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jstewismybastardson
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"Unacceptable." That's the word Mario Tremblay used on RDS's L'antichambre postgame show Wednesday night to describe how the Canadiens were battered, bruised and beaten 8-6 by the Bruins in Boston.
"Disgusting."
That's the word Chris Nilan used to describe it Thursday afternoon on Mitch Melnick's The Team 990 radio show.
The former Canadiens weren't talking about the way the Bruins gooned it up, but about how the Canadiens responded to it. Tremblay borrowed a phrase from another former Canadien, Jacques Laperriere: "You don't go to war with a water pistol ... you need big bullets."
Wednesday's Beat Down in Beantown was still the hot topic of conversation yesterday on Montreal's sports talk-radio shows ... never mind the fact the Canadiens lost 4-3 in a shootout to the lowly New York Islanders Thursday night at the Bell Centre.
"All the years I played for the Canadiens -12 years as a player, two as head coach and three as a pro scout -I never saw something like that ... I never saw a Canadiens team intimidated that way," Tremblay said when I reached him by phone Thursday.
Tremblay and Nilan weren't blaming the Canadiens players who did drop the gloves -including Jaroslav Spacek and Tom Pyatt, who both took a beating -but did question the reluctance of 6-foot-7, 241-pound defence-man Hall Gill to fight.
Former Quebec Nordiques head coach Michel Bergeron mocked Gill on L'antichambre Wednesday night, saying he was "6-foot-22" and all he did was pick up the gloves and sticks and bring them back to the bench after the fights were over.
Nilan also wasn't impressed, telling Melnick he has defended Gill in the past when he was accused of being "soft."
"To be a guy his size, it's not so easy to hit guys that are quick and speedy," Nilan told Melnick. "But it's really easy to grab a guy who hits your goalie twice right in front of you ... when he gets crosschecked and then knocked down again by (Milan) Lucic ... (Gill) just going and tapping him and giving him a little hug or whatever he did to him. ...
"It disgusted me to see that ... a goalie getting hit and nothing happening."
Tremblay's voice was rising in anger during our phone conversation as he recalled Wednesday's game.
"The thing that I didn't like, all game long (Shawn) Thornton was running (P. K.) Subban, which is totally unacceptable," Tremblay fumed. "When the other team goes after your best players and you don't respond, it's a f-----shame."
Sounds like Tremblay still wears the CH on his heart.
"Of course I do," he said. "I won five Stanley Cups with that team and I still follow them. I was f-----pissed off (Wednesday) night, I'm telling you."
What would Tremblay have done if he was still a player?
"What do you think?" he said with a laugh.
What would Nilan have done if he was still a player?
"I don't think I would have sat around and watched it," he told Melnick. "I think when you're down 2-0 (in the first period), something has to be done to try and spark that team, whether it's good bodychecks, whether it's bumping into the goalie, whether it's dropping your gloves and fighting someone ... trying to put a little life into your team. But again, they don't have the guys who are going to do that."
And that's a problem.
I don't know if it's fair to put the blame on Gill. While he is a big man, I think he fits the role of father figure to Subban a lot better than he fits the role of an enforcer. And if you watch Gill's fights on YouTube, you quickly realize he's not very good with his fists. Also, Lucic is a beast ... and remember what the big, bad Bruin did to Mike Komisarek when he was with the Canadiens.
But I think it's time the Canadiens finally found someone who can stand up to Lucic ... someone like the Ottawa Senators' Chris Neil.
"We need someone big, we need someone tough, a guy like Chris Neil," Nilan told Melnick. "A guy who can play, a guy who can fight. But those guys don't grow on trees."
No kidding ... especially not in Montreal. The Canadiens haven't really had a tough guy who could also play since Shayne Corson. He is the last Canadiens player to register 50 points and 100 penalty minutes in a season, and that was way back in 1997-98.
The Canadiens actually could have had Lucic, who was selected by Boston in the second round (50th overall) at the 2006 NHL entry draft. That's the year the Canadiens took David Fischer in the first round (20th overall) and Ben Maxwell in the second round (49th overall, one pick before the Bruins took Lucic).
Both Nilan and Tremblay believe the Canadiens will have problems in the playoffs if they don't address their lack of toughness before the Feb. 28 trade deadline.
"Let's say Montreal finishes eighth this season, they're going to play against the Flyers," Tremblay said. "I don't think they have enough toughness to play against that team. And let's say they finish sixth and play against Boston, it will be the same s---."
Said Nilan: "With a team like (the Canadiens), with the smaller guys like (Scott) Gomez, (Michael) Cammalleri, you definitely have to have a cast of characters around that can protect them and play a physical game. Not only to protect them and be there for them, but so they can score goals five-on-five. They can't score goals five-on-five because they don't have the size. If they score off the rush, fine, but they're not going to score off the dump ... regain control of the puck and then make plays at the net ... it's just not going to happen."
The Toronto Maple Leafs are the visitors tonight at the Bell Centre, a team GM Brian Burke is building with "proper levels of pugnacity, testosterone, truculence and belligerence." I imagine the Leafs have seen video of how the Bruins ran over the Canadiens and might come in with a similar game plan.
If they do, it will be interesting to see how the Canadiens respond.
Read more: Ex-Habs bemoan lack of grit
