Game 4 Recap

One thing has become very clear in this series: the team that dictates their style of play over their opponents will win. The Chicago Blackhawks were able to dictate their up-tempo, up-and-down-the-ice style of play and forced the Bruins to play right along with them. The Bruins, once again, came out very sluggish in the opening minutes as well as throughout most of the second period. I do not know what they can do to fix this other then they must be on their toes and ready to play from the drop. They cannot afford to ease into these games any longer.

The back-checking of the Bruins forwards struggled at times compared to how they have been back-checking during the Pittsburgh series and earlier in this Chicago series. That being said, the Bruins were able to hang with the Blackhawks and make multiple comebacks throughout the game. The shining star for the Bruins was Patrice Bergeron. He scored two goals and helped generate great transition offense.  Both he and Jagr have played important roles in generating scoring opportunities. Brad Marchand has been invisible while his line mates have been tremendous. He needs to step up and finish on the opportunities both Bergeron and Jagr have been providing him.

Game 5 Preview

This series has come down to a best of 3 and the Bruins have lost home ice advantage. Does this mean that series is over? Absolutely not. The Bruins have already shown that they can win in Chicago and I believe that they can do it again, either in Game 5 or potentially a Game 7. The big change that needs to happen from Game 4 to Game 5 is that the Bruins must slow down the tempo and Zdeno Chara cannot have another terrible game. I’m expecting the captain and the rest of the team to rebound nicely and come out with a strong, heavy effort and, of course, the game will probably go to overtime. Let’s go B’s!