Boston Bruins play host to Montreal Canadiens on Saturday, game 5 – NHL playoffs
Boston Bruins will be hosting the fifth game of the quarter-final series as they face Montreal Canadiens at the TD Garden this Saturday.
The series has been a closely contested one so far with both teams winning two games each. Neither of the teams has been able to win the game on home ice and two wins for each team have come while playing away.
The seven-game series has turned into a best of three battles with the Bruins hosting two out of these three games. The last game provided quite a lot of entertainment as it was won by the Bruins in overtime 5-4. However, they had to make their way back
into the game on three occasions before they finally won to level the series 2-2.
This is one of the most unique quarter-final series in the postseason so far where neither of the teams has been able to win a game on home ice. The Canadiens notched up wins in the first two games of the series while the Bruins have won the last two while
playing at Centre Bell.
The Centre Bell had given them very tough times in the past but this time it was different. The Bruins are now back to winning ways. Their offence has improved and looks in a very good shape, in fact better than ever. However, the defence is still vulnerable.
The Bruins managed to forget the tough times while playing at the Centre Bell and crawled back from a 0-2 deficit to level the series.
The Bruins need to win this game if they want to come out strong in the series as the teams have been haunted by their home ice.
“We've just got to keep getting better and not worry about where we're playing, but how we're playing,” Boston coach Claude Julien said Friday.
The Canadiens on the other hand have a lot to think about as they lost the 2-0 lead that they established at the end of the first two games while playing on away ice. The Canadiens have been greatly hurt by frequent confusions in defence. The offence has
done pretty well but the defence has not been able to play the support cast that is required from them.
If the Canadiens continue to do the same thing then they can bid farewell to their chances of making it into the semi-finals.
“Obviously, guys were disappointed (Thursday),” captain Brian Gionta said. “It was an emotional game and a tough game to lose, for sure. We were up twice in that game, 3-1 and then 4-3 in the third. We wanted to have that win, but today there's nothing we
can do about it. We just have to prepare for (Saturday).”
The game will be very exciting as both teams will go flat out for the win as they look to take control of the series.
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