This was one of those games where it was a grinder, it wasn’t pretty, and it wasn’t always entertaining, but that’s how the Bruins want it. Adam McQuaid’s improbable goal was all that was needed for Tuukka Rask and the stupendous Boston Bruins defense to close out the highest scoring team in the NHL over the last 2 seasons. Zdeno Chara’s incredible save on Evgeni Malkin in the closing seconds was the icing on the cake. It was an ugly, almost mundane game at times and you could sense Pittsburgh wearing away. All I can say about Jerome Iginla is, sweet decision and I hear Pittsburgh has some really nice golf courses.
The Bruins, in consecutive series, beat a team that has blocked the most shots in the NHL, in the Rangers, and the highest scoring team in the NHL in Pittsburgh. Two teams with contrasting styles that require two completely different strategies. The Bruins are the most versatile team remaining in the playoffs. They can win games the way their opponents want the game to be played, and are exceptional at playing their own style of hockey which I call Bruins Hockey. The sky is the limit for this team and I am looking forward to enjoying the ride.
The easy way for me to recap Game 3 would be to discuss the nearly flawless performance of Tuukka Rask or the awe inspiring toughness of Gregory Campbell. There will be more on those items later but first I will delve into my observations from Section 329 last night.
Most of my pregame interactions were that fans that were chomping at the bit to get in the ears of some of the hated Penguins. If I were to guess the order of most hated down to plain old hated I would rank them 1. Matt Cooke, 2. Sidney Crosby, then Jerome Iginla. This video of Bruins fans taunting Matt Cooke while he was in the penalty box makes me proud to be a member of this fanbase (seriously, no sarcasm was intended). If that doesn’t describe the vitriol of people that were in that arena, nothing else will.
Overall, I thought the Bruins played a very lackluster game and did not necessarily put out their best effort consistently during regulation. David Krejci scoring a goal early into the game was key for the Bruins because it allowed them to settle into their style of defensive hockey. We learned, during regulation anyway, that the Penguins can play the rough, defensive style of hockey for 60 minutes and hang with the Bruins. Due to the Bruins often criticized strategy of rolling 4 lines, they were the fresher team and it showed in both overtime periods. Other then 2 unacceptable, inexcusable too many men on the ice penalties, the Bruins played extremely well and the Penguins were beginning to fade. Finally with less than 5 minutes to play Jaromir Jagr made a tremendous play along the boards to win the puck away from Evgeni Malkin, who was the Penguins best player by far last night. Of course, the Penguins couldn’t resist some whining about officiating on a possible hook by Jaromir Jagr on Evgeni Malkin. Marchand was able to show patience and the Bruins created a carbon copy goal of the Game 1 overtime winner against the Rangers.
Tuukka Rask was absolutely outstanding last night. He was the best, most consistent player on the ice throughout the entire game. He is coming into his own as a goaltender and this game could be the shining moment he needed making 53 saves on 54 shots. He has given up just 3 goals in his last 4 games! There is nothing more that can be said about his performance thus far, the numbers speak for themselves. I believe that he ranks above David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron as my potential Conn Smythe winner thus far.
No one showed more courage and determination than Gregory Campbell going down to block a shot, breaking his leg, and continuing to do his job and attempt to kill the penalty. He stayed in passing lanes and even attempted to block a shot on one leg. Make no mistake about it, the Bruins will rally around his injury, and use it as a battle cry for the rest of the playoffs. We will be seeing this sequence below for years to come, especially in the awesome “Because It’s The Cup” commercial series. If you have a few minutes I would highly recommend watching the sequence again. My hats off to you Soupy!
Game 4 Preview
Most of the questions surrounding Game 4 are, did the Bruins take the Penguins best shot they had left & how will the Bruins lines look with the Campbell injury? As for the prior, I believe that the Penguins will not go quietly onto the golf course so to speak. Having said that, I do believe that the Bruins took the best shot the Penguins had at trying to play the grinding style of hockey to win against Boston and they still came up short. One can only guess what that does to the psyche of a team that is already doubting their ability to score goals, especially on the power play which was the best in the league all season.
My gut feeling on how the Bruins will make the adjustment to their lines, without Campbell, is to move Rich Peverley to center the 4th line and move Daniel Paille up to the 3rd line with Chris Kelly and Tyler Seguin. I do think that coach Claude Julien will most likely bring in Kaspars Daugavins to play along side Peverley and Thornton. However, I have a sneaky suspicion that we may see a little bit of Jay Pandolfo before this playoff run is through. Julien loves his trusted veterans, especially on the penalty kill, and Pandolfo showed early this year that he is up to the task. We might have to wait until next year before our next glimpse of Carl Soderberg, who is sure to be a part of the Bruins long term strategy going forward. Hopefully, if all goes to plan, we will be breaking out the brooms tomorrow night! Let’s Go B’s!
If the first two games have been a dream, don’t wake me up. This gif of Brad Marchand and Matt Cooke speaks to how this series is being played thus far. The Penguins have been more concerned about being the aggressors that they are trying to beat the Bruins at their own game. I don’t know what the pre-series game plan was but it appears to be trying to be someone they’re not. The Penguins have been known as a high-flying finesse team and now instead of trying to play their style of hockey, they came out and tried to play in the style of the Bruins and take a physical strategy of hard-hitting and aggressiveness. I don’t understand the strategy and it will come back to bite the Pittsburgh Penguins if no adjustments are made. Both goals scored by Brad Marchand came at the most critical times of the game. The first, 28 seconds into the game that took away any momentum the Penguins and the crowd may have had going into the game. His second goal, with a little over eight seconds remaining in the first period, killed any confidence Brandon Sutter’s goal & the goaltending change gave the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Bruins defense was stellar again. They clogging passing lanes and produced tremendous penalty killing efforts, which slowed down the best power play in the NHL. Tuukka Rask fed off of the support and made every stop he needed to. The Bruins must continue to play their style of hockey and dictate the pace to Pittsburgh. Amazingly, the Bruins are in the heads of both Penguin goaltenders, Marc Andre Fleury and Thomas Vokoun. I would expect Coach Dan Bylsma to continue starting Vokoun as the series moves forward. I don’t think you can turn to Fleury who showed no confidence in this game. His appearance started with him giving up a goal on the first shot he faced. I don’t know where Pittsburgh should go from here.
Game 3 Preview
One prediction I will make is that this series is in no way similar to the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals series where the Bruins were up two games to none on Pittsburgh and went on to drop four straight. Those two Bruins wins in 1991 were close, not blowouts. The Bruins best player at the time, Cam Neely, was injured by Ulf Samuelsson which turned the series. I wouldn’t expect this Penguins team to take runs at anyone (outside of Matt Cooke of course, and if I was David Krejci I would keep my head on a swivel). Outside of any injuries, the Bruins have all of the confidence right now and Pittsburgh is completely down. I would expect the Bruins to feed off of the frenzy atmosphere that will be the TD Garden Wednesday night. Yours truly will be there live tweeting! I am making it my mission to tell Jerome Iginla his decision to join Pittsburgh over Boston may not have been the smartest. The Bruins can’t afford to let their guard down and must continue to dictate their style of hockey. Expect a rowdy crowd and a rowdy Bruins team for Game 3. Let’s go B’s!
One thing we have learned thus far is that this series will be fun to watch. The Bruins were successful getting under the skin of the Penguins. We saw Sidney Crosby take a bad penalty within the final two minutes when he took a whack at Tyler Seguin out of frustration. Prior to that at the end of the 2nd period, we saw Penguins captain Sidney Crosby trying to mess with Tuukka Rask. The rough stuff at the end of the period culminated in a Patrice Bergeron and Evgeni Malkin fight. A Patrice Bergeron fight is a rarity considering this was only his 2nd career bout and I know all Bruins fans had to be holding their collective breaths considering Patrice Bergeron’s concussion history. Moreover, the Bruins defense played very well. The return of Andrew Ference was a welcome one as he provided steadiness with Johnny Boychuck against the Malkin line. The defense as a whole stayed in the passing lanes and prevented odd man rushes. As I tweeted last night, Tuukka Rask had to be the MVP of yesterday’s game. Did he get a few posts? Yes, but he earned them with his steller MVP play, which Bruins Believer predicted I might add. Overall, it was a thrilling win with the Bruins playing their brand of hockey and imposing their will against Pittsburgh.
Game 2 Preview
The last thing I would expect from the Pittsburgh Penguins is for them to remain off the score sheet for another home game. After all, this is the same team that was averaging over 4 goals per game during the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Bruins will have to match the intensity level that the Penguins will be bringing to Game 2 and convert on their odd-man rush opportunies. The Penguins can’t afford to go down by 2 games heading out on the road to Boston. The Boston Bruins power play can’t get much worse then it did in Game 1 and it must improve if they hope to keep pace. Tuukka Rask must continue to be strong between the pipes. It will be another battle and hopefully, the officials have not listened to the collective whining of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Let’s hope the Bruins continue with another strong defense effort and physical play. Let’s Go B’s!
Expect typical Game 1 tactics out of both teams, lots of feeling each other out and not much action through the first two periods. I am then expecting a wild and crazy third. Look for Brad Marchand to start with this pest tactics today as the Bergeron line is expected to match up against the Crosby line. Sidney Crosby can be a bit of a hothead and Marchand can exploit this by getting under his skin with little taps and pushes after the whistle. Tuukka Rask was called an average goaltender by Pittsburgh media. I would expect a huge game from Tuukka in response to those comments. I mean, sure, if you consider being in the top three in goals-against average and save percentage “average”. Let’s hope the Bruins can weather the storm and grind out a huge road victory. Let’s Go B’s!
Game 4 Recap
This was one of those games where it was a grinder, it wasn’t pretty, and it wasn’t always entertaining, but that’s how the Bruins want it. Adam McQuaid’s improbable goal was all that was needed for Tuukka Rask and the stupendous Boston Bruins defense to close out the highest scoring team in the NHL over the last 2 seasons. Zdeno Chara’s incredible save on Evgeni Malkin in the closing seconds was the icing on the cake. It was an ugly, almost mundane game at times and you could sense Pittsburgh wearing away. All I can say about Jerome Iginla is, sweet decision and I hear Pittsburgh has some really nice golf courses.
@BruinsBeliever 