The Habs handed the reins to Marc Bergevin on Wednesday, naming the longtime NHL defenseman as their new general manager.

It's uncertain how good Bergevin will be in the new post. It will be his first time running a team. He returns to his hometown after spending the last seven years with the Blackhawks, serving as a scout, assistant coach, director of player personnel and assistant GM. He was the director of player personnel in 2010 when Chicago won its first Cup since 1961, but the Blackhawks have been eliminated in the first round the last two years.

Still, the biggest reason for optimism in Montreal comes from the fact that Bergevin succeeds Pierre Gauthier, which may be the only way to work "Gauthier" and "succeeds" into the same sentence.

In fairness, Gauthier's tenure in Montreal wasn't all bad. After being elevated from assistant GM to the top spot in February, 2010, the Canadiens did make an unlikely run to the Eastern Conference Final that spring as an eighth seed after upsetting top-seeded Washington and defending champion Pittsburgh.

But Gauthier then immediately traded away goalie Jaroslav Halak, the man primarily responsible for that playoff run. The Habs were ousted in the opening round of the playoffs last year, falling to the Bruins after winning the first two games in Boston, then bottomed out this season with a last-place finish in the conference.

Along the way, Gauthier jettisoned Sergei Kostitsyn, otherwise known as the only Kostitsyn brother who actually adheres to curfew. He has scored 40 goals and 93 points in two seasons in Nashville. In return, Montreal received Dustin Boyd, who managed one goal in 10 games before heading to the KHL this season, and Dan Ellis, who signed with Tampa Bay as a free agent two days after being dealt to Montreal.

And that just begins the Gauthier greatest hits list. He also re-signed Andrei Markov to a new three-year deal with a $5.75 million cap hit last summer despite the fact that knee injuries limited him to just seven games in 2010-11 and 45 games the year before. Markov rewarded Gauthier's faith by getting into 13 games this season.

Gauthier filled the void on the blue line by trading for an even worse contract, sending Jaroslav Spacek and his expiring deal to Carolina for Tomas Kaberle, who will clog up $4.25 million a year on Montreal's cap through 2013-14.

At least Gauthier can't be blamed for Montreal's most egregious waste of money. When the Habs acquired Scott Gomez and his $7.357 million cap hit in 2009, Gauthier was just Montreal's assistant GM. That contract is on the books through 2013-14 as well, and it only cost the Canadiens a package that included Ryan McDonagh, now one of the Rangers' top defensemen. Hey, you're not going to get a guy that can go a full calendar year between goals like Gomez without giving up something.

If Gauthier's hockey acumen could be questioned, at least he had impeccable people skills. Sure, he fired assistant coach Perry Pearn just hours before a game in October, then did the same to head coach Jacques Martin in December, but it's not like he'd can a guy during a game. No, he just traded players midgame, as he did one memorable night in Boston when Mike Cammalleri was shipped to Calgary between periods.

Gauthier compounded his mistakes by replacing Martin with Randy Cunneyworth and failing to anticipate the inevitable backlash in Montreal to Cunneyworth's inability to speak French. Gauthier followed that up two weeks later by apologizing to fans for not installing a bilingual coach, undermining any chance Cunneyworth had of succeeding as the Habs' season continued its steady downward spiral.

Cunneyworth isn't faring any better under Bergevin's stewardship, as the new boss made returning Cunneyworth to his post as an assistant coach the first order of business at his introductory press conference on Wednesday. Even that position will be at the discretion of whomever Bergevin hires as the new head coach, leaving Cunneyworth in limbo even longer.

Maybe this new regime won't be any less dysfunctional than the last one after all. Still, it's hard to imagine a repeat of the circus that Gauthier orchestrated. And with the resources available to a GM in a hockey-mad market like Montreal, anything close to competent leadership could make things a lot more difficult for the rest of the teams around the NHL.

Have a question for Douglas Flynn? Send it to him via Twitter at @douglasflynn or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

Montreal Canadiens interim head coach Randy Cunneyworth is at the center of controvery surrounding the plunge the Habs have taken, with the Canadiens' losing streak now reaching five games. Many in Habs Nation point the finger at Cunneyworth for his inability to speak French as the root of the problem, but Jack Edwards does not agree. 

French or English, it doesn't matter. The numbers don't add up, and with the recent acquisition of an expensive Tomas Kaberle adding to the already pricey Scott Gomez and Andrei Markov, both of whom are injured, the trio accounts for 27 percent of the Canadiens' salary cap. It all leaves general manager Pierre Gauthier with a no-way-out situation. 

Jack Edwards says that no language barrier could have caused Gauthier's accounting errors.

See the video above for more. 

Tomas Kaberle, last seen in these parts hoisting the Cup last June after frustrating fans with his penchant for coughing up pucks at inopportune times, was traded from Carolina to Montreal on Friday. Officially, the Hurricanes got veteran defenseman Jaroslav Spacek in return. In reality, Carolina got a much bigger return. Namely, they no longer have Kaberle clogging up their cap for the foreseeable future.

This is good news for the Bruins, who now get to enjoy Kaberle's largesse with the puck six times a year in Montreal. The steadily declining play of the former All-Star has a bigger impact on Montreal than just how his defensive gaffes will further weaken their injury-depleted blue line.

Kaberle is also the gift that keeps on giving to Montreal's rivals as his $4.25-million cap hit through 2014 further hampers the Canadiens' ability to improve their team in the coming years. The Habs are already burdened with a $7.357-million cap hit through 2013-14 for Scott Gomez, who has no goals in 13 games this season and is currently on injured reserve with a groin injury.

Then there's defenseman Andrei Markov, who was signed to a three-year deal this summer at a $5.75-million annual hit despite being limited to just seven games last year and 45 games in 2009-10 because of knee injuries. He's yet to play this season and just underwent yet another surgery on his knee.

Actually, when looking at those deals, you can almost see how Montreal general manager Pierre Gauthier could think that Kaberle is on a reasonable deal. Carolina counterpart Jim Rutherford knows better. After seeing Kaberle on his blue line for just 29 games, Rutherford realized what a horrible mistake he made in signing the veteran defenseman this summer.

"I should have known better," Rutherford told the Raleigh News & Observer on Friday. "Tomas is a player who has had a very good career but I should have known better in the sense of where he was in his career. He won the Stanley Cup, he had a short summer and at the start of training camp and the start of the season was not where he needed to be [physically]."

Bruins fans might recognize that refrain, as Kaberle's fitness upon his arrival in Boston also raised concerns. Having won a Cup and cashed in with a lucrative deal with Carolina, did anyone really expect him to be anything but fat and happy with the Hurricanes?

Apparently Rutherford did. He ignored Kaberle's struggles in Boston and anticipated a revival to the form he showed earlier in his career in Toronto. That was not to be. In 29 games in Carolina, Kaberle had 0-9-9 totals and was a minus-12 with 0-4-4 totals on the power play. That's eerily similar to his numbers in Boston, where he had 1-8-9 totals, including 0-3-3 on the power play, in 24 regular season games and was 0-11-11 (0-5-5 on power play) in 25 playoff games.

Kaberle was acquired in part to help spark Boston's struggling power play. Instead, the Bruins got worse on the man advantage, going 7 for 66 (10.6 percent) in the regular season after Kaberle joined the team and 10 for 88 (11.4 percent) in the playoffs. The Habs will be repeating the Bruins' mistake if they think Kaberle will help Montreal's 28th-ranked power play (11.4 percent), though he could help them get to be good a Carolina has been this year. The 'Canes are all the way up in 26th at 12.7 percent.

"He has not done as well as expected, just as the team has not done as well as expected," Rutherford said. "He has played better the last couple of weeks. But to have flexibility next year without his contract is important to us."

The News and Observer added that Rutherford would have preferred to trade Kaberle for a forward, but the GM said "there was not a deal out there that could be made for Kaberle."

No deal to be made except for the one with the only man in the NHL who still seems blissfully unaware that the league implemented a salary cap back in 2005. It was kind of a big deal, coming out of an owners' lockout that shut down the league for a full season and all. But Gauthier doesn't care about no stinkin' cap hits. He learned no lesson from predecessor Bob Gainey's taking on Gomez's crippling cap hit in a deal with the Rangers in 2009 or his own ill-advised commitment to the chronically hobbled Markov.

That may be the only negative out of this deal from a Bruins perspective. This trade may finally be the move that costs Gauthier his job, and competing with the Habs could be even more difficult with a competent GM in place in Montreal.

Rutherford is happy that's not the case now, as he admitted that shedding Kaberle's cap hit was the goal of this deal. The Hurricanes got back 37-year-old Spacek, no picture of health himself as he's currently on injured reserve and played just 12 games this season. But he's also on an expiring contract that frees up cap space after this season.

Spacek has ties to new Hurricanes coach Kirk Muller, who played with Spacek in Florida and coached him as an assistant in Montreal. But getting rid of Kaberle was far more important than whatever Carolina could get back in return. "The bottom line was moving Kaberle's contract," Rutherford told the News & Observer.

The Bruins paid a heavy price when they acquired Kaberle, giving up top prospect Joe Colborne and a first- and second-round picks, and for all his faults Kaberle did contribute to the Cup run, playing better as the postseason wore on. And the Bruins didn't compound the error by giving him the huge contract he sought.

That's now Montreal's problem, and Bruins fans wouldn't want it any other way.

After all, self-righteous indignation seems to have become the Province of Quebec's primary export these days.

But Canadiens fans don't have much of an argument against the three-game suspension handed down to Habs forward Max Pacioretty on Monday night for his illegal hit to the head on Pittsburgh's Kris Letang Saturday night.

Yes, it's that same Max Pacioretty. The guy Bruins captain Zdeno Chara drove into a stanchion at the Bell Centre last March, ending Pactioretty's season with a broken vertebra and concussion. He's also the same Max Pacioretty who viciously drove Islanders defenseman Mark Eaton into the boards from behind last December, but that incident is conveniently forgotten by most Montreal fans.

In a controversial decision, Chara was not suspended for his hit on Pacioretty. But regardless of where you stood on that decision, the lack of punishment for Chara is not a valid reason to give Pacioretty a free pass for an illegal hit of his own.

And those were also two very different types of plays. Chara's hit provided far less of a clear-cut case for supplemental discipline. It was a hockey play gone wrong, with horrible consequences resulting as much from the ill-advised design of the stanchions between the benches as it was from the hit itself.

Pacioretty's hit didn't cause the same level of damage. Letang suffered a broken nose but was able to return to the game and, in fact, scored the game-winner in overtime for the Penguins. But the play clearly violated one of the new rules being emphasized in the league to eliminate head shots. That was the factor that NHL vice president of player safety Brendan Shanahan noted in the video explaining his decision, stating, "This was an illegal hit to the head in which the head was recklessly targeted and the principal point of contact."

That brings us to the two biggest differences between this incident and Chara's hit on Pacioretty last year. First, it came on Shanahan's watch, and he has been much more proactive in assessing supplemental discipline for reckless plays, particularly in regard to head shots. Second, it comes with Shanahan having a far stronger version of Rule 48 to enforce this season. That rule now reads that "a hit resulting in contact with an opponent's head where the head is targeted and the principal point of contact is not permitted."

Rule 48 also notes that "the circumstances of the hit, including whether the opponent put himself in a vulnerable position immediately prior to or simultaneously with the hit or the head contact on an otherwise legal body check was avoidable, can be considered."

That was the only defense Pacioretty could offer in his hearing with Shanahan, as Letang did appear to see him coming, but proceeded with his move to get off a shot despite the impending contact.

Pacioretty had every right to hit Letang in that situation, but no right to target his head with that hit. While there have been times when Shanahan's rulings have bordered on threatening to take the physical element out of the game to far too great an extent, in this occasion there is no agenda against hitting at play. The motive behind Shanahan's decision is to eliminate targeting the head with hits that threaten the careers and quality of life of the players on the receiving end.

"In spite of the fact he knows a check is imminent, [Letang] still makes the decision to put the puck on the net," Shanahan said. "Cutting through the middle like this, all players accept the danger and expectation that a full body check may be looming. Letang makes the decision to sacrifice his body, and must accept the possibility of taking a hit to make the play. However, what no player should expect is that his head will be picked and made the principal point of contact on such a hit."

That should be a point that no rational hockey fan can contest. But of the many adjectives used to describe the Montreal fan base over the years, "rational" has never entered the discussion. They didn't waste their tax dollars by flooding the 911 lines on Letang's behalf this time, but you can be sure they'll raise quite a furor over Pacioretty's suspension.

In fact, it's already begun. On the Hockey Inside/Out blog on the Montreal Gazette web site, Mike Boone wrote on Monday night:

"Let the anguished howls begin. This is three games more than Zdeno Chara got for his hit on Pacioretty. It's also three games more than Ryan Malone's hit on Chris Campoli. And three games more than Milan Lucic got for knocking Ryan Miller out of action.

"Gentlemen (and ladies): Start your conspiracy theories."

There's no conspiracy theory here. The only decision by the NHL that should be questioned in this case is how referees Dan O'Rourke and Mike Hasenfratz failed to call a penalty on the play when it happened on the ice. But NHL officials blowing calls is nothing new. At least this time, the league rectified the situation with a just administration of supplemental discipline.

For that, hockey fans should be thankful, and outraged only that anyone could defend such an obvious head shot with a straight face.

They run to the phones and try to get police involved in hockey-related matters, as we saw when (too) many Canadiens fans called Montreal police to try and have Zdeno Chara arrested for his hit on Max Pacioretty. They throw objects on the ice when things don't go their way. And when their beloved hockey team gets eliminated in a well-played, well-deserved Game 7 win by the Bruins, they complain about it to any media source willing to listen.

Montreal Gazette correspondent Dave Stubbs further cemented the idea that the Habs' faithful really can't handle losing when he unleashed what can only be described as an unnecessary diatribe on pretty much anything to do with the Bruins in his article titled "Sore Winners in Beantown."

The headline alone is enough to make any sports fan, let alone Bruins fans, gag. But what follows is even worse. What Stubbs' article seemed to be was an outlet to relieve his own frustration as he attacked Tim Thomas, Andrew Ference, Bruins fans, Boston radio hosts and even the content broadcasted on the TD Garden scoreboard all in one fell swoop. As far as newsworthiness is concerned, there isn't much to it.

"There's been a great deal of poor winning going on in Boston since Wednesday night," he wrote. "And that's a shame given the high road that the Bruins and their extended family could have chosen to drive into the Eastern Conference semifinals."

What Stubbs and other sour Montreal fans don't seem to comprehend is that the Bruins took the "high road" because, unlike in Montreal, the team and the fans have moved on. Yes, Boston celebrated its Game 7 win, but now all focus has been turned to the Philadelphia Flyers. Game 7, as incredible as it was, is in the past.

The Gazette writer refuses to put the series to rest, taking a particular beef with Boston goaltender Tim Thomas for his comments about rookie defenseman P.K. Subban and his antics throughout the series.

It was obvious to anyone watching the game that Subban was trying a bit too hard to draw penalties. He would drop if a Bruins player did so much as skate by him, and there's evidence to prove it. After the game, Thomas called the embellishment by Canadiens players a "travesty" and "infuriating." Fans in Montreal didn't like this very much. Neither did Stubbs.

He wrote of the Bruins' goaltender, "Thomas, usually one of the more polished pieces of cutlery in the drawer, was all kinds of tarnished in his reply."

Now we're comparing hockey players to silverware.

So because Thomas chose to express his opinion and say something negative about the way the Canadiens played, his opinion is "tarnished?" Do the same rules apply to Pacioretty who talked smack about the Bruins from his couch saying, "This game is longer than Brad Marchand's nose?" Doubt it.

Everybody (including the selection committee for the Vezina Trophy) knows that Tim Thomas is a class act. Thomas gave Montreal and Carey Price credit where credit was due before he talked about the embellishment.

Stubbs' next victim was Andrew Ference. Ference certainly didn't make any new friends north of the border with his one-fingered salute to the Bell Centre fans. Yes, it was uncalled for, but he was fined, case closed. Canadiens fans took further issue with his hit on Jeff Halpern, crying for a suspension, even though Halpern was able to get up and play later in the game. In this case, it's surprising the fans didn't overreact more with Chris Kelly's "hit" on Roman Hamrlik. Based on how long it took Hamrlik to get off the ice (long enough for a goal to be scored), it must have been pretty serious, right?

The Gazette correspondent even stooped so low as to attack another journalist. He said that Stephen Harris, a writer for the Boston Herald "proves that you can type with a cheerleader's pompom in each hand." Just as Stubbs proves that you can type with the world's smallest violin in one hand and a box of Kleenex in another.

What Montreal fans and the media should do is recognize that hockey is over. Regardless of how much whining they do in the next few months, the series is over.

The Canadiens won't be playing hockey for a while, and their fans need to relax and let the Bruins continue to play their game.

What do you think about Montreal's reaction after the Bruins' Game 7 victory? Share your thoughts below.

They proved they could beat Montreal, and did it in emphatic fashion with a 7-0 rout at the Garden.

They did it without the extracurriculars that have dominated past meetings between the rivals.

They did it without abandoning the physical style they need to be successful, but still matching Montreal’s skill and speed in a game that featured 146 fewer penalty minutes than the clubs’ previous clash at the Garden.

And they did it with Tim Thomas putting together a perfect performance in net after so many prior struggles against the Canadiens, while also putting a dent in the aura of invincibility Montreal counterpart Carey Price may have been feeling against the Bruins.

“It was a big game,” Bruins right wing Nathan Horton said after scoring a pair of goals in the victory. “Our record against them in the past hasn’t been very good and we wanted to finish off strong. It was exactly as we pictured it.”

No doubt this was one of the Bruins’ biggest regular-season victories in recent memory. But was it enough to give the Bruins confidence they can do again four more times if they meet the Habs again in the playoffs?

“That’s the way we wish we could play every night,” Thomas said. “It should be a big confidence booster for us going forward, and it’s the blueprint of the type of game we want to play.”

And what was the game plan that made the Bruins so effective this time around?

“Get traffic in front of the net, get pucks to the net through traffic,” Thomas explained. “Move our feet, get the puck in deep so we can draw some penalties from the other team. We stayed out of the box for the most part, but the third period, we knew, this type of game, there’s going to be some calls. But that really was a complete, solid game.”

That it was. It was also just the third win in 12 tries against the Canadiens in the past two years. After going 1-3-2 against them last season, this year the Bruins had been 1-3-1 going into Thursday’s game. The lone when was a wild affair with a goalie fight, a line brawl and 182 penalty minutes. It also had 14 combined goals, with the Bruins surrendering six, four on eight power-play opportunities. So as fun as that one was for the fans, it certainly didn’t instill an overabundance of confidence.

Nor did the following meeting in Montreal. That’s best remembered for Zdeno Chara‘s controversial hit on Max Pacioretty, but the Bruins were already down 4-0 at the time of that incident and were completely outplayed in all facets of the game in a 4-1 loss.

So the Bruins needed to respond with a solid effort on Thursday, even as the hype surrounding the anticipated “retribution” for Chara’s hit dominated talk leading up to the contest. But the Bruins didn’t need to win another series of brawls, as entertaining as that may have been. They needed to prove they could win a straight-up hockey game.

“In the playoffs that kind of stuff doesn’t matter,” Bruins forward Gregory Campbell said. “It’s a hard physical game and there are rarely any fights. [The Canadiens] play hard. You can say whatever you want, that they are a small, skilled team, but they play hard and battle. It is important for us to use our size and what makes us successful. The way we compete and battle. We obviously hadn’t fared as well as we would have liked against them this year.  With them being a probable opponent, it was nice for us to play as well as we did.”

Thursday’s win puts the Bruins in control in the quest for the Northeast Division title, as they now lead Montreal by five points with two games in hand. Winning the division will likely land Boston the No. 3 seed in the East. The reward for that will probably be another matchup with Montreal.

The Canadiens are currently in the sixth spot. They’re just two points behind No. 5 Tampa Bay, but the Lightning also have two games in hand against the Habs. The Rangers, who come to the Garden on Saturday, could catch Montreal from behind, as they are just two points back with an equal number of games to play, but a 33rd Boston-Montreal playoff encounter appears the most likely scenario.

The Bruins swept the Habs the last time they meet in the postseason in 2009, but Montreal has won 24 of the 32 playoff meetings overall. Did Thursday’s dominant performance alter the historic balance of power at all and put some doubt into the minds of the Canadiens?

“I don’t think we’re in their heads,” veteran forward Mark Recchi said. “No, I mean I think we played a great game [Thursday]. I think we showed what we’re capable of doing as a team against them. But playoffs, it’s all different stories. If we end up playing them it all starts over there. And I think they have a good team, they’re fast, they’re very skilled, but we have to play our game and we know that.”

The Bruins might not be in all the Habs’ heads, but they did seem to shake up Price a bit. He came in 13-3-2 all-time against Boston, but was driven from the game after giving up five goals in 44:29. Price has proven resilient in the past, overcoming past criticisms from the Montreal fans after the 2009 playoff loss and early this season after the Canadiens traded away playoff hero Jaroslav Halak.

But the Bruins now at least know they can beat him, and Thomas knows he can shut down Montreal’s talented offense. He came into the game with just a 9-14-4 record against Montreal, and his 4.28 GAA against the Canadiens this year was his worst mark against any opponent. That all changed with his 24-save shutout, the first time he’s ever blanked the Habs.

“It’s always nice to beat Montreal,” Thomas said. “Over the years, there’s been times with great success against them, and there’s been times where they’ve had more success against us. They’re chasing us for a playoff spot, and this being the last time we play them before the playoffs I believe, it’s a great win. I’m very happy with the way it turned out obviously.”

The Bruins have every reason to be pleased with their performance on Thursday. Now they just have to prove they can do it four more times if the rivals meet up again in the playoffs.

Do you think Thursday’s win will catapult the Bruins past the Canadiens in the playoffs, or does that matchup still worry you? Share your thoughts below.

After a long day of waiting, Chara finally got word late Wednesday afternoon that the NHL agreed. The Bruins defenseman was not fined or suspended for the hit that left Pacioretty with a severe concussion and a non-displaced fracture of the fourth cervical vertebrae.

As horrible as the effects of that hit were, this was one time the NHL got it right by not overreacting and punishing a player for the result and ignoring the lack of intent.

"It's been hard," Chara said while still awaiting the league's decision. "Obviously I feel bad about what happened. I was trying to make a strong hockey play and play hard and it's very unfortunate the player got hurt and had to leave the game. Obviously it is in my mind."

What wasn't in Chara's mind was a deliberate attempt to injure Pacioretty, despite their past run-ins this season. Pacioretty was the player who shoved Chara after scoring the overtime game-winner in Boston's last visit to Montreal in January, triggering a scrum as an enraged Chara tried to get at the Canadiens' winger.

With that history, there's little doubt that Chara would be looking to finish any hit on Pacioretty, or any other Canadien, that he could. But throughout his lengthy NHL career, Chara has shown he's not the type of player to cross the line to deliberately injure an opponent regardless of the intensity of the rivalry.

"I know that Zee is going through a lot of stuff now and being perceived as a dirty player, which anybody who knows Zee knows that's not the case," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "Knowing him as I know him, there was no intent to injure the player on that play. The location of the play is what caused the damage, and that's the unfortunate part of that."

The hit came along the boards in front of the Bruins bench. Pacioretty had pushed the puck ahead and Chara looked to close him off along the way to prevent an odd-man break. The hit was late, with the puck already gone, and Chara was rightfully called for interference. Anywhere else on the ice that would have been the end of the story.

But Chara and Pacioretty came together just in front of the glass partition between the benches, and the hit drove Pacioretty's head into the stanchion. Pacioretty was knocked out and remained motionless for several minutes before being taken off the ice on a stretcher and rushed to a local hospital.   

"It's just an unfortunate thing, it's not like he was trying to hurt the guy," Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk said. "He didn't even hit him too hard. He just rubbed him out and he hit his head on that partition, and that thing's not going to move, so that's where he got hurt."

The results were devastating. The Bruins know all too well the effects of a head injury like what Pacioretty suffered and the long road to recovery he faces. They've seen it first hand with Patrice Bergeron and Marc Savard suffering serious concussions in recent years.

"You never want to see that happen and I'm sure Zee feels bad," Bergeron said. "It's unfortunate and I hope Pacioretty is going to feel better.

"I don't know, we'll see," Bergeron added when asked if he thought Chara would be suspended. "You have to look at the hit. If it's a bad hit, it's a bad hit. This one was unfortunate that he hit the partition there. It was a bad spot to get hit. They were both kind of leaning into the bench as Zee was trying to buy time on the chip."

Julien also was careful with his words when speaking with the media before the NHL had announced its decision, but stressed that all the Bruins were hoping for a full and quick recovery for Pacioretty.

"That's a tough question to answer," Julien said. "If I answer how bad I feel about [Chara], it's perceived as not caring about the other guy [Pacioretty]. I think the one thing that everybody here hopes, the human side of us wishes him to recover quickly."

At the same time, Julien was quick to defend his captain.

"He plays hard, but he plays clean," Julien said. "It's already a challenge for him at 6-foot-9 to keep his elbows down because the minute he lifts them up a little bit he's hitting guys in the head. So he's made a really good adjustment in regards to that. It's always easy to criticize. It's always easy to attack a guy. But if you take time to look at the situation, there's always going to be a challenge for him [being perceived as] the big bully because he's 6-foot-9, yet he's never shown that. He's defended his teammates, but he's never been a dirty player."

On Wednesday, the NHL agreed. Many fans won't, especially those in Montreal who have lost one of their bright young stars indefinitely. But this was a case of tragic consequences coming out of a play without malicious intent.

This wasn't a situation where a player was targeted with a deliberate head shot like when Matt Cooke blindsided Savard with his cheap shot just over a year ago. That play also drew no suspension, with the league arguing there was no rule on the books against such blindside hits.

There is now, which is the only good thing to come out of that incident. There is also a rule on the books against interference for plays like Chara made Tuesday night. That was called and enforced, with Chara assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct.

That was a just ruling. So was Wednesday's decision not to assess any further punishment on Chara. For once, the NHL's inconsistent wheel o' justice got one right.

Do you agree with the NHL's decision not to suspend Zdeno Chara? Share your thoughts below.

The Garden was electric as the intensity of the ancient rivalry was ratcheted up a few notches to the delight of the capacity crowd, and the events of the night remained the talk of the town the following day as discussion of a game that featured 12 fighting majors and 14 goals dominated the airwaves and water coolers of a region.

It's the kind of buzz that's been tough for the league to generate as it competes against the NFL, MLB and NBA to attract the attention of sports fans beyond the game's loyal following. But hardcore hockey fans and casual observers alike couldn't help but be drawn in by the drama on display when the Bruins and Habs unleashed their hate upon each other.

And the Bruins were more than happy to revel in the extra attention at Thursday's practice.

"Perfect, buzz away," Bruins tough guy Shawn Thornton said. "Keep coming. Keep cheering. I'm a pretty old-school individual. You obviously can't do it every night, but when it's a heated rivalry and things happen, then we took care of it."

That game, combined with last week's equally wild win over Dallas that opened with three fights in the first four seconds of the contest, have helped the Bruins gain even more prominence in the local sports scene that was already on the rise with the club's turnaround the last few seasons.

It opened a few eyes inside the locker room as well, as first-year Bruin Greg Campbell was amazed by the atmosphere after spending the first five seasons of his NHL career in Florida.

"I'm enjoying it a lot," Campbell said. "I've never had a crowd behind us like that. I've never had these intense rivalries before. As a hockey player, I think that's what you want. You want that intensity. You want when you come to the rink that every game is important. Games like that are fun to play in. It's easy to get up for games like that. That's playoff hockey, and I've never experienced that before. It's fun to play and I'm getting used to it."

These kind of fight-filled games do more than just get the fans and players excited though. They can have a real effect on a team's fortunes, as standing up for each other in a brawl can bring a team together. The Bruins witnessed that firsthand when their first fight-filled game with Dallas in 2008 kick-started a 24-2-1 run that vaulted the Bruins to the top seed in the Eastern Conference. This year, another donnybrook with Atlanta in December snapped Boston out of a 1-3-1 skid and started the 14-5-3 run the club is on now.

"I think it's important for a team to have what you hear referred to as team toughness and guys sticking up for each other," Campbell said. "That's a rivalry [between Boston and Montreal] that goes back ages and obviously it's two teams that don't really like each other. The most important thing is that you have to play with emotion, but you can't lose yourself to the extent where the game and winning is an afterthought. You have to play within yourself and use that emotion for your team. I think that was the case in a lot of areas [Wednesday] night."

A full return to the days of the Big, Bad Bruins will never happen. The rules in place in today's game wouldn't allow that level of anarchy on the ice, or in the stands when Mike Milbury and Co. were involved. But even the "new NHL" can still have a little color to it, and it's OK if that color occasionally includes a little crimson on the ice. 

"It's a pretty different game now," Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference said. "Hockey now is bigger and tougher than it's ever been. There might have been some more crazy stuff back in the day, but if we did some of the stuff they did we'd probably end up in jail. We can't get away with some of the antics, but when you talk about body checking and some of the guys fighting, the size of the guys in the locker room, hockey and this team itself is as big and as bad as it's ever been."

It sure seemed that way on Wednesday, and that's something the NHL needs to show every once in a while.

Are games like the Bruins' wild win over the Canadiens on Wednesday good for the game and the teams involved? Share your thoughts below.

Price let up four goals in 10 shots to the Bruins in his first outing and six goals in 30 shots against the Senators in his second game. In fact, those four goals by the Bruins were scored in just 30 minutes.

Sacre bleu!

This has left many Montreal fans wondering whether the Habs made the right choice by trading last season’s playoff hero, Jaroslav Halak, to the St. Louis Blues this summer.

To be fair to Price, one of the goals allowed was a power-play goal, and another was a penalty shot. But the pressure has been mounting on Price and he has yet to prove he can handle it.

Since being drafted fifth overall by the Canadiens in 2005, Price has been promoted as the answer to all of Montreal’s goaltending problems. Price’s problems may begin with the fact that he was so heavily hyped for the past three seasons. 

Montreal also has Alex Auld as its backup should Price really struggle. Auld is a solid backup goalie who can play 30 or more games if needed, but he’s certainly no Halak. Price will be responsible for 2/3 of the season, which means even more pressure for a goalie who had a losing season last year.

Meanwhile, Halak has played one preseason game for the Blues, against the Colorado Avalanche. In that game, Halak allowed three goals on 18 shots. That’s a .833 save percentage. Price has a .743 percentage in his two games.

Price had two good seasons before last year. His problems last season and this preseason could potentially continue or end at any time. It’s tough to judge a goaltender as young as Price. Even though he’s played for Montreal for three seasons, the 23-year-old netminder is too young to assess whether he’ll be a long-time NHL stopper or will eventually end up as just another has-been.

It’s much too early to know whether the Habs made a mistake by keeping Price and trading Halak, but it’s easy to sympathize with fans who don’t think their goalie situation looks ideal.

Price has shown in the past that he has the talent. His biggest challenge will be ignoring the hype and the concern and just playing the game.