Se7en

Looking at this series before it started, it seemed that no one - not even scribes in Boston - gave the hometown Bruins a chance to win a game against the Montreal Canadiens, let alone have a shot at winning the series. The Bruins had gone eleven straight games without a win against Les Habitants, but it appears that the last two games have shown a little bite in the Bruins game. They have solved the puzzle known as Carey Price, scoring five goals in back-to-back games. Tim Thomas has turned in dazzling performances in the Bruins' net. The Bruins are getting timely scoring from their big guns, while Montreal's top scorers appear to be rotating a schedule of nights off.

Today, we look at the seven deadly sins of this series as we lead into Game Seven.

Game One - Sloth: The Canadiens jumped out to a two-goal lead less than three minutes in, and they never looked back. Boston seemed hesitant and showed little confidence in moving the puck. All in all, a very sluggish performance by Boston led to a Montreal 4-1 victory.

Boston commits the sin of SLOTH.

Game Two - Wrath: Penalties killed Boston in this game as Alexei Kovalev scored in overtime with Shawn Thornton and Jeremy Reich sitting in the box to give Montreal a 3-2 victory. Reich was especially guilty when he tripped Andrei Markov in the Montreal zone after he was high-sticked. The retaliation was called, and Reich went to the box where he watched Kovalev fire a puck over Thomas' shoulder on the powerplay.

Boston commits the sin of WRATH.

Game Three - Envy: Having watched the Montreal Canadiens build leads in the first two games and then shut down their opponents, the Bruins decided to become Montreal. The Bruins jumped out to a 1-0 lead on Milan Lucic's first career playoff goal, and then played solid defence to carry them into overtime tied at 1-1. On a delayed penalty call in the extra session, Thomas made a few big saves on the Habs. However, the game ended shortly thereafter as Marc Savard scored the biggest playoff goal of his career to date. Montreal's aggressive attack in overtime left them with nothing to show for their efforts except a loss.

Montreal commits the sin of ENVY.

Game Four - Lust: In making up for the loss in the previous game, Carey Price showed the world why general manager Bob Gainey is betting the farm on him. Price recorded his first career playoff shutout with a 27-save performance as the Canadiens went up 3-1 in the series with a 1-0 shutout of the Bruins. Boston's offence seemed out-of-sorts all night, and it didn't help that Price had one of his best games to date. Thomas also played well, but the team in front of him couldn't solve Price once as it appeared that Price had them mesmerized.

Montreal and Bob Gainey commit the sin of LUST, but Boston suffers.

Game Five - Gluttony: As good as Price was in Game Four, a couple of mistakes led to a Boston 5-1 victory. A reckless turnover allowed Glen Metropolit to score the go-ahead goal early in the third period, and the Bruins piled it on after that.

Montreal commits the sin of GLUTTONY in terms of being gluttons for punishment. Boston also commits GLUTTONY in terms of piling on the goals, but they were rewarded for their "sin".

Game Six - Greed: It can be asked "who wants it more" during a playoff series when you see teams that just won't go away. Boston simply refused to die in Game Six. They trailed 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2 before jumping out to leads of 4-3 and 5-4. It appeared that Montreal simply took their foot off the throat of the Bruins and allowed them to regain momentum in this series. It's all about greed in this one - who wants it more.

Boston commits the sin of GREED, but Montreal suffers.

Game Seven - Pride: It all comes down to pride. Montreal was the "Beast of the East" this year. Boston is the plucky team that just won't die. Game Seven is all about pride. Who wants it more. Who is willing to sacrifice their bodies in order to play another day. Who wants the Stanley Cup more.

Tommorrow, we shall see how deep pride runs.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!