Before we say "I told you so" about the non-immediate effect and possible long-term effect Guy Carbonneau’s goaltending change would and could have on the Canadiens, we have to ask, is there some conspiracy against Bruins Head Coach Claude Julien?

Julien took his team to the playoffs after it was picked to finish dead last in the Eastern Conference, this despite missing his star center Patrice Bergeron for most of the season and battling 364 man-games in total lost to injuries. Yet he was not nominated for the Jack Adams Award? Instead it was Carbonneau, Red Wings Head Coach Mike Babcock and Capitals Head Coach Bruce Boudreau.

What gives here? Don’t Julien’s accomplishments with the Bruins this past season define what the award is about? According to the NHL, the Jack Adams Award is “awarded annually to the National Hockey League coach adjudged to have contributed the most to his team's success.”

Did Julien not do that with his aggressive and defensive system implemented successfully with what on paper was a mediocre team? Did numerous Bruins players not credit him multiple times for implementing a system “that anyone can succeed in”? Yes he did, and yes, the players did say that throughout the season. This system helped the Bruins to 41 wins, and while this doesn’t factor into the voting, it almost helped Boston come back from a 3-1 deficit against the Canadiens in the first round.

No disrespect to Babcock, who coached the Red Wings to the President’s Trophy, but he did not face nearly as much adversity as Julien. And on paper, he has one of, if not the best, offenses in the league. If Babcock’s nomination was simply a case of having to have a Western Conference coach in there, then why not Colorado head coach Joel Quenville? He faced similar injury problems to Julien, with Joe Sakic, Ryan Smyth and Jose Theodore all missing significant amounts of time.

Carbonneau’s nomination is no surprise, as he, like Julien, took a team expected to do nothing to the best record in the East. But his first-round counterpart should have gotten the nod for the third nomination. Given, this was a very difficult season for the voters as there were plenty of good nominees (Wayne Gretzky, Barry Trotz and Dave Tippett come to mind), but Julien earned at least a nomination and in this scribe’s opinion, the Jack Adams Award!

Carbonneau was nominated for the Jack Adams and the feeling here is that he has a legit chance and is a solid nomination, but Boudreau will beat him out. However, while Carbonneau did a splendid job with his squad during the regular season, he has done a sub-par job at best during the playoffs, and his decision to not go back to Carey Price after a bad Game 3 and start Jaroslav Halak for Game 4 was the wrong one. While Halak played well and really could only maybe be blamed for the Flyers' second goal, it was once again evident that goaltending is not the main problem for the Canadiens right now.

The Habs problems lie in three areas: Special teams, underestimating their opponents, and lack of a physical presence. These problems were clearly evident in the first round against Boston and were the reason for the Canadiens almost blowing a 3-1 lead in the series. Games 1, 4 and 7 were by far Montreal’s best games of that series and that was because the Habs took the body to a physical team and beat the Bruins at their own game. They also didn’t show the overconfidence they displayed in games 2,3, 5 and 6, when they allowed the Bruins to come out and dictate play. The special teams were also lacking in those four games as well as during every game against the Flyers.

Well, the Habs probably aren’t overconfident anymore, not now that they're down 3-1, but if they want any chance to come back in this series, they should use the game plan they had in games 1, 4 and 7 of the Boston series and immediately set the tempo in Game 5 tomorrow night! The Bell Centre will be rocking, and the players need to use that to their advantage.

Speaking of Habs fans, Justin Crowder, a die-hard Montreal fan, wanted me to thank Andre Giroux, owner of “Le Petit Munich” in Montreal, for donating his Game 2 tickets to Justin and his wife. Justin had placed an ad in the papers saying “his heart already belongs to the Canadiens, and he hoped his soul may be of use, as he and his girlfriend are currently saving money to buy their first home and cannot afford the insane prices for tickets.”

Well, Giroux didn’t play the role of the Devil, but rather an Angel, and donated the tickets to Justin for free. That’s why, I’ll say it again, Habs fans are some of the best fans in sports! I may just have to drop by 4888 boulevard Saint-Jean Pierrefonds, QC, to say hello to Giroux and have a pint.

Before we head into the weekend, just one question: are the Detroit Red Wings the Harlem Globetrotters of hockey?

Finally, don’t forget to checkout the FASTHockey Radio Show every Saturday from 2-4 PM ET on “NHL Home Ice” XM 204, The Team 990 in Montreal and AM 1510 The Zone in Boston. You can also listen in at FASTHockey.com, team990.com and 1510thezone.com.

This Saturday we’ve got a jam-packed line-up as we take you on the fastest skate around the world of hockey! Brian Malone and former NHLer Ian Moran will be in studio with “Murph”. We’ve got a special feature guest, this week as Greg Carter, a Massachusetts based hockey instructor that Ian works with will be joining us to discuss the finer techniques of skating and the importance of practicing such techniques not only as a youngster but throughout one’s hockey career. For more information on Greg’s work and camps, check out gchockey.com.

As we do every week, we’ll go up to “The Press Box”. This week we welcome in Team 990 radio host Tony Marinaro to discuss what the Canadiens have to do to stay alive in their second round series with the Flyers. We’ll also analyze the second round thus far and why the Cup might just be returning to Hockeytown! We’ll go “Toe to Toe” with “Rescue Me” actor Todd Carroll. We will also take you “Between the Pipes” with former NHL goaltending coach Brian Daccord of “Stop it Goaltending” and the “Goaltending Consulting Group”. We’ll also take a spin on the junior circuit with Patrick King of Sportsnet.ca. And as always we’ll go back in time with Mike Wyman in the Golden Years.

So be sure to join us this and every Saturday as Inside Hockey and HDNet present the FASTHockey Radio Show, 2-4 PM ET on “NHL Home Ice” XM 204, The Team 990 (team990.com), in Montreal and AM 1510 The Zone (1510thezone.com), in Boston.