Bruins Ready To Start Playoffs Against Rival Canadiens
BOSTON (CBS) - Playoff hockey returns to the Boston Garden Thursday night when the Bruins kick off their first round series with the Montreal Canadiens.
"It's the best time of year," 30-goal scorer Milan Lucic said of the playoffs. "We get another chance. Three of the last four years we started off against our bitter rivals, the Montreal Canadiens. It's definitely going to be a lot of fun."
"You play 82 waiting for this, I'm excited," forward Shawn Thornton said. "Can't wait to get it going."
Read: Bruins-Canadiens Playoff Schedule
"I'm sure they're going to be ready for us," Patrice Bergeron said of the team that took four of the six regular season matchups from the B's. "I'm sure its going to be a tough series. They're a great team, it's always tough to play against them."
"It was definitely a good experience for us the last time we played them," Lucic said of the Bruins 7-0 blowout in Boston on March 24th. "This season we definitely had a battle with them, they won the season series 4-2. We're just focused on winning that first game."
No matter what happened over the last six months, the Bruins know everything is wiped clean in the postseason.
"Everything starts over as soon as the season's over and the playoffs start," Thornton said. "It's a whole new ball game. Everything starts fresh, everyone's got the same amount of points."
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Whenever the two sides meet, it's always a wild atmosphere. From Zdeno Chara's hit on Max Pacioretty on March 8th to the 8-6, 182-penalty minute Bruins victory in February, the rivalry has not lacked its share of fireworks.
The fallout from Chara's hit on Pacioretty, which left the forward with a severe concussion and fractured vertebrae, led to a whole circus scene of it's own. Montreal fans called 911 and wanted legal action against Chara after he was not suspended by the league, and before the most recent matchup Mark Recchi called out the Hab's, saying they embellished the injury.
But like the records, the Bruins are going to try and forget everything that happened in the regular season.
"We just need to focus on what we need to do," Lucic added. "We can't worry about all the other stuff going on outside. The games we beat them we just went out and played. (We) didn't worry about what they're going to do."
