Found at last minute I'm doing the recap and no PS at work so…YOLO
There were periods of that game last night where my have had to make sure I had a pulse because it was a snooze fest. This was what we were expecting in this series though because of the way these two teams play. Their style is so similar that it leads to a boring, shot blocking type of hockey game. Oh well. There's only one piece of advice I can give you:
Seriously. Remember the Capitals series last year? It'll be relatively the same thing. Low scoring games that will more than likely go into overtime. Last night's game had 50 total blocked shots, 29 blocked by the Rangers and 21 blocked by the Bruins. It's just going to happen. With all of that said, the Bruins took game 1 home in overtime because Henrik Lundvist let in some of the softest goals I've ever seen him allow.
It was bad for him, great for the rest of us.
Seriously – Lundqvist was not sharp last night and the Bruins capitalized on it. Good teams do that. Good teams beat good goalies when they aren't sharp. We all know Lundqvist has the ability to steal hockey games and he probably will, which makes my point even more crucial.
Then there were the Bruins' Young Guns who stepped up last night.
After the jump, the rest of the recap...
– Matt Bartkowski (from Pittsburgh, if you didn't know) continues to show why he belongs in the NHL. If there's a silver lining from the Iginla mishaps it's that the Bruins get to keep Bartkowski who went from an AHL/Spot call-up type player to full-time NHL player in one playoff series. Seriously, he's been playing great. Bart, Hamilton and Krug showed that the Bruins sorely lack some speed and finesse on their blue line and it helped in a big way last night.
Bartkowski logged in 26+ minutes of ice time last night. That's saying something. Claude trusts this kid to log huge minutes in the playoffs (even though I guess he doesn't have a choice) when he usually ropes in the young kids.
This is seriously the only Photoshop we've ever done of Krug
– Torey Krug was awesome last night. I'll admit, I was really nervous about him playing because I remember how awful he was earlier this year – the night of the "Iginla trade" when Bartkowski was scratched. The kid was solid though and surprisingly made the power play flow really well. He's the type of offensive defenseman/PP QB that Boston has been searching for. The elusive "puck moving defenseman" if you will.
Also, stick tap to scoring your first NHL goal
That was a huge goal too. Boston could have quit when the Rangers basically scored 20 second apart from one another (if you removed intermission) but they fought back and Krug was a part of that.
– Hamilton had his best playoff game to date last night. Yes, this is only game #3 for him, but the first two were bad. Last night he was playing very well, he was sound defensively and was really good on the Bruins OT power play.
The thing with Hamilton is that if he doesn't make a mistake – you take it as a good sign. He will never be a shutdown-type defenseman given his skill set, so you worry if he does the "Boychuk pinch" that he'll get caught and a 2-on-1 goes the other way, but that rarely happens. He knows how to move the puck, which is a plus because this team has a defensive group where puck moving isn't their forte.
He, much like Bartkowski, continues to mature with every game. Hopefully it's not an aberration and a sign of things to come.
– What an animal Chara was, logging over 38 minutes of ice time. Seriously – 38 minutes. That's unreal when you think about it? And it's not only logging ice time, he scored and had an assist last night (on Marchand's OT GWG).
He was the Bruins MVP last night (and got the Army Ranger jacket to prove it) and was named the NHL's #1 star last night – not like any of that matters. I wonder if that idiot Jimmy Murphy still thinks Chara isn't a good captain.
In case you missed it:
What a maroon. Don't worry, people were giving him the business last night.
I wonder if Jimmy Murphy thinks that slapshot would've been better if it came from Bergeron.
— PezDOY (@PezDOY) May 17, 2013
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During intermission jimmy Murphy learned more about why chara shouldn't be given that goal but can't tell us why
— Ashley(@bruinsbunnie) May 17, 2013
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I bet James Murphy still thinks Chara sucks
— Jon Days of Y'Orr (@JonFDOY) May 17, 2013
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I mean, you can question Chara's abilities (but no, you can't) but to question is captain-ship is stupid. All because he doesn't want to speak to the media. Welcome to Boston journalism.
– Johnny Boychuk was simply amazing last night. Early in the second period, Boychuk gets hit in the head by Taylor Pyatt. You can judge for yourself the intention of the hit, but while I think his intentions where innocent, that could have been a really dangerous play. Here's the hit:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0xDzBNL43jU
So Boychuk leaves the game, comes back and plays like a monster. He hit 2 (or 3) posts last night and logged 26+ minutes of ice time, second on he team. Losing him would have killed Boston's chances. You're looking at Exelby coming up from Providence (probably) – would have killed anything Boston could have done defensively.
– Bergeron and Marchand in overtime. Just watch:
Beautiful.
BONUS:
This old NESN commercial that NESN JUST released on YouTube.
– Jagr was horrible last night. Absolutely fucking terrible. He was a turnover machine and did not want to pass the puck. He was also taking shorter shifts because he couldn't keep with Bergeron and Marchand late in periods. It's time to send him back down to the third line. He's producing as much as Seguin at this point, but at least Seguin can keep up with the two of them.
– Nathan Horton's stone hands made Paille weep with envy.
– Why is Candace Seguin still suiting up for the Bruins?
– I wonder if Jagr turns his donuts over in the morning like he does the puck at night?
– WHERE IS MUSKY?
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