Game 2: Bruins Win A Boat Race

Boston scores early and often to take 2-0 series lead back home Brad Marchand's goal at just 28 seconds of the gameheated up Boston's goal lamp for the evening. (Getty)In Game 1 of the Conference Finals, the Boston Bruins shut down the Pittsburgh Penguins by taking advantage of the Pens overzealous attempt to play physical.  In Game 2 on Monday night, it was far simpler.  Boston was the better team from the opening puck drop to the final buzzer and laid a merciless 6-1 beating on the home team to take a two-zip series lead.On Saturday, Pittsburgh's Matt Cooke delivered a dirty hit from behind on Adam McQuaid, but the NHL announced on Sunday that Cooke would not face supplementary discipline for his major penalty and game misconduct.  The decision surely confused fans of the San Jose Sharks, whose similarly, historically-maligned Raffi Torres was booted for the entire series against Los Angeles for a lesser hit.The Bruins have always been ruled against by the NHL's Director of Player Safety, Brenden Shanahan.  In his two years, he's suspended Bruins for plays that often went undisciplined elsewhere, and he's let plays slide against the Bruins that regularly are given supplementary discipline.In the case of Cooke, he also wasn't suspended three years ago for a cheap shot that ultimately ended Bruin Marc Savard's career (before Shanahan took over the position), but the lack of suspension did have a benefit for Boston this time.  It ensured that Brad Marchand, who also dished out a hit from behind in Game 1, shouldn't face the wrath of the league for his play either.That paid dividends immediately for the Bruins, as Marchand blocked a Sidney Crosby pass at the point and was off to the races on the game's first shif.  "The Little Ball of Hate," as he's known both affectionately in Boston and with disdain everywhere else, won the sprint and finished his breakaway with a shot over the glove of Tomas Vokoun.  The goal at just 28 seconds set a tone that would continue throughout the evening."I knew (Crosby) was very fast, so I needed to make sure I skated as fast as I could," said Marchand of the goal.  "I had a few sticks on me and needed to make sure it went in." Boston outshot Pittsburgh by a lopsided 13-6 margin in the first period and that would translate onto the scoresheet.  Marchand's early score was just an appetizer, and by the 14:37 mark, Nathan Horton was ready to serve the main course.  He was able to get his stick on the rebound of Torey Krug shot to bury the puck for a 2-0 lead.A shift later, he doled out a second helping, as he took a drop pass from Milan Lucic on the right side of the slot and passed the parmesan to the left, where a wide open David Krejci was waiting to register his league-leading 20th playoff point.  The tally put Boston ahead by three at 16:31 and chased a visibly-rattled Vokoun from the game."The confidence certainly builds pretty quickly when you start off with an early lead in the visiting building,"  said Boston Head Coach Claude Julien." I thought our guys did a good job of playing a solid two-way game."Pittsburgh would counter when Brandon Sutter took a cross ice feed from Cooke heading through neutral ice.  He skated to the top of the circle and picked the far upstairs corner on Tuukka Rask to put the only blemish of the series on the goaltender's otherwise spotless slate.The goal at 19:26 should have given the Penguins an opportunity to gain momentum and restore the confidence of a frustrated crowd heading into the first intermission.  Unfortunately, there were still 34 seconds left to play, and Boston knew that more than the home team.Cooke tried to engage Marchand in some neutral zone gibberish with the clock running out, while Jaromir Jagr was stealing the puck from a Penguin in front of the Boston bench.  Jagr fed Bergeron and realizing the opportunity for a break, Marchand bolted away from Cooke and into the rush.Bergeron fed him coming over the blue line and the winger skated to the top of the circle and found the far corner over Marc-Andre Fleury.  The goaltender had been relieved of his duties after an atrocious four games against the New York Islanders in the first round, and the Marchand shot was the first one he'd seen since his removal.Pittsburgh seemed resolute to keep working hard despite the 4-1 deficit.  Marchand got whistled for the only penalty of the period by foolishly upending Crosby in Boston's offensive zone at 11:54.  The Penguins struggled on the power play, but did regain the flow of the game and outplayed the Bruins over the final 10 minutes of the frame.However, the shots ended at just 7-5 for the the Penguins on the period,.  While the scoring chances were there, Rask was able to stand strong for Boston.  He most notably made an excellent glove save on Paul Martin's point shot through traffic to carry the commanding lead into the second intermission.Trailing 4-1, the Penguins were losing their mental fortitude.  In the second, Pascal Dupuis confronted a ref over a disagreement on an offsides call that had very little bearing on the game as Pittsburgh wasn't even on a rush.  In the third, James Neal was seen yelling, "what the f*** was the whistle for?" after the puck had hit the safety net above the end glass.  This sort of frustration was a clear sign that the Penguins simply didn't have their heads in the game, as meaningless whistles like these shouldn't be the focus of their energy.While the Penguins might have been unraveling, the break gave the B's a chance to regain the step they seemed to have lost late in the second.  On the first shift, Jagr made a great cross ice dish to Bergeron in a setup that looked very similar to the team's third goal.  Like Krejci had done on that goal, Bergeron quickly potted the puck into the open side of the net to give Boston a commanding 5-1 lead just 27 seconds into the period.  It marked the second time in the game that the Bruins had scored in the first 30 seconds of period.Somewhere a fat lady must have been signing, as the fans slowly started to trickle out of a very disappointed CONSOL Energy Center.  The Penguins outshot the Bruins 14-11 in the third period, and while they had a few chances, they never looked like a team ready to fill the huge hole that they'd dug.Johnny Boychuk added a why-the-hell-not goal when his slap shot clanked the post and went in for the 6-1 lead at 18:36.  It seemed meaningless to most, but it signified a boat race to listeners of the Puck Podcast and allowed me to use the term in the title.  (A boat race is any game won by five goals or more.)  The term was fitting for the lopsided affair that saw one team leave the other sinking in its wake on Monday."We're obviously very happy with the outcome," said Marchand.  "We knew coming in that it was going to be a tough few games.  We got a little lucky and need to play better next game."Boston will now take a 2-0 series lead back home for Game 3 and has outscored Pittsburgh 9-1 in the series.  However, the team was adamant afterward that it had too much respect for the Penguins to get confident."We were in that situation before and were able to come back," Julien said, in reference to a 2011 series against Montreal in which Boston fell behind 2-0 at home and rallied to win in seven games, en route to the Stanley Cup.  "We've been through enough positives and negatives to not get ahead of ourselves.  The Penguins are a deep team, and we're going to need to continue to play well to win this series."The key for Boston will be the play of Rask.  Since tripping over himself and giving up an embarrassing goal in a Game 4 loss to the New York Rangers last round, he has looked dominant and given up just two goals in the three games since."It's tough to say really how confident you are," said Rask when asked about his confidence level after the game.  "You just want to feel confident, and I feel good.  I just try to be patient, and when I take the extra second and let it come to me, it's been helpful.  I've been really seeing the puck well lately."That confidence will need to continue as the Penguins possess the fire power to break loose at any point.  Pittsburgh led the league in offense during the regular season and was scoring at an astonishing clip of 4.27 goals per game in the playoffs before managing just one in two games against Boston.  Superstars like Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have been silenced so far, and the potent powerplay has gone O-fer on six chances.  (The teams are a combined 0-for-11 on their power plays in the series.)Pittsburgh will get their next crack at Rask and the Bruins, when they visit Boston on Wednesday night for an 8 p.m. puck drop on NBC Sports Network.  (I will be at the game, so my recap will likely get written Thursday night.)For the Bruins to take a stranglehold on the series, they will need to play disciplined hockey and continue to force the Penguins out of their offensive rhythm.  Most knew that Boston would be capable of ousting the Eastern Conference's top seed, but it earned that rank for a reason.Pittsburgh has the ability to dismantle any team in the league when it's on its game.  Game 3 might be a series-deciding moment as to whether the Penguins can regain their swagger or whether the Bruins defensive fortitude is just too much of an obstacle for them to overcome.
Source:http://jtstally.blogspot.com/2013/06/game-2-bruins-win-boat-race.html

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