Watching the 2008 series against the Bruins on the NHL network?

[Joe Cole]

Who else has been watching this rebroadcast of the 2008 first round match up of the Habs and the Bruins on the NHL Network every night a 10pm?

I am blown away with the differences between that series and the one this year.

In the 2008 series, Price handled every situation with calm and confidence. He was beat sometimes, but he did not beat himself. Plekanek was flying if not producing. AK46 made some sharp plays. Komisarek was played safe, confident and strong.Overall, the team played like they had mojo, like they were a team that knew they could win.

The Bruins looked like the same team as this the 2009 series minus Glenn Murray, who was a non-factor. They played with a lot less swagger.

The only real differences for the Habs were Ryder (although he was a non-factor in 2008), Streit (who did not make a difference on the PP), Smolinski getting too much ice time, the rise of S Kost (although I think he always chooses the fancy low % play over the one that will work), and Koivu being injured.

That series is a testement to what confidence and momentum can do to a team, compared to this year when the Habs had neagtive mojo, and positive for the Bruins.

In the 2009 series, the Habs looked like they just wanted to be put out of their misery. Simply pathetic.

Any one else?

[Chris Cutter]

Kostopoulos' clutchness.

[lillypad33]

Originally Posted by Joe Cole

Who else has been watching this rebroadcast of the 2008 first round match up of the Habs and the Bruins on the NHL Network every night a 10pm?

I am blown away with the differences between that series and the one this year.

In the 2008 series, Price handled every situation with calm and confidence. He was beat sometimes, but he did not beat himself. Plekanek was flying if not producing. AK46 made some sharp plays. Komisarek was played safe, confident and strong.Overall, the team played like they had mojo, like they were a team that knew they could win.

The Bruins looked like the same team as this the 2009 series minus Glenn Murray, who was a non-factor. They played with a lot less swagger.

The only real differences for the Habs were Ryder (although he was a non-factor in 2008), Streit (who did not make a difference on the PP), Smolinski getting too much ice time, the rise of S Kost (although I think he always chooses the fancy low % play over the one that will work), and Koivu being injured.

That series is a testement to what confidence and momentum can do to a team, compared to this year when the Habs had neagtive mojo, and positive for the Bruins.

In the 2009 series, the Habs looked like they just wanted to be put out of their misery. Simply pathetic.

Any one else?

I think that something happened in the locker room.
Tanguay and Schneider maybe could have played?
Bouillon was one of the few guys to be proud of. Atleast he tried right?
Laraque played his best hockey of the season.

[number 11]

i wouldnt watch today and tomorrow....we lost game 5 and 6 didn't we? (game 6 was pretty much equivalent to 10 heart attacks)

[Joe Cole]

Originally Posted by number 11

i wouldnt watch today and tomorrow....we lost game 5 and 6 didn't we? (game 6 was pretty much equivalent to 10 heart attacks)

even so, that was better hockey then what we saw last year, no?

Seriously though, it shows you the power of confidence in hockey. Pretty much the same core, with the wind in their sails... better team.

[Papa_Bear_21]

Originally Posted by Joe Cole

Who else has been watching this rebroadcast of the 2008 first round match up of the Habs and the Bruins on the NHL Network every night a 10pm?

I am blown away with the differences between that series and the one this year.

In the 2008 series, Price handled every situation with calm and confidence. He was beat sometimes, but he did not beat himself. Plekanek was flying if not producing. AK46 made some sharp plays. Komisarek was played safe, confident and strong.Overall, the team played like they had mojo, like they were a team that knew they could win.

The Bruins looked like the same team as this the 2009 series minus Glenn Murray, who was a non-factor. They played with a lot less swagger.

The only real differences for the Habs were Ryder (although he was a non-factor in 2008), Streit (who did not make a difference on the PP), Smolinski getting too much ice time, the rise of S Kost (although I think he always chooses the fancy low % play over the one that will work), and Koivu being injured.

That series is a testement to what confidence and momentum can do to a team, compared to this year when the Habs had neagtive mojo, and positive for the Bruins.

In the 2009 series, the Habs looked like they just wanted to be put out of their misery. Simply pathetic.

Any one else?

I'm watching with great interest. Honestly, though, watching with much less emotion this time around, it is much clearer to me that some of the stuff that came to the front in 2008-2009 were present in that series. The first being that Claude Julien, as an NHL hockey coach, was much stronger than Guy Carbonneau (and I say this having grown up LOVING Carbonneau as a player. I mean, when my friends and I used to play street hockey back in the day, they would call out names like Gretzky and Lemieux, I would call out Carbonneau). Having said that, Julien adjusted his game strategy after the first game and Carbonneau could not counter.

The second thing I noticed is that a lot of the shortcomings that we saw from Mike Komisarek in 08/09 were noticeable in that playoff series but the Bruins did not fully exploit them. Every time Mike would have the puck on his stick, he would try to chip it off the boards (regardless whether or not the winger was covered) or try to pass it off the Markov. I can understand much better now why Markov has been near the top of league in giveaways the last two seasons...

I will be very interested to see how Komi plays this season in TO. If he's much better in the puck handling category, then his performances over the past couple of years could be attributed (at least in part) to poor coaching.

[Joe Cole]

Originally Posted by Papa_Bear_21

I'm watching with great interest. Honestly, though, watching with much less emotion this time around, it is much clearer to me that some of the stuff that came to the front in 2008-2009 were present in that series..

Notice the start of Plekanec's frustration with not finishing?
Other things that jumped off the screen:
Lapierre playing a fast forechecking game
The Habs were going to miss that shot from Streit

[rotoc]

Originally Posted by Joe Cole

Notice the start of Plekanec's frustration with not finishing?
Other things that jumped off the screen:
Lapierre playing a fast forechecking game
The Habs were going to miss that shot from Streit

Watched it too. Price also looked very confident compared to this year playoff...

[2 Chainz]

Originally Posted by rotoc

Watched it too. Price also looked very confident compared to this year playoff...

Having Markov in front of him probably helped a lot too.