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PHT Predicts: Bruins vs. Canadiens -- Who do you have?

Montreal Canadiens v Boston Bruins

on March 24, 2011 at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

Elsa

There’s not much that could be said to help hype this series up more. These two have fought each other like crazy both on the scoreboard and on the ice. We’re pretty sure the cops won’t be called to take care of Zdeno Chara when the series shifts to Montreal for games three and four, but if things don’t go well in Boston for the Habs you never know.

With all the side show stuff, these two teams are made to beat on each other. With Chara along with Nathan Horton, Patrice Bergeron, and Mark Recchi to go up against last year’s playoff hero Mike Cammalleri as well as Tomas Plekanec, Brian Gionta, and paragon of controversy P.K. Subban there’s plenty to watch for here. And that’s not even getting into the stellar goaltending match-up between Tim Thomas and Carey Price.

As for how we’re looking at this series, opinions are still fun.

James says:
Guess which team lead the East in goal differential? That would be the Bruins, who tower over the rest of the conference with a +51 mark. It’s tough for me to picture the Habs managing much of a fight in this series, but the fantastic crowd in Montreal will power them to a win. The vitriol in the air might make this an interesting span of games, but I think Boston is much, much better.

(Then again, I thought the Capitals were eons ahead of the Canadiens in 2010, so you just never know.)

Bruins win 4-1 with Zdeno Chara feeding off the boos and embracing a role as the reluctant villain.

Matt says:
The over/under on the use of the term “stanchion” is tentatively set at 147 for Game 1. For all of the drama and intrigue these two teams have had this season, the playoffs will be something different completely. Here’s the thing, if you look at the teams on paper this should be a total mismatch. The Bruins have better forwards, a better defense corps, better goaltending, and home-ice advantage.

But for all of that being said, the Habs won the season series 4-2 and the only way the Bruins could win a game is if they scored at least a touchdown. This just has the feeling of a series that will go deep and will have plenty of hate to go along with it. In the end, the Bruins just have too much for the Habs to overcome. Bruins in 7.

Joe says:
For all the bombast and bluster that happened in the teams’ last few meetings, you’d think that the season series was a runaway for Boston. It wasn’t and while that might factor into some predictions on how this will go, the chess match that will happen between coaches Claude Julien and Jacques Martin breaks down to which guy has made the better decisions and in that battle I like Julien.

Unless Carey Price can channel his inner Jaroslav Halak, I don’t like this match-up for Montreal. Boston is built like a grimy, do-the-dirty-work playoff team and with all the drama surrounding these two teams, the Bruins are motivated. Bruins take this one in 6.

Think we’re waving our American flags too much in our predictions on this series? Feel free to tell us in the poll what you think of our take. Feel free to leave a fun comment in French for us to crudely translate as well if you’re feeling the need.

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