by GABRIEL MORENCY

The Canadiens are back in the playoffs, something most Montrealers believe is a god-given right (along with jaywalking). Could it be against anyone else besides the Boston Bruins?

The Bruins are the team the Habs have played and beaten the most often in the post-season, winning 22 of 29 playoff series, most recently in 2002, when the eighth-seeded Canadiens knocked off top-seeded Boston after Kyle McLaren tried to donate Richard Zednik's head to medical science.

Although McLaren is no longer with the Bruins, one of the keys to this series will once again be Boston's discipline, or lack thereof, as the bleu-blanc et rouge have the firepower to make the Bruins pay if they want to spend as much time in the penalty box as their visiting fans spend in Ste-Catherine Street strip clubs (that is, when they're not puking on Ste-Catherine in front of disgusted and annoyed jaywalking locals).

Every game should be a close, low-scoring affair, with even-strength goals at a premium. Even without Joe Thornton at full speed, the Bruins will look to wear down an undersized Canadiens team by hitting them early and often, while the Habs will look to use their speed to pounce on any defensive breakdowns by the Bruins.

If history repeats itself the Bruins might as well throw in the towel right now. It won't. Montreal has had a nice year, but the team's inability to win one-on-one battles in the corners (even when winning) will come back to haunt them. Provided rookie of the year candidate goaltender Andrew Raycroft can do unlike Byron Dafoe and keep his composure, Boston's balance of size, speed and skill will be too much for the Habs to handle. Boston in six. (Don't hate me for picking Boston; remember, at the beginning of the season, I was the only local media member, besides CKAC's Dany Dubé, to predict that the Canadiens would make the playoffs).

Drool at the CBC

Think the CBC is stoked (ABC probably not so much so) that five Canadian teams are in the second season? Every province that has a team is still represented, meaning nation-wide interest. That's the good news for our nation's public broadcaster and favourite money-siphoning machine.

The bad news? With Calgary-Vancouver and Ottawa-Toronto playing each other, two teams will be gone after one round and don't think for a Queen Street second that the suits don't want it to be Vancouver and Toronto that advance as far as possible. Almost makes you wish the Senators and Flames sweep their series, doesn't it?

They won't, but we'd like the Senators to finally lose the inferiority complex and beat the Leafs in seven, while the man who smiles more than Jack Nicholson's Joker (Jarome Iginla) should still be smiling after Calgary beats a Todd Bertuzzi-less Canucks team in seven.

Play ball!!

Another season of Expos baseball has started - you mean you didn't notice? You haven't seen the billboards downtown? The newspaper ads? The TV spots? Didn't you hear about all the players visiting small town halls and big city malls to generate interest in the upcoming season and give back to the community? You didn't?

I could be wrong, but it seems to me that the Freemasons spend more money than the Montreal Expos do on promoting themselves. Out of sight, out of mind and with the Canadiens playing post-season hockey, the Expos will be pushed even further out of sight than last year. With 35 of the first 44 games either on the road or in San Juan, Puerto Rico (same freaking thing), the schedule is every bit as tough, if not tougher, than last year's was and the Expos starting staff is not. If anybody still cared, this would be a very long season, since starting pitching is the name of the game and the Expos just don't have enough of it. Even if they were playing on an even playing field, which they are not, as long as Bud Selig and Donald Fehr continue to sell the team's souls to the highest bidder, the only thing the Expos will win this year is a fourth-place finish.

Playoff Prognosticator

Thursday, April 8
Ottawa at Toronto: Ottawa
New Jersey at Philadelphia: Under
New York at Tampa Bay: TB
Saturday, April 10
Ottawa at Toronto: Toronto
Sunday, April 11
Boston at Montreal: Montreal

Bonus baseball pick

Friday, April 9
New York Mets at Montreal Expos: Expos

Sports Rage with Gabriel Morency is vented weeknights 11 p.m.-2 a.m. on TEAM 990 AM. This column appears bi-weekly. Comments: sportsrage@team990.com