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Big trouble in Boston: Canadiens beat Bruins 3-1, take a 2-0 series lead home to Montreal

Milan Lucic

Boston Bruins left wing Milan Lucic, right, skates back to the bench as the Montreal Canadiens, background left, celebrate a goal during the second period of Game 2 of a first-round NHL Stanley Cup playoffs hockey series in Boston, Saturday, April 16, 2011. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

AP

There’s trouble in Boston.

The Bruins put together another lackluster effort and were outworked and outplayed by the Montreal Canadiens again in Game 2 leading to a 3-1 win for Montreal. With the win, the Habs take a 2-0 lead in the series as it now shifts back to Montreal for Games 3 and 4.

Without Zdeno Chara in the lineup due to dehydration, the omens for a bad game mounted immediately for Boston. The way the game started didn’t help matters either as Montreal scored just 43 seconds into the game as Mike Cammalleri picked up a rebound and beat Tim Thomas (23 saves). Just over a minute and a half later, Mathieu Darche made it 2-0 scoring on the power play. The Habs wouldn’t look back from there as Carey Price made 34 saves allowing just a second period goal to Patrice Bergeron to beat him. Yannick Weber scored late in the second to provide the deciding marker as they would swallow up the Bruins offense the rest of the way.

For Boston, they’re going through the same problems they faced in the three losses they had against Montreal during the regular season. Those problems are also the same ones Montreal gave to Washington and Pittsburgh in last year’s playoffs. This time around, Montreal is adding a new and infuriating element to their game: Shot blocks. The Habs blocked 27 shots tonight to help keep the Bruins offense away from Carey Price. When they did get shots on Price, he was doing things like this to rob the Bruins of goals.

The Canadiens defensive structure and adherence to the game plan are clearly frustrating the Bruins and they seem to be at a loss for answers on how to solve it. With a team that occasionally struggles scoring goals in the first place, having a team that goes all out to defend face off against them can create major problems like this.

The part that’s concerning is that the Bruins haven’t found a way to respond in kind. Sitting back and taking what Montreal gives them isn’t going to win the Bruins any games and is leading the cries around Boston to have coach Claude Julien to have his job security questioned in a big way. If the Bruins don’t have any answers on Monday night in Game 3, they’re going to find their season on the brink of ending in a very loud thud very soon.

Versus analysts Keith Jones and Jeremy Roenick broke down Montreal’s great performance and Boston’s night of failure.