Habs Dominate; Chara Ejected for Hit on Pacioretty

Photo Credit Google Images bleacherreport.com

The Bruins lost two in a row after falling to the rival Habs in Montreal tonight 4-1.  The B's came out in the first period with a lot of scoring chances but couldn't get the puck behind Carey Price, as he played spectacular.  Despite the B's out-shooting and out-chancing the Habs in the first, Montreal managed to squeeze two by Tuukka, who didn't look sharp tonight.  Montreal dominated the second period adding two more to the scoreboard.  With 15.8 seconds left, Zdeno Chara attempted to run Max Pacioretty off the puck, and ended up smashing his Pacioretty's head off the area of the ice where the boards and bench come together.

Pacioretty fell to the ice and had little movement while he was down there. He was then taken off in a stretcher.  The good news is that it was reported that Pacioretty was conscious and moving while in the hospital.  Chara was handed a five minute major for interference and a game misconduct.  The league is going to have a look at the play and see whether it warrants a suspension.

My personal opinion is that Chara should not get suspended.  I think he was trying to hit him into the boards.  Yeah, maybe it was interference, but did Chara mean to ram Pacioretty's head against the 90 degree angle? No.  Chara is not a dirty player, and this area of the ice is dangerous.  There's not much that can be done about it.  You have the bench, the about 5 feet of glass, then the opponents bench.  You need to separate the teams.  The hit did look vicious on contact so I would not be surprised if Chara got a suspension or fine since the NHL is cracking down; but I do not think the hit warrants any further punishment.

Milan Lucic is one goal away from thirty as he got off an absolute missile and put it top shelf late in the third to ruin Carey Price's shut-out bid.

The Habs absolutely dominated this game and pull two points closer to the B's in the Northeast Division race. The B's still have gotten points in 8 out of the last 9 games.  You can't win 'em all, but it just urks you to see them lose to the hated Habs, who the B's haven't played too well against this year.

Next game is Thursday night as the B's take on Buffalo at the Garden.  Buffalo has been playing well as of late.  Gotta put this one behind us and take care of business on Thursday.