Beers On Sports Final: Clinching In Montreal 'Not Going To Be Easy'
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Boston Bruins have a chance to close out their series with the Canadiens Monday night in Montreal, but that clinching win always seems to be the toughest one to get.
98.5 The Sports Hub's Bruins radio analyst Bob Beers joined WBZ-TV's Dan Roche outside the Bell Centre for Sunday night's Sports Final, and said the Bruins have a good chance at clinching tonight, but it's going to be a battle.
"I think they can win, but it's not going to be easy," Beers told WBZ-TV's Dan Roche on Sunday night's Sports Final. "Montreal is going to come out hard on home ice, and it's a situation they really like. They don't think they've played their best this series. We talk about the Krejci line and the big guns for the Bruins, some of the big guns for the Canadiens this series haven't been able to produce. A lot of that is what Boston is doing against them.
"Max Pacioretty had 39 goals during the regular season and had two real good chances to score in Game 5, so keep an eye on him as this moves on. But Zdeno Chara, and the Bruins in general, have done a nice job on him and the Canadiens."
Beers said the Bruins have started to play their style of hockey again, which they got away from earlier in the series.
"They've started to play more of their game, and that's been very obvious. The last two games you've seen the Bruins play their type of style and that's what they have to do to win," he said. "The Canadiens come in known as the faster team, and they want to use that speed. The Bruins have slowed them down at the neutral zone, and not having the Canadiens come at them with that speed is big for the Bruins. Now they can defend a lot better, they have the good back pressure, have the defenders standing up where they need to and can get going the other way."
Jarome Iginla scored a power play goal in Saturday's 4-2 win in Game 5, but overall Boston's top line has struggled this series. Iginla has two goals but is a minus-2, Milan Lucic has a goal and two assists, and center David Krejci has just one assist and is a minus-2 for the series. Krejci is usually atop the playoff leader board when it comes to both points and plus/minus, but the production just hasn't been there this postseason.
Beers said the top line showed signs of breaking out of their offensive slump on Saturday, and while it won't show up on the stat sheet, they have been playing well in other areas of their game.
"They've been shutting down the lines they've played against as well," said Beers. "Lucic had seven hits in that Game 5, so now you see it starting to come. He had a couple confrontations with (Alexei) Emelin and (P.K.) Subbban, and those are good physical battles for him. Iginla scored the power play goal, and Krejci, he's still fumbling the puck a little bit, but you like the way he competed in that game as well. He's still being put out in important defensive situations and doing the job in those areas, so you hope the offense follows for him."
Tune in to Bruins-Canadiens Game 6 on 98.5 The Sports Hub -- the flagship station of the Boston Bruins. Pregame coverage with Dave Goucher and Bob Beers begins at 7pm!
Catch WBZ-TV's Sports Final every Sunday night at 11:35 pm!
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