What we should learn from BOS MTL series

[Jack Fig]

Speed absolutely crushed the Bruins, how many long stretch passes into breakaways did the habs have? Chara looked slow and bleak so often. They have good depth (hell, Briere is centering the FOURTH line) that chipped in and did their roles. They were always ALL skating so hard and punishing boston with the aforementioned speed.

Price is pretty much on point, their D core is playing strong. Honestly this could be the year the Cup returns to Canada.

Just makes me sad that if those calls were made in 2011 we could have potentially snagged the cup. Oh well c'est la vie

The Bruins should have attacked the Habs D with their speed and size...but didn't. They should have continually forced that D to handle them in straight lines going to the net with and without the puck. Instead they got roped into Montreal's neutral zone game and were caught wandering around aimlessly to often. The Habs thrive on that because have both speed and a great work ethic....and the propensity to avoid getting into a lot of one-on-one board battles against the Bruins. Montreal just plain outsmarted the Bruins.

[Jack Fig]

There was nothing more entertaining than watching Marchand`s tactics continue to fail to the point of near self implosion.

He completely threw his own game off while trying to throw other players games off.

Yep, The Rat's trick-bag has dried-up. He's a good, effective player, but sometimes he works his act too much and forgets to actually play.

[ocnucksfan]

we should learn the same thing the pens learned last year. spending big bucks to sign iginla is a mistake....can we stop talking about him, its time we move up youth, not bring in another old guy and get rid of promising youth due to lack of roster spots.

[5Fivehole0]

we should learn the same thing the pens learned last year. spending big bucks to sign iginla is a mistake....can we stop talking about him, its time we move up youth, not bring in another old guy and get rid of promising youth due to lack of roster spots.

I love Iggy but to be honest, I would have only welcomed him here during 2010/2011 and 2011/2012 ... Possibly 2012/2013... but now that ship as sailed... We need youth, not a guy hunting the cup.

[ocnucksfan]

for sure, love the guy, incredible player, very classy. just signing him in van means someone ready to be pulled up wont be. weve got some good looking youth, we need to get faster and younger. calgary leaned on him for how many years and they have been terrible forever now and have a long road before they become a contender. id hate to see the canucks try and bring in big names as band-aids to hopefully make a cup run, end up failing, and end up in a deeper hole. I.E. the Penguins last year.

[Kryten]

You don't need the biggest guys in the league, you just need guys who can play and are willing to stand up for themselves. Get rid of the chickens.

[CanucksSayEh]

The lesson we should learn, is to start recognizing talent. Walk across the street, watch some Giants games, don't let guys like Gallager drop past us.

[TheXFactor]

I seriously hope we build towards a speed and skill team over a big physical team like Boston. I find Chicago/Tampa/Pittsburgh to be a lot more fun to watch then teams like LA/STL/Boston.

Seeing Datsyuk undress teams > Slow paced hit parades.

[Jack Fig]

The lesson we should learn, is to start recognizing talent. Walk across the street, watch some Giants games, don't let guys like Gallager drop past us.

In defense of ....all 30 teams in the league, Gallagher was 5'7" at draft time and wasn't even a particularly good skater for a small guy. He was very easy to overlook. The things that did it for him was a work ethic that was second-to-none and a completely fearless ability to go to the high-traffic areas. If that's what stood out about him, it would still be easy for anyone to say 'those things are nice, but they're not enough'. Gally was a late-round wildcard that panned out. But his potential NHL success was not obvious at all back then.

[BurgerKing]

Seeing the Canadiens beat the Bruins should give hope to the Canucks

* They finished 14 th in the east in 2012

* They are the smaller team not known to be physical

So the Canadiens are in the conference final after a dissapointing season in 2012. This should be a signal for the Canucks not to panic. It can turn around quickly.

Why should we want to get bigger? All big teams are out of the playoffs. Yet the Hawks, Canadiens are in the conference finals and not really physical teams.

So here is hoping this is one off year.

And the Canucks can play an attractive brand of hockey AND be succesful!

in 2012 Montreal had Pacioretty, Subban, and a bunch of other up and coming prospects, we don't have that level of prospects.

LA is not out yet, Ana and Chi aren't particularly small, all 3 do play physical. Wait and see how it plays out and who wins the cup, our goal isn't to get to the conference final, we've done that 3 times, it's to with the cup.

[warrchief]

What I learned is... BanTSN is totally wrong in his assessments

[JeremyCuddles]

In defense of ....all 30 teams in the league, Gallagher was 5'7" at draft time and wasn't even a particularly good skater for a small guy. He was very easy to overlook. The things that did it for him was a work ethic that was second-to-none and a completely fearless ability to go to the high-traffic areas. If that's what stood out about him, it would still be easy for anyone to say 'those things are nice, but they're not enough'. Gally was a late-round wildcard that panned out. But his potential NHL success was not obvious at all back then.

That's the problem. Teams look for natural talents and overlook players with good work ethic. Skating can be learned, shooting learned. Work ethic is adopted from the people you grow up around, not everyone has that.

[Canuck or Die]

We learned that speed can triumph over size and Weise should not have been traded.

What the hell did you expect Weise to do for us? Carry the team on his back and into the playoffs?

[lmm]

I thought the big bad Bruins dominated the Habs, especially the Kreji line.

Iggy missed about 3 golden chances that he would have burried a few years back.

Had he scored on those the game would have been different.

Goaltending won that series.

And the fix is in for a Canadian team, its been 3 years since the last one made the final.

[CaKnuckleYourHead]

It's gotta be a mix. Even the Bruins have a mix of small players like Marchand and Krug.

The biggest lesson for the Canucks is that they have to choose their own identity and not change it because of other teams success. And don't get sucked in by other teams distraction methods.

If they wanna build a team based on speed and skill, then go with that. Don't try and "chase a moving target" every off season.

Well said

[viking mama]

Hell, look at Weise, a player many in Vancouver thought really didn't contribute the way he should have, well in montreal he sure did, all the way down to not only scoring clutch goals but getting under Lucic's skin. You think Lucic's comment scared Weise in the line? No, it affirmed he played his role to perfection, Lucic was so pissed he got distracted.

What our team needs is an identity back, swagger and a mix. Torres, Lappiere, Burr in his hey day, Bieksa all brought that swagger, we can get it back but need to be smart but mix will be key here.

Clearly, chemistry is missing, that is always hard to create, but all you have to do is look at the NYR, who a year ago looked like crap and AV has them in the Conf Finals.

Weise didn't get a genuine opportunity to show what kind of contributions he could make...when played only 5 shifts per game. Tortorella totally pre-judged him & devalued him so that Gillis would be move him. This player had been in Tortorella's dog-house before in NY. Torts anticipated that Wiese wouldn't be content or tight-lipped about all the crap he knew about Torts, for long. Weise was well-liked by his 'mates & Torts foresaw him spreading discontent in the future. Weise was scripted to be a goner from VanCity, the day Tortorella was hired.

Tortorella truly is from the Mike Keenan school of coaching. I didn't like Keenan in VAN & I'm glad that Trev got rid of Tortorella, sooner than later. No coach of that ilk should ever be hired by this organization, again. They are fossils!

It'll only work for them in Russia apparently...where folks have been formerly Red Army born, bred & raised. They seem to have this tradition of revering & coveting abusive coaches, mentors & instructors. The KHL has a very strange tolerance for some abusive players, too...like Radulov.

Yikes! Hoping that tolerance for this kind of crap changes? How does Radulov avoid jail, anywhere else in the world, for that? It's a game of emotions...I get that...but if you don't have control over them, when geared-up & lumbered...you are a serious threat to yourself & others out there! If a NHLPA union bro crosses this line, they cannot be trusted & don't belong on a professional ice surface or anywhere near the game. Could this be Lucic in a couple of years? Maybe a doc or a counsellor should be checking him out? Just sayin....

[messier's_elbow]

Weise didn't get a real opportunity to show what kind of contributions he could make...by being played only 5 or 6 shifts per game. Tortorella totally prejudged him & felt that a player he had put into his dog-house in NY - wouldn't be content being quiet about the crap he knew about Torts of the past. Weise was well liked by his 'mates & Torts anticipated he would spread discontent. Weise was scripted to be a goner from VanCity, the day Tortorella was hired.

Tortorella truly is from that Mike Keenan school of coaching....isn't he? I didn't like Keenan in VAN & I'm so glad Trev got rid of Tortorella, sooner than later. No coach of that ilk should ever be hired by this organization, again. They are fossils!

It'll only work for them in Russia apparently...where they've have been formerly Red Army born, bred & raised. They seem to have this tradition of revering & coveting abusive coaches & instructors. And a tolerance some very abusive teammates, too...like Radulov!

Yikes! Hoping that the tolerance for this kind of crap changes? How does Radulov avoid jail, anywhere else in the world, for that? It's a game of emotions...I get that...but if you don't have control over them, when all geared-up & lumbered...you are a serious threat to yourself & others out there! If an NHLPA union bro crosses this line, they cannot be trusted & don't belong on a professional ice surface...or anywhere near the game. Just sayin....

Radulov is a weirdo. Wouldnt want him anywhere near my team.

[YummyCakeFace]

There's nothing to learn. It's actually the league that has finally learned.

In 2011, we played with a lot of speed and hard forecheck. In 2011, we played whistle to whistle. In 2011, we let our PP do the talking and relied on getting calls when the other team takes penalties.

Except, the refs put the whistles away and let Boston get away with everything and the Stanley Cup. In our building.

This time, Montreal did exactly what we did, and the refs made the calls. Marchand was a rookie in 2011. Fast forward 3 seasons, and we saw the refs give penalties to Marchand based on his reputation even when it wasn't a penalty (ie, game 7 goalie interference call when Markov pushed him into Price). When the Bruins tried to engage after the whistle and rough things up like they did in 2011, the refs penalized them in 2014.

The Bruins called Vancouver an "arrogant" team who felt entitled to getting calls in 2011. I can't help but look at the Bruins in 2014, complaining and crying after losing game 7 and saying the calls weren't going their way, and see how arrogant they truly became: they acted as if they were entitled to play the way they did and the rules did not apply to them. So for me, watching Montreal beat Boston was bittersweet because that's how I feel it should have been in 2011. That being said, the past is the past. We don't need to take a page out of Montreal's book - they took a page out of ours.

I hope the Bruins can learn from this and play hockey, not that thug BS they put out vs VAN in 2011 and MTL in 2014.

EDIT: That being said, we can't focus on what other teams are doing and just need to find a new way to compete given our aging core. We have different personnel since 2011 and we have different personnel from Montreal. We need to rejuvenate this team by finding a way to compete that fits our players right now, not copy what other teams who have different personnel with different skillset are doing.

agreed and well said. That's a big +1 from me.

[Ghostsof1915]

Montreal shows up on game 7's and we don't?

Sorry.

[higgyfan]

Montreal shows up on game 7's and we don't?

Sorry.

Round 2. Hardly the same as the SCF.

In 2011, Boston breezed through their conference,while Van were pretty banged up when they got to the SCF. Most of the significant players were playing injured and the Bruins knew it, so they just continued to pound away.

By the time game 7 rolled around, the Nucks were a shell of the team that started out in round 1.