think about our team that went to overtime in game 7 of the first round?

Could that have been our Habs had one bounce gone the other way? I know the it was only the first round, but with the Bruins winning the cup, I am optimistic going forward that the Habs are not that far away from being a contender. Conference finals last year and then taking the cup champs to the brink this year has the Habs looking pretty good IMO.

What do y'all think?

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What do y'all think?

A bit more luck, and it's seven games to the second round.

A bit more luck, a warmer Scott Gomez, and it's six games to the second round.

A bit more luck, a warmer Scott Gomez, and Markov, and it's five games.

A bit more luck, a warmer Scott Gomez, Markov, and a healthy Max, and we get out the brooms.

All of that and a scorer (preferably a Czech one :P) and we're the only team to comprehensively trounce what is now the cup winner. And that's before the post-cup salary dump. Maybe a bit more toughness... Y'know, perhaps a few guys who played in Russia last year?

I think I'm pretty hopeful.

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I totally agree. The truth is that if we had won that game, I think we mighta been in the final. I mean the Bruins adopted a Habs style of playing going forward. Although we would have played different teams than the bruins did, I find that after boston beat the habs, they took on a flyers team that had 4 surguries and 2 evaluations while missing pronger (n we could have beat them)the week after they faced off meaning that flyers team wasn't healthy at all, and lightning team we've beat all year long, and a choking canucks team ( that we could have and did beat this year, especially with Price playing in his hometown).

As one of my friends told me at the beggining at the playoffs. Whoever wins the bruins.habs series will wint he series. he was right.

Plus bruins won't repeat, they had too much going their way this playoff year. And if the flyers sign bryzgalov, they would be a big threat in the future

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The Bruins winning means very little for us. The Bruins have had the refs on their side all playoffs long. There is no way the zebras were going to give our team that sort of leeway.

Plus, the bruins were riding a Patrick Roy-like performance on the part of Tim Thomas.

I think they were "chosen" to win. (I'm looking at Bettman)

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What does it mean?

Maybe we should have hung on to Julien and his staff. Maybe we should have hung on to Ryder.

On a less pleasant note - it means that there is a double standard - where the Bruins can play dirty and dish out dangerous hits but heaven help any other team that tries to do so. It also shows that many Boston fans are whiners - wonder the reaction if Horton had suffered the kind of hit Max did!?

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What does it mean?

Maybe we should have hung on to Julien and his staff. Maybe we should have hung on to Ryder.

On a less pleasant note - it means that there is a double standard - where the Bruins can play dirty and dish out dangerous hits but heaven help any other team that tries to do so. It also shows that many Boston fans are whiners - wonder the reaction if Horton had suffered the kind of hit Max did!?

What's funny is, if just one bounce in any one of three OT games had gone differently in that opening series, Julien would be looking for a job right now. Just goes to show what a thin line there can be between success and failure in the current NHL.

I think if anything it shows that we need to keep committing to our style instead of trying to beat certain teams at their own game. I don't always agree with Engels, but here were his remarks:

The Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning were the only ones to counter Boston's style with their own. Vancouver fans may not agree, but both the Canadiens and Lightning threw the Bruins off their game more than the Canucks did. Philadelphia wasn't a challenge because their goaltending was atrocious, but even that doesn't account for a 4-game sweep at the hands of the Bruins. Brawling and physically engaging the Bruins was a game that any team in the league would've lost at. The Flyers lost badly. The best team in the league succumbed in seven games and lost badly in their three games in Boston.

The Habs and Lightning had the elements to stop Boston in their tracks. They both held true to those elements and by consequence, came closer than any other team to stopping the Bruins. The Canucks had the elements to do the same, but they spent too much time trying to play Boston's game. They still got close, because they are the league's best team, and it tells you how good they are that they were able to put the screws to Boston without even committing to their own style.

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What's funny is, if just one bounce in any one of three OT games had gone differently in that opening series, Julien would be looking for a job right now. Just goes to show what a thin line there can be between success and failure in the current NHL.

I think if anything it shows that we need to keep committing to our style instead of trying to beat certain teams at their own game. I don't always agree with Engels, but here were his remarks:

The Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning were the only ones to counter Boston's style with their own. Vancouver fans may not agree, but both the Canadiens and Lightning threw the Bruins off their game more than the Canucks did. Philadelphia wasn't a challenge because their goaltending was atrocious, but even that doesn't account for a 4-game sweep at the hands of the Bruins. Brawling and physically engaging the Bruins was a game that any team in the league would've lost at. The Flyers lost badly. The best team in the league succumbed in seven games and lost badly in their three games in Boston.

The Habs and Lightning had the elements to stop Boston in their tracks. They both held true to those elements and by consequence, came closer than any other team to stopping the Bruins. The Canucks had the elements to do the same, but they spent too much time trying to play Boston's game. They still got close, because they are the league's best team, and it tells you how good they are that they were able to put the screws to Boston without even committing to their own style.

This, especially the part in bold. Everybody in Boston was ready to run Julien out of town and start a rebuild after losing their first two home games in round 1. With all the parity in the league right now, it's an extremely thin line between winning and losing.

Good point by Engels as well, the Canucks could have put an end to this in 6 games had they actually tried to play Canucks hockey. IMO the series was over when Hamhuis injured himself going for the big hit on Lucic, and Rome - his replacement - got that ridiculous 4-game suspension. With Bieksa-Hamhuis as their number 1 pairing, I doubt the Canucks would've allowed 21 goals in 5 games, which is still no excuse for their complete lack of firepower in this series. Thomas was strong, but he wasn't stealing games. Luongo, on the other hand...

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What does it mean?

Maybe we should have hung on to Julien and his staff. Maybe we should have hung on to Ryder.

On a less pleasant note - it means that there is a double standard - where the Bruins can play dirty and dish out dangerous hits but heaven help any other team that tries to do so. It also shows that many Boston fans are whiners - wonder the reaction if Horton had suffered the kind of hit Max did!?

Julien is a fine coach but really he was out coached by Jacques in round 1 IMO and was 1 bounce away from losing his job against us. As for Ryder, it's been a pretty bad contract in totality. Maybe Boston winning means we should have signed Chara, drafted Lucic, traded for Horton ect. I don't think Ryder or Julien would have made a difference in this year's club.

I'm not prepared to go into excuse mode on why Boston won, they're a really strong team, I said before they won I thought they were the best team in the East (it's a flawed conference but they don't have any significant hole and every other team does). Great goal differential all season, one of the highest scoring teams in the league if you can believe that (despite being in the bottom 7-8 in the league in PP opportunities, below even the Habs). Basically, they were the best even strength team in the league and that's a formula for winning. Most ES goals for, 2nd fewest ES goals against. Very impressive.

On what this means for the Habs? I hesitate to say it means much. It just goes to show the gap between good and very good (which is basically the 2 levels of NHL teams now) is small. If we beat Boston do we go to the finals? Who knows, we have a different road than they did and who knows if we don't wear down.

I'll say this, the only other year I thought "wow, we almost beat the Cup champs, we're very close to being at that level" was 2006 against Carolina. We were up 2-0 and then lost a series of 1 goal games without Koivu and the next year we fell flat and missed the playoffs so I'm not going to say this means a lot. We have work to do to be as good as Boston. We're pretty comparable defensively probably but we need to get way, way better at 5 on 5 scoring to get to their level.

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116 DAYS TO GO UNTIL THE PUCK DROPS

Did the Gooins in the Stanley cup play

Oh I forgot that was yesterday

Who cares what happened it's over and done

It doesn't matter,for me the HABS are number one

It's next season I am waiting for

Just hope we can score a few more

All the analysis will not alter

Who did what and who did falter

We just have to have some faith in PG

He seems to know what he's doing,he's alright with me

If he can sign the essentials

With all the right credentials

And with the ones we have already signed

WE Will win the cup in my mind

Who cares if the Gooins won the cup

They can only go down,as we are on our way up

So now we wait for all the news

To alleviate our summer time blues

GO HABS GO

Come on PG get it done

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What does a Bruins cup win mean for our Habs? It means our team is just as good as theirs and therefore the future is bright for the Habs.

+100 :D

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Boston is weak to the Habs like Fire Pokemon are weak to Water Pokemon. If the Water Pokemon can't beat the Fire Pokemon, the Water Pokemon stinks in battle. That, sadly, is what happened this postseason.

What the heck is Pokemon?

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What's funny is, if just one bounce in any one of three OT games had gone differently in that opening series, Julien would be looking for a job right now. Just goes to show what a thin line there can be between success and failure in the current NHL.

Agreed.

As for the fans who think that "one bounce" and we would have been in the final, a few things to consider:

1) our road to the finals would have been rockier. We wouldnt have faced a depleted flyers squad who forgot to dress a goaltender, we would have been up against Washington. I know TB handled them easily enough, but TB can score a lot better than us. Had we made it out of that round, Im not sure we would have beaten TB head to head either.

2) we had a LOT of injuries. Im not talking about the guys who were out (markov, patches, gorges) but it has now come out that guys like Eller, Wizneiwski, Darche etc were playing hurt and in some cases, seriously.

Price was playing spectacularly, but I have my doubts we could have made it past the 2nd or 3rd rounds on goaltending alone.

That said, there are great positives to be drawn. A healthy habs' squad could very well have made it to the finals based on last year's final 4 in the east. Yes, boston was flat for a few games to start our series, but even after they started playing "their game" we kept up & had 3 loses in overtime. Thats pretty impressive under any circumstances, but downright awesome with the injuries we had.

It is also very promising that most of our "best" players are under 30. We have a strong youth movement and so far Ive been pleased with most of the moves PG has made as GM.

Im looking forward to next year, to be sure.

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How about the German blitzkreig vs. trench warfare? It's not my damn fault you're trying to be a smart-alec.

Bad day at the office huh?............gee wiz......kiddingggggggggggggggg around :P

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The Bruins ALWAYS unravel against us. It's a fact of life. That doesn't mean that they don't play well against the other teams in the league.

Next season....we re-write that script.;)

the second greatest video game franchise ever made. Cultural phenomenon in the 90s

Not into video games....far from it....thanks.:lol:

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What it means is the only mental edge our franchise has held for the last 39 years is now removed and our slump is at 18 long years and counting.....Boston winning is the worst possible thing that could happen to Habs fans but hopefully if there actually is any pride left in the organization may be the much needed kick in the tail to actually fully go for a cup rather than "contend and see"

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What it means is the only mental edge our franchise has held for the last 39 years is now removed and our slump is at 18 long years and counting.....Boston winning is the worst possible thing that could happen to Habs fans but hopefully if there actually is any pride left in the organization may be the much needed kick in the tail to actually fully go for a cup rather than "contend and see"

i justh ope our guys see it as : We can beat the bruins. We can beat the cup winners. we can win.

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What it means is the only mental edge our franchise has held for the last 39 years is now removed and our slump is at 18 long years and counting.....Boston winning is the worst possible thing that could happen to Habs fans but hopefully if there actually is any pride left in the organization may be the much needed kick in the tail to actually fully go for a cup rather than "contend and see"

Fully go for the Cup how? The organization is consistently spending to the cap and pouring resources back into the team. Also, I'm not sure the Bruins slump gave us any kind of mental edge.

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:o :o :o :o :o \

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YOU DON'T KNOW???????

Ash and Pikachu? how could you not know???????

Maybe because I do not do video games......anyways.

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