Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas joined Mut & Merloni Thursday to discuss the B’s Eastern Conference quarterfinals win over the Canadiens. In talking with Mike Mutnansky and Lou Merloni, Thomas said he does not respect the play of Habs defenseman P.K. Subban, who appeared to dive in an attempt to draw a penalty on Gregory Campbell with Montreal already on the power play late in the first period Wednesday.

“I have respect for the Montreal Canadiens team and the way they played that series and the way that they battled, but to be completely honest, I don’t have respect for actions like that,” Thomas said when asked about Subban. “That’s a travesty to the game. That’s not the way the game is supposed to be played. When I saw that happen in the first period, when he threw himself back on Campbell… it can be infuriating.

“If anything, it seems the refs let him get away with more, which I’m very surprised at. He’s making the refs look not good on a regular basis. He’s got enough talent, and he’s a good enough player that there’s no need for stuff like that.”

Thomas is not the first Bruin to publicly criticize Subban’s style of play. Center David Krejci was open about his feelings for the rookie defenseman after Game 1 of the series.

“I don’t like him,” Krejci said after Subban appeared to embellish on a play to draw a hooking call in the Habs’ 2-0 win. “I’m not going to say what I think about him, but I don’t like him.”

While Thomas is no fan of Subban’s play, he is clearly a supporter of the Canadiens’ netminder in Carey Price. Both Thomas and Price allowed 17 goals over the course of the series, and though they fought back on Feb. 9, there is clearly a mutual respect between the two.

“He battled hard from start to finish in that series,” Thomas said. “I’ve got to give him a lot of credit. As an opposing goalie, it’s team vs. team. You’re not really playing goalie vs. goalie. In this scenario, when the other goalie’s playing that well, he pushes me to be as good as I can be.

“There were moments where you just kept waiting for him to hopefully break. It just never happened. A lot of times, if you put enough pressure for a long enough time on the opposing goalie, they’ll break. That didn’t happen.”

The Bruins will open the Eastern Conference semifinals Saturday in Philadelphia vs. the Flyers.

Had the Bruins lost Wednesday’s Game 7 against the Canadiens, the backlash would’ve been severe. Bruins fans and Boston media would be calling for Claude Julien‘s head and the general feeling would be one of disgust and disbelief at the fact that the B’s fell short in a Game 7 once again.

If the reactions by Montreal players after the game are any indication, there will not be anywhere near that sort of outcry north of the border after it was the Canadiens who fell short in Game 7. The mood in the locker room was one of disappointment, obviously, but also one of optimism about the future of the Habs.

“You see the maturity of the team, and it’s going in the right direction,” said captain Brian Gionta. “We didn’t get the result we wanted this year, but you look at some of the guys who played and they really made great strides for this organization. Hopefully we can continue that and grow off that.”

One point of pride for the Canadiens was how they battled through injuries all season. They rarely had their full team healthy and playing, and that didn’t change in the playoffs. Andrei Markov and Josh Gorges, two of the team’s best defensemen, missed the entire series, as did forward Max Pacioretty. On top of that, forward David Desharnais and defenseman James Wisniewski both battled through injuries during the series and missed varying amounts of time.

“We’ve had young guys have to step in and play big minutes and play big roles and elevate their game,” said defenseman P.K. Subban. “This is how you build a franchise, when you give guys like that the opportunity. We were all given great opportunities here, and it just looks great for the franchise the next couple years. There’s a lot of young talent and a lot to look forward to. … If guys don’t step up, we don’t even have this opportunity to be in a Game 7, or even be in the playoffs.”

That said, there was still plenty of disappointment in the Montreal room. Although overcoming that kind of adversity can certainly be seen as a positive, they didn’t want to use an excuse for losing to the Bruins.

“Maybe the outside public can commend us for those sorts of things, and we definitely appreciate that, but it’s not something we dwell on very much,” Michael Cammalleri said. “Whoever’s next over the boards has to do their job. It really doesn’t do us any good dwelling on those things.”

MONTREAL — The Habs seemed to have held a semi-optional morning skate Thursday in anticipation of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals vs. the Bruins. In addition to both goaltenders, nine forwards (Michael Cammalleri, Tomas Plekanec, Jeff Halpern, Ryan White, Benoit Pouliot, David Desharnais, Lars Eller and Tom Pyatt) and six defensemen (Jaroslav Spacek, Paul Mara, Brent Sopel, Yannick Weber, Hal Gill and P.K. Subban) took the ice.

Among the missing for the skate were Brian Gionta, Andrei Kostitsyn, James Wisniewski, Mathieu Darche and Roman Hamrlik.

MONTREAL — Brad Marchand stood straight-faced in the hallway at Whiteface Lake Placid Olympic Center Wednesday and spoke about what the playoffs mean to him, not even acknowledging how ridiculous he looked.

Brad Marchand shoots, and also shoots his mouth off. (AP)

Marchand, the Bruins’ 22-year-old rookie wise guy, was sporting two different shoes — a white one on the right and a taped-up black one on the left — as he touched on his first taste of playoff hockey at the professional level.

“The amount of emotion and energy of the crowd, it’s so exciting and you get such an adrenaline rush every time you’re on the ice,” Marchand said. “It’s a special time of year.”

Of course, Marchand’s quirks are why he’s become a fan favorite in his rookie campaign in Boston. Off the ice, he isn’t afraid to blast a player or team (he called out Matt Cooke and essentially called the Canadiens divers at different points this season), and on the ice his mouth is just as active as his legs.

Chippy and chirpy, Marchand is the type of player referees keep an eye on, and when going against similar guys, provides great entertainment.

That’s part of what has made this year such a great year (injuries and ugliness aside) for the Bruins/Canadiens rivalry. The additions of Marchand, James Wisniewski and P.K. Subban have provided proof that when it comes to the Bruins and the Habs, the hatred is just as apparent among the players as it is with its fans.

“I know a lot of fans and media like to build it up, but we do [too]. We try to use it to our advantages,” Marchand said of chirping. “It’s a different asset, and in a seven-game series, you can use it to your advantage. Even if the other team takes one penalty, you can capitalize on that one opportunity and it can change the game. Every guy who plays that role — me and Subban and Wisniewski — whoever it is, you definitely want to use it to your advantage.”

Marchand and Wisniewski have been frequent partners in the game of trash-talk. After all, it was Marchand’s hit on Wisniewski after a whistle on Feb. 9 that led to the line-wide scrap that culminated in the world’s worst goalie fight between Tim Thomas and Carey Price. Subban also crushed Marchand in the Dec. 16 game, causing Marchand to miss some time.

Wisniewski was acquired by the Habs back in December in a deal that sent a couple of draft picks to the Islanders. Like Marchand, he is known for using lip as an asset on the ice, so despite their history from the Feb. 9 game, Marchand sees the similarities between the two players as the biggest reason as to why they’ve developed their yapping rapport.

“I don’t know if it’s been like that [just because of Feb. 9]. He’s one of those guys who likes to chirp a bit, and I’m the same way,” Marchand said. “We’ve just kind of been at each other a little bit. It’s just part of both teams’ games to kind of chirp a bit. They play that same style, and we do too.

“When you get two teams like that, there’s always a little bit more after-the-whistle stuff. Maybe at some point it’s kind of taken away from my game, so I might settle down a little.”

The regular season was an exercise in not going over the line with his extracurricular activity on the ice. He would often admit that it could be difficult to know when he was crossing it, and that Claude Julien had a stare reserved for when he did.

Now in the playoffs, Marchand hasn’t seemed to change the way he’s gone about trying to bug the opponent. He can thank the nature of the playoffs, which generally sees referees more lenient, for that.

“I think that kind of helps a little bit, but at the same time, you are always aware of what you’re trying to do out there. You don’t want to be the guy that takes that bad penalty that ends up in a bad goal. You’re always a little extra careful, but at the same time, you don’t want to change the game too much.”

David Krejci was not a happy camper Thursday. (AP)

The Bruins had plenty of reason to be frustrated with their inability to put one past Carey Price in their 2-0 loss to the Canadiens in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals, but David Krejci‘s frustration extended past the score board.

With the Bruins trailing the Habs, 1-0, in the first period, Krejci was tangled up with Habs rookie defenseman P.K. Subban. Subban turned on the jets, seemingly knowing Krejci’s stick would obstruct him just enough for the officials to take notice, and drew a questionable hooking call that left the crowd booing and Krejci hoping for a better call. Krejci was even more upset when the refs didn’t treat second-period play similarly when he went crashing into the boards on the power play.

“I barely touched him,” Krejci said of his hooking call on Subban. “Then we had a power play in the second period, and they did the same thing to me. I almost killed myself by the boards there behind the net, and the ref didn’t see it, I guess. I know people make mistakes, but come on, the puck’s there, so there’s two referees. If he calls that penalty on me, he’s got to call [the other one] too. Obviously it sucks, but I can’t bring it back.”

As for Subban, who has proven on multiple occasions that he’ll do whatever he can to draw a penalty, Krejci didn’t hide his thoughts.

“I don’t like him,” Krejci said. “I’m not going to say what I think about him, but I don’t like him. I think he didn’t have to go down that easily, but it was a call. I don’t think it was a bad call or a good call, it was just a made call, but if you make a call that’s fine with me, but he’s got to make the same call on the other side when that happened to me. That’s what I’m kind of mad about.”

Hours before Tuesday’s game against the Canadiens was set to begin, Bruins forward Brad Marchand apparently wanted to get the first shot in.

Marchand, who has never been afraid to put things frankly, shared some interesting thoughts on the Habs Tuesday morning.

“They like to get in and shoot their mouths off and then when you hit them they’ll dive down and fall easy,” Marchand told a group that included CTV’s Arpon Basu.

“They get a lot of shots behind the play, and then they play it off like when we run them they didn’t do anything to deserve it.”

The rivalry has provided no shortage of fireworks this season, as the two teams combined for 187 minutes on Feb. 9, with many of those minutes coming from a scrap caused by a late Marchand hit on James Wisniewski after the whistle upon the Habs’ defenseman touching up on an icing call.

Marchand was also the recipient of a huge hit from P.K. Subban on Dec. 16 that caused him to miss a few games with what the team described as “soreness.”

With the Canadiens in town on Wednesday, a regulation win for either team means a four-point swing in the standings. With the Bruins leading the Habs by two points, that means a ton right now.

The unfortunate thing for the Bruins is that they have yet to win against the Canadiens this season, going 0-2-1 in their three games and blowing a 2-0 lead late in the third period Jan. 8 en route to a 3-2 overtime loss.

“It’s a long season,” Shawn Thornton said of the B’s lack of success against the rival Habs. “The last game in there we definitely should have won. … We had a couple of breakdowns, they ended up pulling it out late, and give credit to them for not giving up, but it’s a long season. We’ve got three more against them, and hopefully we can do some damage control.”

The Canadiens are coming off a 4-1 loss to the Devils on Sunday. Here are a few other notes:

- In case you haven’t seen it yet, Tyler Seguin is a healthy scratch for the Bruins. It’s technically the second time he’s been a “healthy” scratch, with the team listing flu-like symptoms as the reason he didn’t play on Dec. 11 against the Flyers. Zach Hamill and Jordan Caron are both in the lineup playing on the third and fourth line, respectively.

- Patrice Bergeron, who left Tuesday’s practice and had to go to the hospital for stitches after getting a puck to the face, is fine and will play Wednesday. Mark Recchi and Zdeno Chara were not on the ice for morning skate but were just given the morning off to rest. They’ll both play as well.

- It looks like the recent exchange between former Bruin Hal Gill and rookie P.K. Subban in which Gill called the fellow blueliner an “a–hole” over his treatment of the team’s jersey was blown way out of proportion. Members of the Montreal media here who observed the exchange are saying the it was very obviously a joke after Gil accused Subban of “throwing” the Habs’ jersey on the ground while getting undressed.

- Speaking of Subban, Tuesday will be his first game at the Garden since destroying Brad Marchand with a very clean but very hard hit in Montreal on Dec. 16. Subban’s done some damage against the Bruins, as he has a goal and an assist against them this season in addition to the hit that kept Marchand out for three games with “soreness.” The Gregory Campbell penalty he drew following the hit also led to a power play goal.

- Claude Julien was asked about David Krejci and his hopes to step his game up with Marc Savard out. Julien had an interesting answer.

“I’d like him to elevate it all the time. It’s something that I think he strives to be consistent, and I think he’s a good player, but he’s got the ability to be a great player. When he’s given that challenge he seems to rise to that occasion.”

Krecji has no goals over his last 19 games.