Les Miserables

Boston missed a golden opportunity to eliminate the Canadiens Tuesday night in Game 6. Now, with the series tied 3-3, Claude Julien and the Bruins must win a do-or-die Game 7 Wednesday night in Beantown. 

After reaching an unparalleled high as a result of Saturday night's thrilling double-overtime victory in Game 5, the Boston Bruins came crashing down to Earth Tuesday night and now find themselves in a chillingly familiar situation.

Victims of an inept power-play and highly questionable officiating, the Black and Gold fell to the Canadiens 2-1 in Game 6 before an electric sell-out crowd of 21,273 at the Bell Centre.

As a result, not only is the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series tied 3-3, but the Bruins forfeit a golden opportunity to close out the hated-Habs and now must play a winner-take-all Game 7 in Boston Wednesday night.

"It's win or you're done," admitted Tim Thomas, who saved 25 shots for Boston but was outplayed by his counterpart, Carey Price (31 saves). "If we play the same way we did to win the three, we'll win the fourth."

In a game in which nearly every lucky bounce went the Canadiens way, the Bruins got their lone break less than four minutes into the first period.

Looking to grab the momentum early, it appeared the Canadiens had taken a 1-0 lead. Habs centerman Scott Gomez fired a seemingly harmless shot in on Thomas from just inside the blue-line. However, the Bruins goaltender was unable to control the bouncing puck and it trickled wide directly to Brian Gionta who immediately fired it into the open net.

However, much to the chagrin of the rabid Canadien fans, the linesman, situated behind the net and unable to see the play completely, had already blown the play dead. The Habs fans proceeded to litter the ice with garbage in disgust.

From there on out, the game quickly unraveled for the Bruins.

Boston took an undisciplined too-many-men on the ice penalty midway through the first period then immediately went down another man when Dennis Seidenberg was called for a slash. Right on cue, Montreal made good on the 5-on-3 man advantage, taking a 1-0 lead when Mike Cammalleri one-timed a cross-ice feed from P.K. Subban.

"Obviously when it's 5-on-3 it's harder to keep the puck out of the net," said Thomas.

Looking to get back in the game, the Bruins picked up their first power-play opportunity at the tail end of the first period when Andrei Kostitsyn was called for hooking. However, before Boston could set up shop with the man-advantage, Patrice Bergeron was called for goaltender interference just 13 seconds later despite barely making contact with Price.

Nevertheless, the Bruins bounced back to tie the score with both teams skating four-on-four. Just 48 seconds into the middle frame, Seidenberg scored his second career playoff goal and first of the series when he wrapped around the Montreal net and squirted the puck past Price to make it 1-1.

The turning point in the game came less than five minutes later when Milan Lucic was called for a boarding major after plastering defenseman Jaroslav Spacek into the boards. Spacek's face was cut by the glass and he laid on the ice for several minutes before slowly making his way to the bench with a towel over his face. At the time Spacek's return looked doubtful due to the severity in which he was hit, however the Montreal defenseman returned to the game several minutes later as if nothing had happened.

Meanwhile, Lucic was promptly issued a game misconduct and ejected from the game.

Just like that, Boston had lost one of its best players in the most important game of their season.

"I haven't had a chance to really look at it closely," said head coach Claude Julien of Lucic's hit. "You see quick replays here and there, but it's something I need to see before I'm able to comment on that."

To make matters worse for Boston, not only did Montreal receive a five minute power play, but less than 16 seconds in Patrice Bergeron lifted the puck into the stands and was called for a delay of game penalty, giving the Habs a full-two minutes of a 5-on-3 power play.

Once again, the Canadiens took advantage, grabbing a 2-1 lead when Gionta buried a rebound past Thomas less than six minutes into the second period.

Later in the period, with the Bruins buzzing and looking for the tying goal, Spacek was called for hooking to give Boston a pivotal power play opportunity. However, once again the officials took the game out of the Bruins hands, calling Nathan Horton for a slash just 22 seconds into the Boston man-advantage to negate the power play.

The game remained 2-1 late into the third period. And while Montreal was content with gaining the red-line and then dumping the puck in every shift, the Bruins began peppering Price in search of the equalizer.

Yet again, the officials decided the game for themselves, calling Chris Kelly for a pathetic high-stick with just over three minutes remaining in the game. The call was so infuriating for Bruins fans because the officials failed to make similar calls on a high-stick to Andrew Ference and Rich Peverley early in the game.

Montreal finished 2-7 on the power-play while Boston went 0-4. However, the official numbers are deceiving because Boston only enjoyed two power plays in their entirety.

Regardless, the Bruins impotence with the man-advantage cannot be denied. For the series, they have gone 0-18.

"The power-play's been struggling," said Bergeron. "They won the game because of that tonight, because of their power play. We've got to find a way and bear down."

No more excuses. No more feeling sorry for themselves. The Bruins had a glittering chance to close out the Canadiens Tuesday night but instead allowed them to not only win the game but grab the momentum.

So now we learn what the Bruins are truly made of.

Are they a chip off the old block from last year, a team that excites you with potential only to collapse when the stakes get the highest?

Or do they use the bad breaks in Game 6 as motivation to get it done in Game 7?

Hold on tight and keep the faith, Bruins fans. 

We're about to find out.