- [Will] The Bruins and Canadiens have created
a rivalry that's seen some shit.
It's full of tradition and blood and Stanley Cups,
but rivalry and beef are two different things.
One can help propel the other, sure,
but beef requires a special group of players
seeing way too much of each other
to turn something storied into, well, whatever this was.
(classical music)
Stylistically, these teams were a powder keg.
The big, bad Bruins could change games
with their physical play.
They owned a size advantage over most teams,
best exemplified by their captain, Zdeno Chara,
who was more than ready to stick up for a teammate.
But guys like Milan Lucic rarely needed the help.
And the smaller Brad Marchand could also hold his own
or just serve as a lightning rod to get things going.
The Canadiens were smaller, speedier,
and had a cast of fresh faces
seemingly prescribed for this rivalry.
P.K. Subban emerged as a star defenseman
with solid scoring ability,
but an even better ability to poke the bear.
Guys like Max Pacioretty and, eventually, Alexei Emelin
made it clear this was a team
that still could get physical.
This crew headlined a new wave of players
that were ready to fire up some beef.
Heading into 2010-2011, there wasn't much reason to guess
what was in store.
Sure, there were a couple mini-feuds
that tried to get off the ground.
They'd met in the playoffs with more regularity,
but things were fairly calm.
Enter Subban and Marchand.
In their second time facing off that season,
as the Bruin sliced his way up the ice,
P.K. caught him with a massive hit
that sent Marchand to the bench.
It also sent some Bruins after Subban
who not only shrugged them off,
but set the Habs up with a man advantage.
And that order of operations, it pissed off Boston.
He hit a Bruin, he declined fights,
he drew a penalty, he established what would become a theme.
David Krejci voiced Boston's disapproval
of how Montreal, being a smaller team,
could get away with some stuff
that a bigger, more physical team like Boston couldn't.
Which led to the Bruins taking things into their own hands.
The Habs pretty much said, "Yeah, you got it in one."
They knew it was an emotional matchup,
so why not play right into that.
And P.K. didn't mince words when describing
the team's mentality against Boston.
This new batch of Canadiens was already
drawing the ire of Boston faithful.
What amplified things was that
for the first half of the season,
Montreal had the Bruins' number as the teams
were neck and neck in the standings.
Even when they squared off for a third time
and the Bruins had a 2-0 lead with under three to play,
the Habs found a way to pull off the comeback in overtime.
And thanks to that extra time together,
after Pacioretty scored his game winner,
he celebrated with a little shove to Chara.
Chara disapproved, looked to take on
the entire Habs line by himself,
but the refs managed to squash things for now.
As Boston's captain was escorted off the ice,
Montreal took over the top spot in the division.
That meant the Habs were in more of a joking mood
when discussing the event after the game,
with Pacioretty adding that he couldn't even move
the 6'9" defender.
As for Chara, he had no intentions of chatting.
Considering how the teams were built,
it was a little surprising who was pushing who around.
That was on the mind of Bruins' head coach, Claude Julien,
ahead of their next showdown.
Julien had a special perspective on the rivalry,
having spent a few years behind Montreal's bench,
and looked to send a message to his guys.
Which, in turn, was relayed to the Habs
through fists and goals.
February 9th, 2011 became something special.
With just two points separating the teams,
they turned in an absolutely wild performance.
Emotions overflowed at the end of the first,
thanks to Carey Price shoving Lucic from behind a few times.
Lucic quickly countered and the Habs defense,
specifically Subban, responded in turn.
Everyone got involved with the clock at zero
and a couple of our key beef boys got
a little separation from the pack.
But with three of the four officials focused on them,
the tension just kept on building.
But it finally got some release during a second period
that felt like a full game all by itself.
Seven goals in just over six minutes.
It was an explosion that no one could have seen coming
and left the broadcasters baffled and giddy.
- [Announcer] Aren't these two of the best defensive teams
in the league, Jack?
- [Jack] One and two, baby!
- [Will] But there was also the more expected explosion.
And that got sparked by this icing call.
- [Announcer] Marchand unloads,
now we got a donnybrook going!
- [Will] Marchand shouldn't have finished this check.
But since he did, everyone jumped to the corner,
including a pair with some fresh history.
Chara tried his hardest to get Pacioretty to square up,
but the Hab declined with a little turtling.
Not to be left out, Tim Thomas skated all the way over
to ask Price for a dance,
which mostly ended in exhausted smiles.
Their comic relief capped off a scuffle
that would leave the penalty boxes well beyond capacity.
Then, once Boston stretched their lead late,
the beef again took full focus.
Subban had sparred with Nathan Horton all night long,
often getting the worse end of things.
So when Subban came in with his stick high
and Horton offered a shove, gloves went flying.
But Lucic also really wanted Subban
and caused a pileup in the corner,
then hogged P.K. for himself.
Thanks to the refs,
we still wouldn't get Subban throwing punches
and this would just be an amuse bouche to the final dish.
With nothing but beef to play for,
Andrew Ference and Travis Moen
got us started behind the net.
As they went to the ice, the rest paired up
and the Canadiens took a few more L's on the night.
Oh, poor Tom Pyatt, you beautiful boy.
There was one last gasp as Adam McQuaid,
possibly on Chara's behalf,
tried to get Pacioretty to fight.
But the refs were ready to go home and I can't blame them.
The game had gotten so out of hand that people were asking
what place fighting still had in the sport.
But for the Bruins, that night of absurd numbers
was worn as a badge of honor.
Marchand made it clear they had been sick
of getting beat by Montreal, in both senses of the word.
The fact they were able to maintain the lead
meant they could retake the physical edge as well.
A mission easier said than done,
since they continued to try and fight a team
that didn't want to fight.
He called out Subban specifically,
claiming he declined four fights on one shift.
With two more regular season matchups and playoff potential,
it seemed there'd be plenty of chances for that to change.
But their next time facing off,
the beef took a different look.
After going at it with varied results
over the last two games,
Pacioretty and Chara caught up
with less than 20 seconds left in the second period.
Chara finished a check, arguably late,
which guided Pacioretty's head into
one of the barriers along the bench,
resulting in one of the scarier sights within the sport.
It left him unconscious on the ice,
needing to be stretchered off.
The hit understandably stole headlines from Montreal's win.
It sent Pacioretty to the hospital,
but once the league reviewed things,
they decided not to suspend Chara.
And there were a lot of thoughts about this.
It was already a brutal hit
that could have been much, much worse.
Pacioretty was left fuming while in recovery.
He felt that Chara had some intent behind the hit.
Those who were on the ice described the moment
as sounding like a gun went off.
At that point, Chara wasn't too apologetic.
Said that it was unfortunate and it was on his mind.
But he also didn't believe he was fully to blame here.
Maybe the guy going at full speed leaned
and jumped into the turnbuckle.
Historically, Chara had been a pretty clean player,
which was the main argument for why he wasn't suspended.
Most folks though, threw his past out the window.
It was less about him and more about the league
not sending a message to curb dangerous hits.
Even Chara's teammate, Patrice Bergeron,
who had unique insight on what Pacioretty was going through,
wondered whether that type of hit,
at its most innocent level, should be in the game.
Had it been left up to the fans,
Chara would have faced something bigger
than just a suspension.
Montreal's police did, in fact,
open an investigation on the Bruin.
But while that would take time to get sorted out,
hockey had to be played.
And these teams still had to see each other again.
Talk of retribution came to no surprise for Chara.
His coach though, summed up the last few months.
A storied rivalry that turned uglier than you'd want,
which would justify a revenge narrative.
It just would need to be carried out by Montreal.
And just in case the Habs needed
a little more reason to do so,
Mark Recchi stoked the flames by accusing the Canadiens
of blowing Pacioretty's injury out of proportion
in hopes of getting Chara suspended.
He later claimed to just be trying to take
some of the heat off Chara.
It's just there are less shitty ways
you could do that, Mark.
But with retribution in the air,
their next matchup was a different type
of beating for Montreal.
And although the Habs won the regular season series,
Boston had completely stolen the momentum
just in time for these teams to meet in the playoffs.
That opening round matchup turned into
an absolutely incredible back-and-forth series
with just some minor moments for our sake,
like a middle finger to the fans or the occasional fight.
But the biggest beef changer was
that Boston got proper bragging rights.
And not just for winning a grueling seven-game series.
They went on to win the whole dang thing.
It was just the second time they'd ever gone
through Montreal on the way to winning the Cup.
And while even in victory some Bruins still found time
to focus on the flopping proficiency of certain players,
as Boston hoisted the Cup,
it solidified a gap between these teams
that was about to grow wider.
Montreal tailspinned the following season.
And with two sides going in different directions,
things understandably calmed down, in a relative sense.
There were still moments like
P.K. and Marchand dropping gloves,
but that only made it clear why this was
a rare sight for Subban.
Sure, they still hated each other.
It's just that would always be
the case in the storied rivalry.
As Boston finished top of the division,
Montreal was down at the bottom.
And those places would remain stagnant longer than normal
thanks to a lockout, which shortened the 2012-13 season.
But that shortened schedule,
might have been just what they needed to reheat the beef.
With four meetings in only two months,
there was no way to avoid their feelings.
Each contest was a one-score game.
The Habs won three of the four and,
after each of those Boston defeats,
the outcry resurfaced over Subban's or the Habs'
less than honorable tactics.
But most importantly,
the Bruins found a new pain in the ass.
Alexei Emelin, in his second year,
embraced the feud like so many before him.
In March, he had a little body shot on Tyler Seguin,
which led to a response from Chara
down behind the Montreal goal.
That earned the B's captain a game misconduct
during yet another fight-filled night.
But Chara wasn't the only one to set his sights on the Habs.
He and Lucic were a natural pair.
Left wing against right defenseman, physical players,
they were on a collision course.
And as they got to know each other,
their relationship fully bloomed in 2014.
A year where Montreal once again had Boston's number.
That was possibly because when it came
to playing their rivals,
Lucic said Boston was letting emotions get
the better of them and not playing their type of hockey.
But in their final regular season meeting with the Habs,
no one, including Lucic himself, put weight to his words.
Emotions flowed very early in the first,
when Emelin upended Milan with a pretty great hip check.
Chara disagreed and gave everyone a chance to get together.
As the broadcast pointed out,
Lucic was ready to start some shit.
- [Announcer] Lucic is over here on
the Bruins' bench right now, telling the Canadiens' bench,
"You just woke up the beast."
- [Will] But when Emelin repeatedly declined his offers,
the Bruin opted for a little grundle tap
that sent the defenseman to the ice.
Lucic made his frustrations clear afterwards,
calling Emelin a chicken for not wanting to fight.
- I call it, I mean.
If he wasn't scared, he would want to, you know,
he'd stand up and hit me and not go after my knees.
So you know, it just shows how big of a chicken he is,
that he needs to go down like that to take me down, so.
- [Will] And he wasn't the only one
who continued to be frustrated by Montreal.
But good news for Brad.
Plenty more opportunities to do some hits.
That same pair continued to serve
as spokesmen for the rivalry,
but weren't looking to offer any new
bulletin board material.
Marchand even threw some compliments Subban's way,
while pointing out that Boston needed to take
every chance they got to hit him,
without falling for the traps that he presented.
For Montreal, they knew what this Bruins team could do.
And, while they offered praise,
the Habs were also aware their usual antics
may not have the same effect with more on the line.
But even with relative niceties,
folks saw the potential this series had.
And, for better or worse, that potential was met.
The good: Game one required double overtime
thanks to Boston scoring three goals in the third.
The bad: Once Subban ended it there,
things got ugly in a new way.
The Bruins' organization spoke out quickly,
condemning the abuse directed at Subban,
which was on such a scale that
the slur began trending on Twitter in Boston.
Marchand and Lucic denounced the racist messages,
standing up for a guy they'd made it well known
they wanted to punish in the past.
Boston sportswriter Dan Shaughnessy perfect summed up
the city's relationship with Subban after game three.
He pointed out that if P.K. was wearing a Bruins' jersey,
doing the same stuff he was doing for Montreal,
fans would be pushing for a statue of him outside the arena.
But for now, it was the one sour note
to another amazing series.
They once again needed seven games to decide things.
But this time Montreal finished on top
with decisive wins in the finals two contests.
And as the teams gathered to show respect,
Lucic had some feelings to share with the guys
he'd gone against maybe a couple times too many.
Emelin and Dale Weise were on the receiving end
of some choice words,
which quickly made their way to the media.
The Bruin was asked about the comments,
but wasn't interested in going into that.
That was for babies.
It felt like a code was broken, not by him,
and wasn't going to apologize for it.
Lucic defended it by saying he played on emotion.
Always had.
So maybe he was prone to an emotional outburst or two.
The Habs obviously didn't expect him
to genuinely kill someone,
all could agree that would definitely cross the line,
but they were expecting a tough game
the next time they shared the ice.
And at the start of the 2014 season, they got it.
Although Emelin once again was required to set him off.
A well-timed shoulder sent the Bruin to a familiar place.
And when Lucic expressed some of his emotions
against Emelin from behind, he was again booked.
Which helped the Canadiens grow their lead.
From the box, he directed A motion toward the Montreal crowd
like he was rolling dice or something.
It's hard to tell.
But he'd go on to salute the refs
and say his farewells to Montreal as he received
a game misconduct with 20 seconds remaining.
So if he'd planned a revenge tour,
it hadn't gone too smoothly.
But if nothing else, he was consistent
and true to himself in how he played.
Which is really important to this beef.
One that winds around in a bit of an unorthodox way
and means something different to different people
at different times.
For Lucic, his emotions had helped fuel
not just his performance,
but his contributions to the rivalry.
Tito Curtis put it very well:
He wasn't just being a bastard for
the sake of being a bastard.
His passion was needed by Boston.
He loved what he did.
So at its most basic level, can't that effort
be appreciated even by the most diehard Canadien fan?
It's like Subban.
His jersey would sellout in Boston
if he was playing for the B's.
But, because he agitated them,
threw the Bruins off their game,
did whatever he needed to do to help his team win,
he's loathed in Boston.
That goes the same for Marchand, for Chara, for Emelin.
And I think that's exactly why this rivalry
has remained great in a traditional sense,
while also capable of catching fire at any second.
They have always been together.
They have always complimented each other.
But for the most part, there has also been respect.
And it's been when that was lost that things really changed.
That's what led to repeated cheap shots,
or regrettable comments,
or games filled with brawl after brawl.
But because the history of their rivalry
predates any of the players, even anyone watching this,
they'll continue to find an appreciation for one another
which helps level things out.
It just might take a long time to find that appreciation.
So this iteration of beef was done.
It petered out as the teams missed
each other in the playoffs.
And a schedule with less divisional games
meant fewer chances to keep it fresh.
Players went off to wear new jerseys, find new foes,
but surely this won't be the last time Boston
and Montreal's historic rivalry jumps the shark
and lands in beefier waters.
All it takes is the right collection of players
and a little over exposure.
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(gentle piano music)