Just a brutal night up in Toronto for the Boston Bruins. Coming in, they were looking to put a stranglehold on the series by taking a three games to none lead. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be as the Leaves broke through for a 4-2 win. The series now stands at two games to one in favor of the Bruins.
Much of the first period was a feeling out process for both teams. The Bruins had to weather an early Leaves attacking storm. Being back on home ice really gave them the jump they needed early on. The Bruins were able to calm things down, and get some quality chances of their own. They were even starting to carry the play, when the Officials shoved a Sherwood up the Bruins ass. With 3 minutes left to play, and the puck in his own defensive zone, Riley Nash went to fire the puck off the glass to get it out of the zone. The puck deflected off the dasher, and went out of play. Harmless right? Wrong. The Bruins were assessed a two minute delay of game penalty. Normally, the rule is if a defender is clearing the puck and he shoots it over the glass (without it deflecting/ricocheting) it is a penalty. It prevents players from doing it on purpose to get a whistle. Video replay CLEARLY showed the puck ricocheting off the dasher and glass before exiting the ice. They even pretended to review the call, but Nash was inexplicably left in the box. James Van Riemsdyk would make the Bruins pay just a few seconds later, making it 1-0 Leaves.
So frustrating that time and time again the Bruins get screwed by the officials. This was the wrong call, it was reviewed, and still ruled incorrectly. Even with all of this, the Bruins were able to keep the score at 1-0 for the remainder of the first.
The Bruins continued to push through Toronto surges. When you are on home ice, you are given “Last Change”. This simply means the home team gets last chance to change lines before a face-off. This allows Leaves Coach Mike Babcock the match-ups his team needs. Tomas Plekanec, an ex-Canadien spent most of the evening shadowing Patrice Bergeron. Plekanec spent the previous 15 seasons in Montreal playing against Bergy. Plekanec and his linemates stoned the Bruins top line all night. David Pastrnak coming off one of his best games, had arguably one of his worst last night. He was trying to do too much, getting run over by opponents, and missing chances he normally doesn’t. With the top unit getting shut out, it lead to an unlikely goal scorer for the B’s:
Darth Quaider scored on a seeing eye slap-shot just barely three into the second period. The Bruins were on the board making it 1-1. New game! Wrong. A mere 48 seconds later oldie but goodie, Patrick Marleau scored to make it 2-1 Leaves:
Horrible fucking effort after you just tied the fucking game, and looking to take the lead. Everyone caught standing around, and the Leaves walk in with an easy odd man rush. 38 year old Patrick Marleau was there to tap it home. Not an issue for this years Bruins, however. All year long we have seen them comeback, especially when you think they’re done. A few minutes after the Marleau goal, Big Z rumbled down the left wing down to almost the goal line. At a near impossible angle Z flicked the puck over Freddy Andersen’s shoulder.
This time the Bruins were able to keep the game tied for more than a couple of minutes, but the Leaves kept pressing. Finally noted Sally, Auston Matthews finally got on the board. Not much that can be done there. It wasn’t a shot that is stoppable, but it was still a rocket. Congrats to Auston Matthews on scoring a goal in the playoffs.
https://twitter.com/BarSouthNCelly/status/986046031551905792
The remainder of the game saw the Bruins battle for a tying goal. They had numerous chances to tie the game, but choked. Pastrnak hit two posts, while David Krejci whiffed on a one-time chance set up by Jake Debrusk.
Shoulda had it tied right there, but David Krejci was in one of those “I don’t give a fuck” type moods, and was off all night. Finally with less than 5 to play in the third period, the Leaves put the game away.
https://twitter.com/an0gs/status/986069274392346624
You can’t tell in that clip, but Krejci was working on trying to dangle through three Leaves there. The puck is stripped from him, and it’s off to the races for Patrick Marleau.
Overall, it really wasn’t the worst game ever. The Bruins didn’t play great, but they still had plenty of chances to win. The Leaves expended a massive amount of energy to win a one goal game essentially. Obviously the blown call in the first period was brutal, but it is no excuse for the loss. A valid excuse in my book is David Krejci played loaded last night. Holy shit was he bad. When Krejci is bad it looks as if he doesn’t care, and when he does care he tried to do too much. There were multiple instances of this throughout last nights game. This is a long series luckily, and the Bruins will look to re-gain momentum on Thursday night. Two days off will allow Matt Grzelyck time to heal, and hopefully he will be good to go. Nick Holden was just horrible in his place last evening.
Get some much needed rest, and come out balls to the fucking wall on Thursday. Let’s go Bruins!
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