Gilles Lupien, the ex-Montreal defenseman who succumbed to cancer at age 67 on Wednesday, held but a brief role in the rich, emotionally charged Canadiens-Bruins playoff rivalry that for decades seemed to play out nearly every spring.
Winter had not officially surrendered its grip around here, and we paid little attention to the tulips sprouting in the Public Garden, until the Habs and Bruins hunkered down to trade shifts, shots, and punches in April or May.
