Bruins Throttle Canes and Stave off Elimination
You find out a lot about a team when their backs are against the wall. How will they handle it?
Will they come out fighting or will they turtle. Tonight the Boston Bruins showed why they were the best team in the Eastern Conference. They utterly dominated the Canes in every aspect of this game with a 4-0 win. If it were not for Cam Ward (36 saves) this game could have been 8-0 Bruins. Milan Lucic (1 goal and 1 assist) set the tone with about 5 minutes left in the game when he smacked Dennis Seindenberg out near the boards. This led to Seidenberg taking a dumb slashing penalty. On the ensuing power play, Zedeno Chara took a blast from the point and Mark Recchi tipped the puck between Cam Wards Pads for a 1-0 lead. The Canes did respond with some of their only pressure of the night. Rod Brindamour set up Sergei Samsonov for a nice slot shot that Tim Thomas (19 saves, shutout) stopped and the rebound went to Joni Pitkanen for a glorious shot and Thomas denied him with a nice blocker save that looked like it was labeled. This was a huge moment in the game because even though the Bruins dominated this game big time, it could have been 1-1 very easily at this point. Later on in the first period, the slick Marc Savard set up Phil Kessel (2 goals +2) with a beautiful cross ice pass that he beat Cam Ward with about 1:30 minutes left in the period. The Bruins deserved to have the lead in the first. They actually could have been up by more if not for Ward. The Bruins outshot the Canes 16-7.
In the second period the Bruins never let up. After Chara absolutely crushed Staal with a hit the Bruins made it 3-0. Marc Savard set up Kessel again for a shot in the slot who beat Ward to make it 3-0. I give the Bruins tons of credit for getting the lead and wanting to make it a bigger lead and not sitting back. The were in complete control of the second period as well. Carolina had no answers for their forecheck. The Canes could not get out of their own zone and had a very very hard time getting any sustained pressure on Thomas. Chara made his presence known tonight and clearly played his best game since the Montreal series. Claude Julien really had his team ready for play tonight and the Bruins showed what kind of character they have. My one final comment was that Jussi Joikenen could have seriously hurt Chara with his cheap shot at Chara's skates. I am really happy the Chara recovered and played the rest of the game. I hate dirty play by anyone period! I relish the play like Lucic did tonight on Seidenberg and that bascially set the tone for the game. After two the Bruins were so dominant that they outshot the Canes 27-11 and it seemed like more.
In the third period, the Canes had some good chances but Thomas made the stops look easy. Eventually Milan Lucic set up by Ryder and Bergeron scored on Ward to make it 4-0 with about 8 minutes left in the game. This blast from the right circle was a rocket into the top corner. Ward had no chance on that laser shot. Then last on in the period the game got chippy as what usually happens when a playoff game is a blowout like this one was. Tim Conboy and Mark Stuart fought but the real ugliness happened when Scott Walker was in a scrum with Aaron Ward. It appeared they were going to fight but Ward did not drop his gloves and Walker nailed him. As a Canes fan I wish this did not happen as I have a lot of respect for Ward from his time in Carolina. Walker got a fighting major and a game misconduct while Ward only received a roughing minor. Boston outshot the Canes 11-8 and 40-19 overall.
To sum up game 5. The Bruins were desperate and played like it. They showed tremendous character in winning this game. What will happen in Game 6, no one knows. All I know is that whomever scores first usually wins as what has happened in 5 of the first 6 games. The Bruins showed grit and did not want their season to end tonight. They live on for another game and will have a huge chance in game 6 to get back to Boston for Game 7 if they play with the same intensity as tonights game. For the Canes they must do like they did in the 2006 Stanley Cup final when losing game 6, 4-0 at Edmonton. They bounced back and played great and won Game 7. Anything is possible. We shall see what unfolds on May 12th. Thank you all for taking the time to read this. Even though I admit I am a Canes fan. I enjoy writing about each and every game no matter what the outcome is.
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