Three Bruins columns in a row? Well, the Celtics stinking out the Garden last night left a bitter taste in my mouth so I’m looking forward for tonight’s Bruins vs. Habs game.
This is the first game against the Canadiens following the absolute yahoo-ism that occurred in Montreal on March 8th following Chara’s hit on Max Pacioretty. I say Yahoo-ism because fans in Montreal were actually calling the police following the hit trying to get Chara arrested. This wasn’t a Todd Bertuzzi (coincidentally also on March 8th but in 2004) hit where he intentionally punched an Avalanche player trying to injure him; this was a clean hit in a bad spot on the ice.
Speaking of isms:
So needless to say, tempers will be running high tonight. If a Montreal fan is dumb enough to wear the away jersey to the Garden tonight they’re seriously looking to get their ass kicked. With the die hard black and gold fans pretty rabid I don’t think that a Habs fan gets out with a clean jersey (Spilled beer, soda, mustard, etc) and like I said, without getting their collective asses kicked.
So where did the headline come from?
Well, Cam Neely was interviewed on Felger & Maz on Tuesday where he said basically that the goalie job was up for grabs. His exact words, ““show us who’s ready to be the goalie for the playoffs.”
When asked about Cam’s comments Tuukka replied with this, “Well, you don’t have to be a [expletive] rocket scientist,” Rask said with a smile. “[Thomas] is playing every game.”
But by Neely making the comment, regardless of Tuukka’s reaction, it does put that seed of doubt in Thomas’s head. We hope. When he’s been up against it in the past he’s stepped it up (take out the injury plagued last season). It also has to be in his head that his Vezina chances are shrinking by giving up four goals a night while losing games. He needs wins and to keep his goals against low.
Bottom line, I know where I’ll be at 7PM tonight. Glued to the TV. This is a game the Bruins really need to win. A five point advantage in the standings is much better than a one point advantage. They should know the huge-ness of the game tonight. If they don’t, they’d already lost the division.
