Here we go again

It only took the Boston Bruins 2:44 in the first period to remind its fans what they're in for this postseason.

Former Boston College star Brian Gionta capitalized on Tomas Kaberle's terrible blind clearing pass attempt and gave Montreal an early 1-0 lead.

The Bruins never seemed to get untracked from there as they lost 2-0 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals last night at TD Garden.

Gionta's first goal was assisted by Scott Gomez. The pair teamed up one more time with 3:18 left in the third period to seal this one. Milan Lucic was the culprit that time as he had the puck stolen off his stick in his own zone.

Gionta skated in on Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas (18 saves) and roofed it on a shot that Thomas deflected and truthfully has to stop if Boston hopes to get anywhere past the first or second round (which apparently GM Peter Chiarelli doesn't care about).

Montreal goaltender Carey Price made 31 saves for the shutout but other than the second period (when Boston outshot Montreal 18-6), he wasn't really tested that much.

Boston fell back into its bad habits of just trying to score from the point every time. Doesn't matter if it's Zdeno Chara cranking slap shots from back there, unless you have traffic in front of Price, those are probably not going in. Too bad nobody on the Black and Gold seemed to understand that.

It's hard to be positive about the Bs after last night's performance gave you a week's worth of things to keep you up at night. Needless to say, tomorrow night is a must-win. Boston simply cannot go to Montreal down 2-0. It's hard enough to play at the Bell Centre in front of all those yahoos but the Bruins need to take care of business on their home ice.

Along those same lines, the first goal of Game 2 is huge. Once Montreal scored a goal, they were able to morph into a defensive shell and were happy to let Boston basically tire themselves out and then the Canadiens capitalized on their best chance. You have to put pressure on Montreal by scoring first, then you can get physical and pummel them. Not the other way around.

When it comes to soul-crushing losses, the Boston Bruins have the market cornered

I am thankful that I missed most of the Boston Bruins' epic loss to the Montreal Canadiens last night. I had it DVR'd but after I saw the ending, I was straight with seeing any more of the latest turd burger

Since it was the first day of the NFL playoffs, I was watching those much more important games but still managed to catch almost all of the soul-crushing moments of Boston's 3-2 overtime loss to Montreal (23-16-3) at the Bell Centre.

Patrice Bergeron had given the Bs (21-12-7) a 2-0 lead and it appeared like the Northeastern Conference showdown would end nicely for the visitors.

With 2:22 left in the third period, Scott Gomez scored on a fluky power play goal when he just threw the puck at the net and somehow Tim Thomas (39 saves) didn't see it until it was too late.

Zdeno Chara had a good chance to end it with a long shot on Montreal's empty net but it went thru the crease and just wide. I would have said what I was thinking out loud (watch the Canadiens tie this up) but you can't mess with things like that in matters of the Boston Bruins. They are cursed enough as it is.

Wouldn't you know with 48 seconds left, Brian Gionta tied it up from James Wisniewski and Max Pacioretty. It was reviewed since it appeared maybe he kicked it in but no dice, they made the right call that it wasn't intentional.

At that point, you had seen this movie before and it ended like it always does: with Pacioretty scoring 3:43 into overtime. Boston received a point but it's hard to picture a much more pathetic collapse (in the regular season) in a big spot.

After a scoreless first period, Bergeron scored his goals 8:09 apart. Blake Wheeler and Brad Marchand assisted on the first one with Mark Recchi and Chara with the helpers on the second.

Montreal goaltender Carey Price (27 saves) did enough to get the win in front of his bobo home crowd.

The road doesn't get any easier this week as the Bruins travel to Pittsburgh to face the Penguins. The good news for them is that Sidney Crosby is out with a concussion.

Canadiens fans: Eurotrash residing in North America

It figures that my first Boston Bruins-Montreal Canadiens game at the TD Garden would be a turd pie.

The Bruins (8-4-1) seemed to have tired legs from the start (due to their taxing comeback the night before against the Penguins) and the Canadiens (10-5-1) took it to them in a thorough 3-1 beating.

Since Boston was so flat, I have to say the crowd while a couple pops deep was very disappointing. The Bruins did not give us much to cheer about but is it too much to ask to start a fight with a Canadiens fan in the cheap seats?

Montreal's fans were well represented, wearing their red proudly and wildly cheering on this November tilt that ultimately means absolutely nothing.

Poor Tuukka Rask. He played well again last night, making 38 saves and standing on his head at times but it wasn't enough for his team which seems allergic to wins with him between the pipes this season.

Canadiens whipping boy Carey Price (34 saves) did his job but you just know if the team makes the playoffs, he'll choke since that's what he does.

We had barely settled into our cramped seats when Montreal defenseman P.K. Subban (great name) scored a power play goal at 5:19 of the first period from Andrei Markov and Tomas Plekanec.

Bruins captain Zdeno Chara answered with his second goal in as many nights. He was assisted by Milan Lucic and Patrice Bergeron. Z took the open late to the net, got close to Price and picked a corner with a snap shot.

After a scoreless second period, as a Bruins honk I hoped that an epic third period was in store. Not so much. Former BC midget Brian Gionta (from Michael Cammalleri and Plekanec) scored on a power play 29 seconds into the final frame. Chara took a shaky interference call near the end of the second period and it came back to haunt them.

Washed up Scott Gomez put it away at 10:30 from Andrei Kostitsyn and Roman Hamrlik.

The Bruins will look to bounce back at home tomorrow night as they host the Ottawa Senators in another Northeast Division matchup.