Bruins Play Like Shit For First Two Periods But Can't Bail Themselves Out This Time; Lose 4-2 To Habs, Now Trail Series 2-1
Bruins fan reacts to last night’s Game 3 in Montreal.
After finally coming alive in the third period on Saturday afternoon to even up their conference semifinal series with Montreal, it looked as though the Bruins may have turned a corner as far as getting their game back on track. But that turned out to be a mere pipe dream as the Bs inexplicably played passive, pussyfootin’ hockey for the first two periods in dropping a 4-2 decision to the Habs that has them trailing in the series, 2-1.
P.K. Subban once again feasted on the Bs, posting two points for the third straight game with a goal and assist (3G, 3A for the series). The Canadiens took full advantage of their chances while the Bruins dilly-dallied and continually looked for the perfect set-up rather than getting bodies out front and shooting from all over to create rebounds. Tuukka Rask failed to stop either of two breakaways after breakdowns/bad decisions in front of him when stopping one of them could’ve had a big effect on the outcome. Instead of the usual Don Draper cool we’ve been used to with Rask, he’s been more Freddy Rumsen this series.
Last night, the Canadiens had more jump and were getting sticks in lanes to prevent Boston passes and shots. The Bruins weren’t doing much of anything…at least until they decided to join the party for the last third of the game. Tomas Plekanec put the Habs up 1-0 halfway through the first when he was left embarrassingly open to Rask’s right after he got away from Jarome Iginla. Four minutes later, Montreal doubled its lead when Subban jumped out of the penalty box then beat Rask on a rare breakaway for the defenseman. Almost 20 game minutes later, Dale Weise made it 3-0 on what looked like a replay of Subban’s goal. Rask has spoiled us over the years with his breakaway play (I’m not including the shoot-out here just actual game-play) so it’s a letdown when he gets beat on one. But two in row was downright jarring.
Ironically, this was the type of game where you think the Bs would thrive. With about 54-55 minutes of 5-on-5 play thanks to just one penalty per team (plus pulled goalie time), the Bruins did posses the puck more than Montreal and attempted more shots. Over the course of time, you’ll win more than you’ll lose doing that. But when you don’t play hungry and go to the net like you should or you pass up a quality shot to pass the puck further away from the crease, you won’t win, especially in the playoffs.
The line of Dan Paille-Carl Soderberg-Loui Eriksson was had a strong night, racking up eight of the team’s 28 shots and having the puck for a good chunk of time (the -1 for Loui and Carl came via Subban’s breakaway). Patrice Bergeron’s line also had a bunch of chances as well. With 2:12 left in the second, Bergy would cash in on one of those chances when his sweet tip of a Torey Krug pass beat Carey Price to make it 3-1 heading into the room (Price was solid again and made saves when his team needed him to). With Rask pulled, the Bs got within a goal thanks to Iginla’s tip at 17:44. But that would be as close as they’d get.
In order to tie the series up tomorrow, the Bruins need to get back to playing their brand of hockey. Or pretty soon they’ll be wondering how it all went so wrong.
Though Iginla did finally get on the board to bring the Bs within a goal with two and change left, he got toasted by Plekanec on the first goal. And late in the third with Rask pulled, he got buried by Travis Moen with a clean, hard hit that he really wanted to respond to but didn’t want to put his team at a further disadvantage. Rough night for the vet.
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