Bruins Throughly Dominate Canes in Game 1, 4-1

Bruins Thoroughly Dominate the Canes in Game 1, 4-1

The Bruins showed no rust in Game 1 after an 8 day layoff from playing. They definitely looked like the team that dominated the Canadiens in round 1. David Kreji scored just 1:34 into period 1 off of a screen of Cam Ward. He was set up by the underrated Michael Ryder. The lead could have been more but Cam Ward (20 saves) stopped Montator on a two on one with Kessel. Tim Thomas was also very good in period 1 when he stopped Tuomo Ruutu on a nice feed from Jussi Jokinen. Late in the period Jokinen did tie the game at 1 when he accepted a drop pass from Ryan Bayda and beat Thomas with a shot on the ice through the five hole. This was an evenly played period with Carolina outshooting the Bruins 10-8. One thing that I did notice is the Bruins seemed to have the better of the chances but did seem to miss the net on a few of them.

In period 2 the Canes came out trying to take the lead but Thomas (26 saves overall) would have none of that. There was a stretch about 5 minutes into the period that Carolina was carrying the play and Thomas showed a great glove hand when he robbed Corvo off of a nice drop pass from Erik Cole. Thomas also stopped Pitkanen on a nice feed from Rod Brindamour and kept the score tied at 1. Right after those two saves by Thomas, the Bruins took control of the game. Joni Pitkanen was out of position when Mark Savard scored on a rebound of a Phil Kessel shot on a flurry in front of Ward. There were two Bruins outmanning Ward, who basically had no chance on this goal. The Bruins were showing their depth on offense at this time. About 5 minutes later, Michael Ryder (1 goal and 1 assist) took a blind pass from Ruutu just over the Canes blueline and skated on the wing with Blake Wheeler. Ryder shot an absolute lazer over the glove of Cam Ward on this goal. Ryder has been fantastic during the playoffs so far scoring 5 goals. The Canes outshout the Bruins 10-9 but after Boston took the lead, they dominated the rest of the period.

In period 3 the Canes were looking to get within a goal when they opened with a flurry around Tim Thomas. To me the turning point of the game happened when Thomas stopped Eric Staal on a nice fed from Whitney to keep the game at 3-1. Thomas also stopped Whitney earlier on a tip from the point. Matt Cullen turned the puck over to Phil Kessel. Kessel skated in the right wing and left a nice drop pass to Marc Savard, who beat Ward with a nice hard shot to the blocker side about 12 inches off of the ice. When Ward is playing good he would usually make that stop. Make no mistake the shot was labeled but Ward was not screened and saw it all the way. Once the game was 4-1 the rest of the game was kind of anticlimactic. The Bruins fully earned this victory to take a 1-0 lead in this best of 7 series.

If the Canes continue to have horrid giveaways in the neutral zone or their own zone, this will be a short series. Boston will win in a sweep or at most 5 games. They must be more sound with the puck and give Ward a bit more support in their own end. For Boston, they just need to play their game and all will be well. As long both teams stay disciplined, I do not believe the power play will have a major role in this series. This was a good game for about the first 30 minutes or so. Once Boston got the two goals in the 2nd period to take a 2 goal lead, you had a sense that they felt there were no way that they would blow this game and they were correct. Credit a great coaching job by Julien and the star players in Savard, Ryder, and Kreji coming to play. The Canes will play better in the coming games I anticipate, but will it be enough to overcome the deeper Bruins team? I don't know, but will tune in on Sunday night for game 2 to find out.