Game 1 Recap

This blog is uncharted territory for the BruinsBeliever because haven’t had to recap a loss. Somehow, even after watching 5 hours of hockey and almost 2 games worth, I can’t wait for Saturday. The Bruins and Blackhawks are two evenly matched teams who have the same strengths (5 on 5 play, shot blocking and goaltending) and have the same weaknesses (power play, and a knack for taking too many men on the ice penalties).  These Stanley Cup Finals games are very entertaining to watch and it showed as NBC and the NHL enjoyed the highest viewership in 16 years.

The Blackhawks had most of the puck bounces go their way throughout the game but they really came to light on the last 2 goals of the game. The game tying goal was scored on a shot that deflected off the skates of Andrew Ference, and the eventual winner was scored off of a double deflection. That being said, the Blackhawks were more deserving of the win than the Bruins because, down the stretch, they out shot the Bruins and were skating circles around them during the third period and into the first overtime.

This was the first game where the absence of Gregory Campbell played a factor. Since his absence, Coach Claude Julien and The Bruins have stopped rolling all 4 lines in the fashion that they had done throughout the season. Usually, longer games tend to favor the Bruins with their approach to rolling 4 lines and as a result, are fresher than the teams that don’t.  The loss of Soupy, coupled with the Horton shoulder injury, left the Bruins shorthanded for the overtime. The play of Shawn Thornton can be somewhat reckless at times, but he should get more overtime minutes then the less than 10 he received for the night.

The goats of the game last night include two of the usual suspects and a new face. The play of Chris Kelly and Rich Peverley has been pretty awful throughout the playoffs and the trend continued last night. Kelly was a -3 last night while Peverley was a -2. When the Bruins won the Cup back in 2011, they received tremendous production from the 3^rd line of Kelly, Peverley, and Michael Ryder. That has been distant memory during this postseason especially for Kelly. In the past, at least Kelly was able to win some faceoffs, but last night he was below .500 in that respect. Torey Krug also had a bad night. After the game, Tuukka Rask called out Torey Krug calling his play on the 2^nd Blackhawks goal a “Terrible turnover”. As a result ,Krug was benched after the turnover until seeing time in the overtime periods where he was on the ice for the overtime winner.

Game 2 Preview:

As of now, it doesn’t look like Nathan Horton will be in the lineup for Saturday’s night and I have seen some tweets regarding Torey Krug’s status in the lineup. My best guess as to what Claude will do with the lineup is, begrudgingly move Tyler Seguin up to the top line with Krejci and Lucic. In his place, as much as I want Carl Soderberg to be ready, I don’t think that he is quite yet. The two guys bidding for a spot on the third line are the grizzly vet Jay Pandolfo or Jordan Caron. My money is on Caron right now. He has the legs and is a better fit speed-wise than Pandolfo. As for Krug, I don’t think you can take him out just quite yet despite his play slipping. He still has great power play skills and is the only speed coming out of the Bruins back end right now. If Claude decides the Krug experiment has run its course, he will turn to veteran Wade Redden to fill in. If the Bruins should go down by 2 games, I would only be a 6 out of 10 on the panic meter, barring a Chicago blowout of course. But I don’t expect that to happen. I am expecting the Bruins to buckle down and tie up loose ends defensively while keeping their legs moving in the offensive zone. I think we will see a 3-1 Bruins win Saturday and a knotted up series coming home to Boston. Let’s go B’s!