(8) Montreal vs (1) Boston series preview.

Tomorrow evening the Montreal Canadiens and the Boston Bruins will collide once again during the first round of the NHL playoffs.

Both teams have developped an intense rivalry over the course of the past decades and this year's meeting will be no different. The passion should be re-ignited as soon as the puck will be dropped on the ice for the first game of this best of seven series.

Many specialists, analysts and fans are predicting a rather easy Boston win this year. The Bruins finished in first place of the Eastern conference while the struggling Montreal Canadiens managed to pick up the final spot of the spring dance.

But remember last year. The roles were completely different and Boston managed to push this series to it's very limit of seven games before being eliminated by the Canadiens. I expect a very intense and difficult battle between those two teams. Each games should be very exciting to watch and the series should go to six or seven games.

I really can't see how Boston could dominate to the point of ending this in four or five games. The key factor of this series should be goaltending. Can Tim Thomas finally put away his troubles and past failures and offer his team a solid performance during the full lenght of a series against the Habs? Or will Carey Price play like Carey Price can and steal the show? All of Boston's hopes will rely on how Timmy will handle the pressure.

This is why I expect a Montreal Canadiens win in six games. In my opinion, Tim Thomas will fail, fail, fail.