Big Bad Blog
WEEI.com Blog Network
RSS
Bruins win Game 3 in Zdeno Chara’s return 04.18.11 at 10:09 pm ET
By DJ Bean

MONTREAL — It was far more of a nail-biter than the Bruins probably expected after jumping out to a 3-0 lead, but the B’s finally got their first win of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals, beating the Canadiens, 4-2, at the Bell Centre Monday night. The Canadiens lead the series, 2-1.

The Bruins got first-period goals from David Krejci and Nathan Horton, the second of which came in flukey fashion when Horton put it off the back of Habs goaltender Carey Price. Rich Peverley made it 3-0 off another lucky bounce 2:02 into the second, but the Canadiens came roaring back, with goals from Andrei Kostitstyn and Tomas Plekanec in the second and third periods, respectively.

Zdeno Chara made his return to the lineup after missing Game 2 due to illness, leading the team in time on ice and posting an even rating.

The Bruins will travel to Lake Placid for practice Tuesday and Wednesday before returning to Montreal for Thursday’s Game 4.

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE BRUINS

- Not only did the Bruins score, but they scored four times. Not only did they score four times, but none of the goals came after they were already trailing by two goals. With the way the Habs came back in the third period period, the scoring the first two didn’t hold up, but the B’s can consider themselves on the right side of the fact that the team with the first goal has won all three games thus far.

- It wasn’t exactly the rope-a-dope game the Habs played in Games 1 and 2, but the Bruins did an excellent job of making sure pucks did not reach their intended destination through the first two periods. The B’s managed to get a stick on a ton of pucks in their own zone, breaking up plays and eliminating second and third chances.

- Peverley had a couple of big opportunities in the first period, so it seemed only a matter of time before he would be celebrating at Price’s expense. Peverley kept the puck on a 3-on-1 in the first but missed the net, and later in the period he intercepted an ill-advised clearing attempt by Price only to see a Habs stick whack it away on its way into the empty net. Peverley made good the third time around.

- Major kudos to the members of the Bruins’ fourth line. Gregory Campbell had two great chances in the first period, and he and Daniel Paille were instrumental in killing off two early penalties that the B’s took. Shawn Thornton nearly made it 4-2 in the third in one of the B’s rare scoring chances late in the game.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE BRUINS

- The Canadiens absolutely dominated the final 20 minutes of play. Keeping the Bell Centre crowd out of it for an entire game is one thing, but the B’s will need more of a 60-minute effort in Game 4.

- The Bruins did want they wanted to do on the scoreboard early, but two penalties in the first 7:27 probably wasn’t what Claude Julien had drawn up in the game plan. The B’s were whistled for too many men on the ice (a playoff favorite) at 1:08, perhaps due to just how loud it was as the fans were booing Chara. After killing off the early penalty, the B’s were once again short-handed when Krejci hooked Kostitsyn at 7:27. If it weren’t for the B’s getting their first lead of the series in between the two penalties, things would have looked grim momentum-wise.

- Speaking of Kostitsyn, it was a happy return for the Habs winger, and he got his revenge on the very man who kept him out of Saturday’s Game 2. Kostitsyn couldn’t play Saturday due to a foot injury suffered blocking a slap shot from Chara in Game 1, so being able to go around Chara for his first playoff tally must have felt a heck of a lot better than blocking that shot.

- While Kostitsyn’s second-period goal made it a 3-1 game, it could have very easily been 4-0 seconds earlier. Milan Lucic looked indifferent on a breakaway, making for an easy save for Price, and the Habs marching it down the ice put them on the board.

Read More: 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Carey Price, David Krejci, Nathan Horton Print  |  Email   | Bark It Up!  |  Digg It
  • Deano

    This was big time win for the Bruins. I thought Bergeron played extremely well, setting the physical tone for the bruins by finishing his checks all over the ice, winning face-offs, and making good passes. Thomas despite letting two soft goals in, did enough to win the game and played huge down the stretch last night. I thought most of the team played hard and I was extremely happy with the improvement on the Bruins breakout last night. Transition is so important in these games and the Bruins need to continue to make solid short passes on the breakout and use their skating game to get the puck up the ice, all these long passes from the Bruins end to the opponents blue line never work in my opinion.

    Stop dumping and chasing on the power play. Half the time the other teams get the puck first and just fires the puck back down the ice. Use your passing and skating to enter the offensive zone with possession so the power play can quickly set up in the zone. If you have to, keep regrouping in the neutral zone until you can carry the puck into the offensive zone; but to keep dumping the puck in on the power play is moronic at best.

    Can we please get some decent referees? Last night was a joke, it was basically so bad that the Bruins were playing by different rules than the Canadiens. Here are some of the missed calls I saw:

    1. On almost every face-off the ref was allowing the canadiens player to swoop the puck on the drop, and far too often they kicked the bruins player out of the face-off dot for trying to stop this crap by putting their leg in the way. It was so obvious I think even Brickley mentioned it last night, and it gave Montreal a huge advantage every face-off, this one is on the linesman, awful job last night.

    2. The interference last night was ridiculous. Especially first period Hall Gill (who’s begging to get his A** kicked) ran major interference on Lucic as he was going for a dumped puck.

    3. Hamrlik hit Rich Peverly in the first period like five steps after Peverly moved the puck, definitely a late hit. Not called.

    4. The stop of play for the hurt James Wisniewski. The Bruins had a 2 on 1 and possession and the refs blew the whistle because the guy had a cut lip? What is this kindergarten, did James need a hello kitty bandaid after that one? You have to be kidding me, if that does not deserve a diving penalty than I don’t know what does.

    5. The late hit by Pouliot on Boychuk is a perfect example of a guy targeting the head. This should have been a game misconduct penalty with a five minute major power play for the Bruins. The hit should be reviewed by the league and Pouliot should get a game or two suspension. The fact is, Pouliot came from the blind side, raised his elbow to hit the head of Boychuk and especially damning is Pouliot left his feet to make the hit. This hit was far worse than the Marchand hit on Umberger earlier this year because Pouliot left his feet to make the hit. Marchand got two games for his incidental contact and Pouliot, if the rules are the same for all teams, should get at least a one game suspension.

    6. I counted at least five late hits by Ryan White last night, three in the first period. None called.

    7. Plekanec clearly tripped Bergeron in the second period and was not called for a penalty.

    8. Lucic had a semi-breakaway in the third or late second period and the canadiens player clearly two handed slashed him in the side during his shot, of course not called either.

    9. The constant diving and the constant stick work by this canadiens team goes uncalled.

    I do not think I am asking for too much when I want some un biased referees calling the next game. Last night it was so obvious it was painful. Get a new crew in there because last nights crew was awful and completely biased towards the Canadiens.

    Also Michael “Ghost” Ryder, continues to mystify me as to why he is ever allowed on the ice. Julien figure it out this guy is no Bruin and has absolutely no grit at all. Bench him and play Seguin because there is no way Seguin could be as bad as Ryder. Ryder not only took a stupid penalty last night, but did nothing to contribute in any fashion of the game. At 17:47 in the third period watch as Ryder slowly meanders his way off the ice during a line change. The Bruins already took a too many men on the ice penalty and Ryder is skating off the ice for the line change like he has all week. I am sick of this guy, he sucks, bench him.

    Kaberle, someone tell this guy that he is not playing men’s pickup hockey. You know you are actually allowed to hit people right? When Horton forced the guy to the boards why did Kaberle just let him skate by with the puck instead of drilling the crap out of him? I said it when they traded for him, Kaberle is not the guy the bruins needed, he does not hit, he had only three goals before the Bruins got him this year. Bruins should have focused on going after players like Dion Phaneuf last year and Jerome Iginla this year. Didn’t we already learn that players like Gonchar and Kaberle just don’t make a big enough difference in the playoffs because they play with no physical grit?

  • Ryders Mother

    My son is proving his worth….what a sh!tty player. Never did anything ever. Should never have been signed. Did nothing last night. Just a real piece of sh!t

Bruins Box Score
Bruins Schedule
Bruins Headlines
NHL Headlines