There is certainly an old-school feeling in the air these days with both of Boston’s winter sports teams standing a legitimate chance of advancing beyond the first round of the postseason.

Let’s get started by talking about a Boston hockey team that wouldn’t mind holding a Duck Boat parade this spring.

The Original Six rivalry is renewed yet again as the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens square off in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. This year the roles are reversed, with the B’s earning the top seed in the Eastern Conference. The Bruins came out of the gate fast, winning the first three games of the series, what’s your prediction for the remainder of the series?

Todd: No doubt that the Bruins have been the superior team all year and swept the season series from the Canadiens, which has had some fans of the black and gold hoping this playoff matchup would come to fruition. But be careful what you wish for, because the team playing in the bleu, blanc et rouge celebrating its 100th anniversary would like nothing better than to play the role of eighth seeded spoiler. Goaltender Carey Price may only be 21 (and is no Ken Dryden or Patrick Roy), but he has more playoff wins than Tim Thomas and played well enough in last year’s playoffs to send the Bruins golfing. The Habs will need to catch a few breaks and goad the B’s into committing some bad penalties in order to pull off the upset, but I think it can happen. I say Montreal wins the series in a Game 7 stunner.

Mike: OK…hold on there a minute. I need to pull back the curtain here and address the issue of my colleague’s above prediction. He was (and presumably still is) a Hartford Whalers fan) and probably made that pick with “the Brass Bonanza” playing in his head.

I’m not saying his connection with “the Whale” colored his prediction, but I wanted it out there. And, in the interest of full disclosure, I will admit to being both a Bruins and Canadiens fan. But, that has nothing to do with my prediction here.

The Bruins have played solid hockey all year, and the days of the dreaded “Montreal curse” are long behind us. Anniversary or not, the Habs simply aren’t as good as the Bruins, and Tim Thomas is a far superior goalie than Price. Bruins win this in five. And, I’ll go out on an even further limb here, I’m saying they are going to win their first Stanley Cup since the days of Bobby Orr and the Big Bad Bruins.

The Boston Celtics began defense of their 17th NBA Championship this weekend when they open the playoffs against the Chicago Bulls, losing the first game of the series, but bouncing back to take Game 2 Monday. However, the big news is that it looks like Kevin Garnett may be unavailable for the entire postseason. What’s your prediction for this first-round series and the long-term chances of the Green repeating without their defensive and emotional leader?

Todd: The Bulls should not pose any kind of matchup problems for the Celtics regardless of KG’s availability, with the C’s winning in six games. Backing up for a moment, credit should go to Doc Rivers and the C’s for managing to win 62 regular season games and the second seed in the Eastern Conference, despite Garnett essentially missing the last two months of action. I was impressed watching how the bench, which went into this season as a question mark, developed to the point where guys like Big Baby Davis, Leon Powe and Eddie House are players you can count on in crunch time if needed.

But it’s obvious that without KG for the playoffs it will be extremely difficult for the C’s to get past Cleveland or Los Angeles, if they are even able to get that far. Right now the Cavaliers and Lakers are the top two teams in the league and each have home court in their respective conferences, an advantage that is much more meaningful in the NBA than the NHL.

Mike: No Garnett? No championship. It’s as simple as that.

It’s been an amazing run for the Celtics this season, posting an impressive 62 wins without one of the best players in the NBA for a good chunk of the season, and like you said Todd, the development of the bench players has been a very positive thing.

However, the playoffs are a different case. There are no easy games in the NBA playoffs, as the Celtics learned against Atlanta last season. And without KG, I don’t think they have the horses to make another championship run.

The Celtics will get by Chicago, they have enough talent to do that, and I agree with Todd, I think it will take them six games, but after that, things get dicey. They will likely have to face a very tough Orlando squad in the second round, and if they get by them, LeBron and the Cleveland Cavaliers will be waiting in the Eastern Conference Finals. I’m thinking the Celtics will get by Orlando in seven, but that will be it and will go down to Cleveland in five. While it isn’t the ending Celtics fans want, getting to the conference finals without their best player is a pretty successful season in hindsight.

“We’re just saying…” is a regular feature on keepMEcurrent.com. Mike Higgins and Todd Bloniarz have been observing Boston sports all of their lives. In their professional lives, Mike is the sports editor for Current Publishing and Todd has called and covered games for various outlets ranging from high school, college and even the Boston Red Sox for one memorable inning on NESN during the 2003 season.

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