bruins 3 - canadiens 1

Montreal is currently under a crazy deep freeze, where any flesh left exposed while outside will freeze within five minutes.

Consequently, I avoided heading down to a local watering hole for last night's game, opting instead to watch the match online. The feed of the game was pretty funny - the typically chopping / stuttering video stream was punctuated by commentary, in abbreviated & profanity-laden, slang-heavy, text-message French, on the right side of the screen. It was nearly impossible to figure out what anyone was saying, but I gather, little of it was kind toward the Bruins.

Yet despite any problems on video playback, Zdeno Chara's dominance was clear. He had, quite possibly, his best game of the year.

Chara potted 2 goals, had only one minor penalty, leveled tons of hits and rebound clearances, and basically had one of those games that show how any top-flight NHL player, on any given night, can completely control a game. As repeat readers of this blog may know, I tend to be a little tough on Chara, feeling that wearing the C (and making $7 million a year) means having a dominant game every night. But last night, Chara proved why he is repeatedly in contention for the Norris Trophy at years' end.

The game itself was entertaining, featuring end-to-end action with Halak and Tim Thomas continually offering up goal-mouth craziness, and several passes threaded through unlikely lanes. The Habs were unable to capitalize on a 4-3 advantage, whereas the Bruins were able to score on their 5-on-3 powerplay (the Bruins were 2 for 5 on the PP last night).

However, while the game could have gone either way with one-less save, or a single unusual bounce, a dominant performance by the Bruins captain created a strong opportunity for the Bruins' win.

Coach Julien had this to say about Chara's performance:

"I think, first of all, there’s no doubt to me, he set the tone tonight. Physically, the amount of ice he had, he handled it well and he was strong in all situations: obviously scoring a couple of goals, defending, winning battles, everything, every part of it, the physical part of it. He was outstanding tonight. I cannot say enough about his performance."

Of Note: The Bruins were without Phil Kessel, who is suffering under mono; Aaron Ward left the game with an injury after being run into the glass from behind by (repeat offender) Andrei Kostitsyn; the Bruins enjoyed performing before a sell-out crowd.