Much of what made the Red Sox World Series win in 2004 so special is the legendary series against the Yankees. Similarly, a Bruins Cup run would seem incomplete without a match up against Montreal. Playing against a rival enhances all of the excitement, intensity, and emotions in the game and make victory that much sweeter.
In 2011, it took a Nathan Horton overtime goal in Game 7 to beat the Canadiens in the first round and the Bruins of course went on to win the Cup. They will have a chance to do it again this year against a Habs team that is fast, strong, and talented. Here's a deeper look at the matchup between these two Original 6 teams.
Now that’s more like it. After splitting a pair of games in Boston, the Bruins beat the Red Wings soundly in Game 3 by a score of 3-0. Tuukka Rask, who was awarded the first star of the game, made 23 saves and got the shutout for the Black and Gold.
The Bruins got the jump on the Wings early in the game and didn’t let up for a full sixty minutes. Dougie Hamilton opened the scoring with a powerplay goal in the first, making a nifty end-to-end rush and firing off a quick shot over the shoulder of Howard.
Later in the first, the B’s took advantage of a bad line chance by the Red Wings and tallied another. Thornton took the puck hard to the net and Jordan Caron buried the rebound, putting the Bruins up by two heading into the locker room after the first period.
Well, it’s certainly not the start of the series that Bruins fans hoped for and expected. The Bruins team that finished 3rd in the league in goals was shutout by Jimmy Howard and the Detroit Red Wings, the lone goal of the game coming from an incredible individual effort by Pavel Datsyuk.
The Bruins have had a tendency under Claude Julien to struggle out of the gate in the first round and it looks like this year’s no different. Many confident B’s fans were calling for a 5 game washout of the Wings, but it doesn’t look like it’ll be that easy. Keep in mind that the first round series in the last three years have gone seven games.
The Bruins got off to a quick start tonight, rolling four lines and putting pressure on Howard early. He responded to the challenges however, and Detroit came back with some chances of their own. In the second period, the Wings seemed to carry the play and there were several spans of two to three minutes where the Bruins couldn’t even get the puck out of their zone, which is very unlikely for them.
It’s that time of year again, and what better way to start the Bruins 2014 playoff journey than an Original Six match up against the Red Wings? Led by the elusive Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit has booked their reservation to the postseason for 23 years in a row now. I’ve already projected the Bruins to beat Detroit in 6 games, but let’s take a deeper look at how they match up.
Offense
The Bruins finished 3rd in the league with 3.15 Goals/game, whereas Detroit sat at 16th with 2.65. The Bruins boasts four deep lines that Julien can roll through regularly, which only a small handful of teams have the ability to do. Krejci-Lucic-Iginla is as talented, but more importantly well-balanced, as any line in the league. Go on down the line and Bergeron, Marchand, Smith, Eriksson, and Soderberg all provide great secondary scoring that creates a match up nightmare for opposing teams.
The board has been set. With the conclusion of the NHL regular season yesterday, the match-ups for the first round are finalized and boy are there some exciting ones.
I filled out a bracket on NHL.com, which has a fun and easy tool to use. Here's a screenshot of it:
As you can see, I have the Bruins winning it all (big surprise.) I do have a few interesting upsets, though, and the first round will be fascinating to watch.
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Avalanche vs Wild
What a story for Colorado this season, going from a basement dweller to the top team in the West. On the other hand, Minnesota is a team that just squeaked by. This is an easy one. Avalanche in 5.
Blues vs Blackhawks
Wow. The Blues were a top 3 team all season long, but a major collapse in the final 6 games (and .500 hockey since the Olympics) have brought to light some major issues. They're dealing with some major injuries (as are the Blackhawks) but I'm going to go with the proven entity here. Blackhawks in 7.
All season long, there has been a lot of dialogue and discourse about how the Western Conference is a lot stronger than the East. Analysts heralded that the teams in the West were better, the game was faster, and the stats guys backed it up.
As it stands now, seven of the top ten teams in the standings are from the West, and five of the bottom six teams are from the East. This makes the West, statistically speaking, much deeper and more competitive. Indeed, most NHL experts will tell you that they favor a team from the West to win it all, such as the Ducks or the Blues.
Fret not, Bruins fans. I've been digging up some research and reading reports, and I'm here to tell you right now that not only should you not fear the West, you shouldn't fear any team in hockey. I''m going to take a systematic look at the six powerhouse teams in the West and tell you why the Black and Gold could and indeed should beat them.
Great news out of Boston earlier this week as Claude Julien confirmed that Dennis Seidenberg skated on Tuesday for the first time since December 27. He suffered an ACL and MCL injury against Ottowa and was immediately ruled out for the rest of the season.
It was a stunning blow to the Bruins "D" corps, who were tried and tested to fill the gap he left. The bottom line was this: they weren't going to be able to get a defenseman at the trade deadline who can do what he does night in and night out for that cap hit. Instead, Julien stressed that the group as a whole would have to step up in his absence, and it's worked out nicely. Johnny Boychuk has especially taken a bigger role with 44 gone and his great play hasn't gone unnoticed by B's fans.
It's a pleasant surprise that Seidenberg has resumed skating and is ahead of schedule, but people shouldn't put the horse before the carriage here. He suffered a serious injury and Julien has said he still has no timetable for his return. At best, it would be the Eastern Conference Finals, assuming the Bruins even make it there (of course they will.)
Another despicable hit from a despicable player. I have no patience for players like this. There are players that love to toe the line and agitate opponents, but still are great hockey players: Marchand, Hartnell, even PK Subban. But Rinaldo, not unlike John Scott he offers little else.
His most productive season of hockey is when he posted 32 points in the OPJHL (what?) with 193 PIMs. So yeah, he sucks. He's a dangerous player and an insult to the league as far as I'm concerned. Hopefully Shanahan makes a statement here.
**UPDATE**
Four games for Rinaldo. Will he learn his lesson? Probably (definitely) not.
The Bruins clinched the top seed in the Eastern Conference with a 5-2 victory over Philadelphia in today's matinee matchup. Loui Eriksson, who's really been looking great lately, led his team with 4 points and shut down a flailing Flyers team.
This victory pushed away a few (small) seeds of doubt in the back of my mind. The Bruins have had some trouble against desperate teams lately, and a loss to the Flyers would have created a real honest-to-God problem.
It started last weekend in Philly, when the Bruins let up an uncharacteristic come-back agaionst the Broad Street Bullies. With under a minute to go, Bergeron failed to chip the puck out of the zone and Boychuk whiffed on it, giving Lecavalier a chance to tie it with just 25 seconds remaining. The Bruins were able to win with a Reilly Smith shootout goal, but it was still a scary game.
Excluding the obvious playoff games and Stanley Cup win, this is my favorite Bruins game of all time. It's a classic example of the Big Bad Bruins not only as a dominant offensive team, but a bruising force to be reckoned with.
Seriously, I've never seen such a clear-cut case of good and bad like this game. When you got villains like Sean Avery and Steve Ott on a team together, it's a recipe for disaster.
0:03 Ott comes across the ice to elbow Nokelainen. Refuses to answer Mark Stuart's challenge. 0:28 Ott throw a low hipcheck that flips Yelle. Refuses to answer Thornton's challenge. 1:38 Ott throws a hard hit on Mark Stuart. Refuses to answer Shane Hnidy's challenge. 2:15 Ott mouths off to Chara, then skates away. Refuses to answer Lucic's challenge. 2:45 Ference pummels Ott with an open ice it. Avery challenges, Ference answers. 4:50 Turco elbows Kessel behind the play. Scrum ensues. Ott ignores Stuart's challenge. 5:10 Fight. Shawn Thornton vs Kris Barch 7:20 Sean Avery throws a TERRIBLE hit from behind into the boards on Lucic. Marc Savard, of all people, is the first to respond. Five on five brawl here; even Kessel pairs up with Brunnstrom. Shane Hnidy demolishes Matt Niskanen in a one-way fight. Tim Thomas skates to the blue line, letting Turco know what's waiting for him if he tries to join. Ott's finally tossed.
It's really unbelievable. I remember Mike Modano, who was still involved with the team, saying after the game how embarrassed he was for the Stars organization and how much he hated what Ott and Avery did that night.
I don't even want to know what's going on in there. This is what I imagine would happen after the final scene in Goon, where Sean William Scott saves 5 shots in a row at point-blank range with his face. Anyone else would be miserable. But not a hockey player. He's probably pumped to show off his new battle scar to the ladies.
