Wow.
That's all Bruins fans can really say right now. I mean here we are with a 2 game to none series lead on the top seed in the Eastern Conference. The team with the top power play in the league and the so called best player in the world, the team who averages about 4 goals a game. The team that was favorite to win this series, is now down 2 games to none and could possibly be facing a sweep later this week. And who said the Bruins can't score? There was plenty of that last night, that's for sure. The Bruins didn't take long to get things started either, as 28 seconds into the game Brad Marchand stole the puck from Sidney Crosby and was on a partial breakaway, he fired a wrist shot over the glove side of Tomas Vokoun and the Bruins got a very early 1-0 lead. Later in the first, Torey Krug saved a puck in the offensive zone and fired it back in and Nathan Horton was able to jam it home for a 2-0 as Chris Letang sat there and watched. Letang was not very committed to knocking Horton off the puck and that hurt them there. Then some marvelous passing by the 1st line led to their third goal. Lucic drove to the net, did a backwards pass to Horton, who then passed it cross ice to Krejci who got his NHL leading 8th goal of the playoffs to make it 3-0, and that was the night for Vokoun. The Penguins gave Marc-Andre Fluerry his first action of the series. Late in the first period the Penguins would get on the board when Brandon Sutter was flying down the right wing side and fired a wrist shot that beat Rask to make it 3-1. So after a long first period for the Penguins it looked as if they would at least go into the intermission after just having scored a goal and had a little momentum, but that last all of about 25 seconds. That's because with 9 seconds left in the first period, it was Marchand again who shot a wrister top shelf over Fluerry to make it 4-1. It was Marchand's 4th of the playoffs and second of the game, he wouldn't get the hat trick, though. After all that, the second period was scoreless. The Bruins still controlled play and really after the first period to the end the whole building was just not into the game and the players for the home team didn't look much better. 27 seconds into the third period, Jaromir Jagr made a cross ice pass to Patrice Bergeron who one-timed it into the net to make it 5-1. Really, I'm surprised we didn't see some fighting with this game getting out of hand, but the closest thing we got was when Milan Lucic dropped the gloves with a Penguins player (I don't know who) but the linesmen stepped in before anything happened. The slaughter would end when Johnny Boychuk unleashed a slapshot that made it 6-1. And that was it, the Bruins win 6-1 and take a 2-0 series lead heading back to TD Garden.
The Bruins may have played their best defensive game of the year last night, the held the Penguins to 16 shots through two periods, and although they would get their shot total up to 26 by the end of the game, there were only about two really good chances for the Penguins. Nothing else was really a threat. They have held the best offense in the NHL to 1 goal in two games. If you're a Bruins fan you have to feel good. You have dominated a great team (so far, I'm not saying this is over) and you're up 2 games to none heading home. I feel good, I know that.
~Anthony
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