A little sluggish, but I'll take the Game 1 Win

First of all, I wanted to say how impressed I am with the representation of Bruins fans. (I won't yell at you all for jumping on the bandwagon just because in March you realized your B's had been on top of the East since November.) Having been around the Garden and at the playoffs last year, I can't believe how absolutely daunting the black and gold colors were amongst the attendees as compared to Hab red. When last year it seemed like about a third of the fans at the games had taken the drive down from Quebec, this year Boston fans have made up for it and then some. Last year, after the busloads of Canadians fans were dropped off in front of the Garden, the crowd of red cheered so loudly that they could be heard from several blocks away. At last night's game, I saw only small pockets of the enemy of no more than 10 in size warily wading through the Bruins faithful.

Despite what I've heard from many analysts after the game, I thought the Bruins fed well off the electricity of the crowd in the first. Maybe not as well as the should have as they completely outmatch the Canadians up and down the roster. Still being up 2 goals 15 minutes in is playing like they should. (I also texted 81 for the first goal contest but didn't win the jersey. Damnit.)

The air was let out of the building after the first Montreal goal near the end of the first. It seemed like the crowd was feeling vulnerable, and the nerves in the stands carried out onto the ice for the second period. The intensity died down, and the apparent overthinking by the home team lead to sloppy clears and minimal time in the offensive end.

Knowing the game was on the line in the third pulled the fans back into it. (It also could have been the Pretender montage they put on HDX at the end of the second intermission. That always gets me fired up.) Shot totals for the B's were up big leading to the PP chance and goal by Chara on a 100+ mph one time slapper (that's 160+ kph in Canada). The buzz in the building was so high after that it was game over. The Lucic to Kessel empty netter was icing and brought out the classiness of this Montreal team. Hopefully if any tempers carry over to the next game Boston will keep a level head.

Boston fans, however, will probably just let it build up for next time. I'll give credit to the Habs fans for putting up with the torment that can be expected in a crowd like last night. (I know exactly what wearing the rival's colors feels like.) That being said, they would have been better off watching from home. Maybe they'll heed this advice for Game 2.