The three stars from Monday night's win were Patrice Bergeron, Vladdy Sobotka, and Dennis Wideman. I'm flabbergasted that Tuukka Rask did not make that list. Then again, it's not as if Bergeron, Sobotka, Wideman, Recchi, Boychuk, Chara, Hunwick, and Rask didn't deserve spots in that grouping. There can only be three "stars" in the game. But the Bruins were stellar as a team.
Where would this team be without Mark Recchi? At the country club. Nuf said.
Vladimir Sobotka and Johnny Boyhuck have both earned spots in the lineup for the 2010-11 season. Sobotka seems to be involved in every pivotal play. And Boychuk seems to be part of every turning point.
I was absolutely stunned to see that the Bruins only had 29 shots on goal in this game. It seemed like they had 40. Time of possession is an NFL stat, but the Bruins dominated in that area as well. The puck was almost always in Buffalo's zone, and Miller was always threatened.
This was a perseverance win for the Bruins. They played hard, then good things happened. And the passes that set-up both goals were nothing short of marvelous. Sobotka slipping a sandbagging pass to Wideman in the slot. Recchi instantly finding Bergeron in the same space.
I loved seeing the Sabres' emotionality after these goals. This is an opponent that isn't accustomed to playoff hockey, not used to struggling. They seem close to being unhinged. A physical effort from Sobotka, Boychuk, and hopefully Lucic in Game 4 can push them over the edge.
The Bruins needed a lot of character to win Game 2. And goals. They got the character from expected sources, but the suppliers of the goals were a bit surprising.
I've ridden Michael Ryder all season. I've called him "Appendix" (because he serves no purpose), I've called him "Bystander," I've lobbied to get his linemates credit for shorthanded time on ice because playing with him is like playing a man down. Michael, I'm sorry.
Ryder scored twice. And granted, they were "right place, right time" goals, but he usually finds a way to screw up in those situations. Saturday afternoon, he was poised and calm when the puck found his stick near the net. Oh yeah, he also destroyed Andrej Sekera with a freight-train neutral zone hit.
Zdeno Chara continually proves why he is the Captain of this team. He's initiated the physical play in this series, he's gotten into the Sabres' heads, and he's gotten into the offensive play. He's probably the best finisher on the Bruins, which is good for him, and kind of sad for the forwards. His first goal came thanks to Ryan Miller's aggressiveness, and some crafty positioning, 22 feet away near the faceoff circle. His 2nd goal was a 60 footer from the blue-line, vintage Chara. It was his first career 2 goal playoff game.
Recchi's empty netter was his 52nd career goal in the playoffs.
It wasn't all roses, though. Milan Lucic nearly blew the game. Buffalo's first score came when Lucic left his side of the defensive zone, giving Tyler Myers a clean shot at the net. The puck took an unfortunate deflection off Begin's skates, but Lucic should have never left his man and his zone so empty.
Buffalo's 3rd goal, which turned a 2-2 tie (with Boston having all the momentum) into a 3-2 deficit, came off a Lucic turnover. It was wretchedly awful, he aired on the puck in the corner, giving Jason Pominville a wonderful gift. Rask may have done more to shorten the angle, but Lucic could have done a lot more to keep possession. And that's not Rask's style anyhow.
Lucic hasn't looked himself this season or this series. Part of it is excusable, what with the laundry list of injuries he's played with. But these were mental errors. The Hockey Gods have a way of punishing mental errors in the playoffs. He needs to sacrifice an ox to them and thus atone for his sins.
The evil spirits once possessing Dennis Wideman have been exorcised, but it seems as though they've taken refuge in Lucic.
Marco Sturm has been a ghost this series. Ein Geist in German. He's been adequate on the penalty kill (which as a unit has killed all 9 of Buffalo's power plays). But he led the Bruins with 22 goals. He hasn't come close to smelling his first playoff goal. He's got to use his speed to create space for himself, or draw attention and create space for others. He can be an excellent fore-checker due to his speed, if the Bruins decide to dump and chase, which they probably should more often when he and Satan are out there.
Speaking of Satan, he's had two nice games. He won the battle that led to Chara's 2nd goal. He, like Sturm, will get better scoring chances if they utilize his skating skills better. Lining up 3 or 4 on the offensive blue-line, then trying to carry the puck in doesn't seem to be working for him. You need to enter the zone with momentum, and that's something Satan and Sturm could really hurt Buffalo with.
The best line for the B's has been Wheeler-Sobotka-Ryder. Sobotka has impressed the hell out of me. The little big guy has left his mark on more than one Sabres' jerseys. He's crashing the net, and letting Ryder and Wheeler have some space. Wheeler was unbelievable Saturday night. He remembered how to play hockey. He made two beautiful passes to set-up Ryder's goals.
Andrew Ference's biggest contribution was a mistake. Had he not mishandled Wheeler's centering pass, Ryder doesn't get a golden opportunity to score. Other than that, Ference has been forgettable.
Daniel Paille has functioned properly on the penalty kill. Apart from that, he's been dust in the wind.
Johnny Boychuk has had a hell of a series so far. The Bruins needed him to step up with Seidenberg and Stuart out. He's been smart on defense, and aggressive on offense, following Chara's lead in both zones.
Boychuk took a wise hooking call in the 3rd, chopping down Thomas Vanek by the knee. Vanek missed the rest of the game, and his status is unclear with a "lower body injury." You hate to revel in an injury, but the reality is that any absence of Vanek is a big hit to the Sabres. Vanek's always owned the Bruins. In 36 career games against the B's, he's tallied 20 goals and 19 assists.
I saved the best for last. And you thought I wouldn't mention Tuukka Rask. While the stat-sheet says Rask was mediocre, and had an ugly 1st period (10 saves, 12 shots), the game is played on ice. He rebounded from some unfortunate play by his teammates, and settled in. It was like a pitcher allowing some unearned runs in the early innings, then nevertheless getting into a groove. He made some monstrous stops in the 1st to keep it a 2-0 game. And when the Bruins' momentum waned in the 2nd and 3rd, it was Rask who saved the day.
The series ships back to Boston tonight, which is a mixed blessing for the Bruins (18-17-6 at home).
So far, this playoff season has been nothing short of perfect. All 7 games have been decided by one goal. And Thursday night saw the first overtime games. Nothing better than overtime Stanley Cup hockey.
BUFFALO 2, BOSTON 1 (Sabres lead series 1-0)
Ryan Miller's 38 saves and some fastbreak offense propelled Buffalo to their first playoff victory since May 16, 2007. The Bruins got their goal on a power play, which is weird for them. What's not weird for them is being shutdown on offense. But this series promises to be a goaltender's dream with very low scores.
MONTREAL 3, WASHINGTON 2 - OT (Canadiens lead series 1-0)
Jose Theodore sucks. How he wins, and how he consistently dominates the Bruins baffles my mind. The Habs did a great job silencing Ovechkin, assigning a swarm of players to hassle him at all times. Supporting actor Nicklas Backstrom did his part with a goal. But Mike Green, Brooks Laich, and Alexander Semin didn't do much of anything.
VANCOUVER 3, LOS ANGELES 2 - OT (Canucks lead series 1-0)
Roberto Luongo made an epic save to keep this game going in overtime. Then the Sedin line took over, moved the puck around the back of the net, and gave Mikael Samuelsson an open shooting lane from the extreme high slot. Jonathan Quick had no chance to stop Samuelsson's bullet.
Tonight's games:
7:00pm - Ottawa @ Pittsburgh - Versus (Ottawa leads 1-0)
7:30pm - Philadelphia @ New Jersey (Philadelphia leads 1-0)
8:30pm - Nashville @ Chicago - Versus
10:00pm - Detroit @ Phoenix - Versus (Phoenix leads 1-0)
10:30pm - Colorado @ San Jose - Versus (Colorado leads 1-0)
We saw some good signs from the Bruins last night. We also saw some season-long struggles repeated. The Bruins only managed 1 goal, and that's usually not enough to win. Then again, both goals they allowed were quite preventable. Get used to these low scoring games, folks, because that's what this series will be about.
Let me just vent about the officiating, which didn't cost the Bruins a win, didn't impact the game, but was embarrassingly awful. Not only did Buffalo get away with 2 blatant dives, the refs completely missed Blake Wheeler's touch up on an icing call, they let Zdeno Chara leave the penalty box earlier (then realized their mistake and put him back in there), and they blew the Bruins offside before the puck ever crossed the blue line into the offensive zone. It was coincidental that all these errors went against the Bruins, but it was a sad example of refereeing.
I hate playoff officiating anyway. The gray areas of interference and roughing get expanded, while the black and white calls like hooking and delay of game remain exactly the same.
Buffalo's first goal was a product of their fierce counter-attack, which was sprung by several Bruins' shortcomings. Lucic failed to do anything to win a battle in the corner, the puck went up the halfwall and Bergeron lost a battle, then Matt Hunwick couldn't decide whether to play the puck, or step back and prevent a breakaway. The hesitation was enough to allow Derek Roy to escape, then find Vanek to score the game's first goal.
Their second and game winning goal was the result of the Bruins being too aggressive at one point, and too conservative at others. While two Bruin forwards attacked the puck at the blue-line, the other 3 B's collapsed as if they were on the penalty kill. This gave defenseman Craig Rivet acres of space above the faceoff circles, and Rask was unable to find the puck in the cluster of Bruin and Sabre bodies in front of him.
In a game dominated by defensemen and goalies, it's vital to not make mistakes like these two. Hunwick, considering that Roy and Vanek were on the ice, should have been more conservative and skated backwards to prevent an odd man rush.
Rask had a great game, and was the Bruins' best penalty killer. Some of the rebounds he allowed gave me heart attacks, but so long as they're steered away from Buffalo skates and sticks, he'll get away with them.
Zdeno Chara was the best Bruin on the ice, though. He triggered the Bruins' physical play in the 2nd period. He abused Buffalo's forwards, and got into their heads. How funny was it to see Kalete line him up, try to plant him in the boards, then plant himself because Chara juked out of the way? Z also set-up Recchi's goal. Miller had been smothering shots, but when the puck's travelling at 105 MPH, rebounds are inevitable.
Without Mark Recchi, this team is hopelessly deficient on offense.
Johnny Boychuk had a noteworthy game. Both phyiscal in his own zone and the neutral zone, and clever on offense.
Michael Ryder didn't foul up in any significant way. Although he did miss a wide open top corner of the net in the 2nd. He's not a detriment to this team, but he's barely a positive.
Wideman and Krejci by and large had solid games. In my preview, I mentioned how vital these two are. They did their jobs, Wideman didn't screw up, and Krejci provided opportunities for his mates.
Lucic was invisible for most of the game. I'll give him a free pass for this entire season due to the multitude of injuries. He turned it up in the 2nd period, but he seemed more of a factor after the whistle as opposed to before it.
The offense needs to come from somewhere. The defense is solid, if occasionally porous. But the D and the goalie are good enough for the Bruins to be in every single game.
They just need to generate goals. Not easy against Miller, but it's possible.
The Red Sox have once again prevented a team from scoring, their own team. And the only silver lining is that David Ortiz didn't strike out.
Dustin Pedroia remains red hot, but he can't do it by himself. He had 3 of the Sox' 6 hits yesterday. It's sadly funny that the "defensive" players have given the Sox some of the best individual offensive performances. Scutaro's hitting .310, Beltre's at .303, and Hermida's at .294. Meanwhile, V-Mart's struggling at .231, Drew's at .143, and we all know about Ortiz's difficulties.
But you know what, you're not going to win many games when your starter gives up 5 earned in 5.1 innings. Especially with a shallow bullpen to follow him.
Apart from Pedroia, who went 3 for 4, none of the Red Sox did anything to win this game.
The Sox come home for a 10 game road trip starting tonight against the Rays. Beckett faces Wade Davis.
It was not a good night for the favorites as home teams were 1-3 in the opening night of the Stanley Cup playoffs. But if you were sitting at home watching, you won, because all these games were decided by 1 goal, and 3 of the 4 were decided in the 3rd period.
PHILADELPHIA 2, NEW JERSEY 1 (Flyers lead series 1-0)
Philly only managed 14 shots on Brodeur, but 2 slipped by. Chris Pronger and Mike Richards scored 2nd period goals to put the Flyers on top. Travis Zajac provided New Jersey's only goal deep into the 3rd period. Brian Boucher stopped 23 of 24 shots he faced. The Flyers had New Jersey's number all season, and that trend continued.
OTTAWA 5, PITTSBURGH 4 (Senators lead series 1-0)
This was not a goaltending exhibition. Brian Elliot and M.A. Fleury combined to stop 38 of the 47 shots they faced. It wasn't pretty. Ottawa was in control for most of the game, holding a 3-1 lead in the 2nd period, then a 4-2 lead going into the 3rd. That lead was tenuous, but so was Fleury's goaltending. No matter how close the Penguins got, Fleury allowed the Senators to re-extend their gap. Malkin had 2 goals and an assist. Crosby had 3 assists. I love the headline on Yahoo: "Defending Chumps."
COYOTES 3, RED WINGS 2 (Phoenix leads series 1-0)
Special teams, special teams, special teams. They become so important in the playoffs. The Coyotes scored all 3 of their goals on the power play. Which is weird because the veteran Red Wings have had a good penalty kill this season. Bruins fans might be pissed that Derek Morris got the #1 star (1 goal, 2 assists), but he fits so much better in Phoenix than he did in Boston. But I am pissed that the B's didn't get Wojtek Wolski, who had the tying goal in the 2nd.
AVALANCHE 2, SHARKS 1 (Colorado leads series 1-0)
The Sharks just love choking. If they get knocked out by another 8 seed this year, they should be banned from playoff play for 3 seasons, SMU style. Journeyman goalie Craig Anderson was the Aves' biggest star of the game. He made some huge saves early that kept this a 0-0 game. It was 1-1 until 50 seconds to go in the 3rd, when a centering pass ricocheted off Rob Blake's skate and past Nobokov. Heartbreaking way to lose, but Colorado deserved it. They simply wanted it more.
I hope you enjoy that video of goals, because you won't see many in this series. The Bruins were 29th in scoring this season. The Sabres were 11th, but they struggled to get the puck past Tuukka Rask. Rask had a 1.43 GAA against Buffalo this season.
The Bruins aren't coming into this series with a full compliment of players. Savard is out of course, but what might hurt even more is their injuries on the blue-line. No Seidenberg, no Stuart. In a low-scoring defensive series as this apparently will be, losing your 2nd and 3rd best defensemen is a hard wound to protect. The playoffs have a way of exposing weaknesses and inconsistencies. Inconsistency, thy name is Wideman.
The B's have momentum, though. They had to win their way into the playoffs, going 5-1-1 down the stretch. Buffalo clinched the Northeast Division early, and strolled into the postseason 2-4-0 in April.
This series rests on three men for the Bruins: Tuukka Rask, David Krejci, and Dennis Wideman.
All Rask has to do is continue to play as he's been playing, to not let the playoffs shirk him from his task. Just keep up the good work.
The Bruins need Wideman to be as solid as he's been the last few games of the season. But his mindset isn't suited for playoff hockey. He struggles to keep his gameplay simple. He's terrified to make mistakes. He needs to relax and just play his game.
David Krejci had his best month in March, with 6 goals and 10 assists in 16 games. The Bruins need that level of play to continue into the playoffs. He's the closest thing the Bruins have to a scorer, and he can also set-up guys like Recchi, Satan, and Sturm.
The Bruins had one 20 goal scorer in Marco Sturm. And that's sad. The Sabres had four 20 goal scorers, and it'll be up to Rask and the defensemen to shut them down.
If Julien and the Bruins play a patient, conservative, defensively minded series, they'll prevail. If they lose their patience and take risks in a desperate effort to beat Ryan Miller, they'll lose.
It's safe to say that John Lackey and Dustin Pedroia have been the Red Sox' top performers out of the gate. Lackey had his second Quality Start, and Pedroia's slugging .818, with 4 homers. Last year, he didn't hit his 4th homerun until July 9th.
It's good that Pedroia's been murdering the ball, because guys like Ortiz and Drew have struggled just to hit it. Victor Martinez has also been hurting, but he was 2 for 5 yesterday afternoon.
The big hit yesterday was Jeremy Hermida's 8th inning double, clearing the bases. It gave the tentative Sox' bullpen much needed breathing room. And that's the bad news from yesterday, the pen continues to be worrisome. Daniel Bard allowed a homerun to his first batter, then nearly allowed another. Papelbon allowed two walks, and 11 of his 10 pitches were balls, as he got the Save. It was a very messy 8th and 9th.
And what's scary is that Bard and Papelbon are supposedly the class of the Sox' relievers.
Rubber game this afternoon at 1:10. Tim Wakefield vs. Francisco Liriano.
