After a week in which the media talked endlessly about the Penguins’ dazzling offense, the Boston Bruins stunned the hockey world with a 3-0 shutout victory in Pittsburgh. Tuukka Rask made 29 saves to silence Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Jarome Iginla, carrying the Bruins to the early series lead.
The Penguins looked more energetic early on, but Rask did his best impression of Tim Thomas to turn away wave after wave of the Pittsburgh attack. The Bruins were outshout nearly two-to-one in the first, but they earned the opening goal which set the tone for the remainder of the game.
Midway through the first, Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference, who made his return after missing all of the second round due to injury, acted out of character as he carried the puck into the zone and pushed towards the net. Ference sent the puck wide for Nathan Horton, pulling defenders out of position and allowing David Krejci to get open in the high slot. Krejci put a slapper on net that forced its way through Tomas Vokoun‘s five hole to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead.
A mostly even second period was headlined by yet another ugly Matt Cooke incident. Early in the period, Cooke, well known in Boston for a nasty hit to the head of Marc Savard that eventually contributed to the star center’s unofficial retirement, slammed Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid into the boards from behind and sent him to the dressing room.
Cooke was ejected from the game and could face a suspension moving forward. Though the Bruins failed to score on the ensuing power play, they seemed to be motivated by the ugly hit and they slowly began to exert their will.
Before Boston could take total control, they faced one more flurry of heart-stopping chances when Brad Marchand went to the box in the dying moments of the second. A shot off the post and a few remarkable saves from Tuukka Rask followed, frustrating the Penguins to a boiling point.
Likely in an attempt to get the Bruins to lose their composure, Evgeni Malkin surprisingly dropped the gloves with Patrice Bergeron but the plan would backfire. Bergeron, who dominated Sidney Crosby in the faceoff circle all night, and his teammates returned for the third ready to close out the game rather than take bad penalties.
Four minutes into the period, David Krejci netted his second of the game by forcing in his own rebound. Krejci, who entered the game leading Penguins stars Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang by just one for the NHL’s postseason points lead, now holds a three point advantage with 19 in 13 games.
Krejci’s renaissance has been coupled with the reemergence of Nathan Horton, who put home Boston’s third goal after assisting on both of Krejci’s tallies. He now has 15 playoff points.
Tuukka Rask stopped all seven third period shots from the Pens to earn his first career postseason shutout, emphatically announcing his arrival as an elite NHL goaltender.
As good as Rask was, the postgame spotlight may be on Tomas Vokoun whose mediocre performance may begin cries for Marc-Andre Fleury‘s return. Vokoun has been strong since taking over in the first round, losing just his second of eight starts this postseason on Saturday.
It could be argued that Vokoun was at fault for at least two of the goals, but the loss was hardly his fault. You simply can’t win a game without any goal support. Nonetheless, speculation has it that Fleury could be back on the ice at the first sign of trouble. Questions surrounding Pens coach Dan Bylsma‘s goaltending decision should reach a fever pitch by the time the puck drops for Game 2 on Monday night.
Meanwhile, Claude Julien may simply tell his boys to keep up the good work. After losing all three contests against the Penguins in the regular season, the Bruins were superior in every aspect of the game on Saturday.
Much of their success can be attributed to their total dominance at the dot, where they won 32 of the 48 draws. If they continue to keep the puck away from the Penguins and Tuukka Rask can stand on his head a few more times, the Bruins will have every opportunity to pull off the upset.
