Bruins Win Huge Game Four On Fraser's OT Goal, Tuukka's Netminding
Though nobody really came out and said it (or they did and I missed it), it was obvious that the Bruins’ 2013-2014 season hung in the balance last night in Montreal. A win would even up the series for the uneven Bs and give them a best-of-three with two games by the Charles. A loss would put them in a 3-1 hole that would require them to win three games in a row against a Canadiens team that has done an admirable job of keeping the Bruins from playing their game and frustrating their top line. Certainly not impossible given what we just saw in San Jose. But the idea of it was enough to make Bs fans wretch. And, apparently, the Bruins themselves.
The team was again far from perfect but they at least resembled the Bruins we’re used to watching instead of the passive bunch we got Tuesday night. And they got a much better result as well. Thanks to a back-to-stellar Tuukka Rask (33 saves) and a Johnny-on-the-spot goal-mouth overtime game-winner from the kid playing in his first NHL playoff game, the Bruins won 1-0 to gain a much-needed split in Montreal to tie the series at two. It was the kind of game that had fans reaching for the Xanax or Jack or bud so that they might calm their nerves and fall asleep.
Instead of being on bus bound for Wilkes-Barre, PA for an AHL playoff game, Matt Fraser was summoned north to join the big club that acquired him over the summer in the Tyler Seguin trade. The Bruins brass need every advantage they can muster and figured this prospective NHL sniper would be better to have in the line-up than Justin Florek. So Dan Paille was put back in usual spot on the fourth line and Fraser joined Carl Soderberg and Loui Eriksson on what was the Bruins’ most dominating line. After three periods and three times hearing rubber clang off iron, the stage was set for youngster’s heroics.
Some solid board work by Loui got Johnny Boychuk the puck and he quickly sent a shot towards Carey Price that caromed off the glass behind him and allowed Carl Soderberg to walk out front with a great scoring chance. Price and D-man Mike Weaver both lost the rebound while Doug Murray lost Fraser, who spied the puck and darted to the crease to poke it in. Game over. Another win, another playoff hero*. A 3-1 series lead?
Fraser made a bit of history as well, becoming the first player ever to score OT goals in the AHL and NHL playoffs in the same season. He’s also only the sixth player ever to score his first playoff goal in a 1-0 OT win and one of two to do so in his playoff debut. So yeah, he’s all but guaranteed to be in the line-up tomorrow night.
The game-winner came on the kind of simple play the Bruins haven’t done nearly enough of this series—-just throw the puck toward the net and have guys around to clean up the junk. That’s how you’ll beat Price, not by taking slappers from the points. But the important thing is they got a very necessary win and regained home ice. They’ll look to take a 3-2 series tomorrow at 7 at the Garden. Should be a pretty raucous evening at the Bulfinch Triangle.
A few more buds for your weekend bowl…
**It’s playoff time in both the NHL and NBA which means roughly every other night or so, a player is gonna step up and win the game for his team, sometimes in spectacular fashion. Then a writer or talking head on TV will refer to him as the “hero” of the game. Then there’ll be minor outrage from somebody because “cops/firefighters/military/teachers/dogs are the real heroes”. No. Shit. Sherlock. The use of the word ‘hero’ is obviously within the context of the game, not real life. Nobody is really advocating that Jonathan Quick should be on Seal Team 6 because he was the hero of the LA/SJ series. But when speaking specifically about a game, it’s quite alright. And the same goes when referring to a guy having a tractor chicken fight.
*Two Us, two Ks, but too much wandering for Rask. Really don’t want to pick nits with a guy that just slapped up a goose egg after a couple of rough outings but he needs to be a little more judicious about when to try to play the puck. He put the game on Brian Gionta’s stick with less than 10 minutes left but fortunately it’s 2014 and not 2004 so he was able to stuff him. But Rask was the best Bruin last night and looked more like the calm and confident goalie we got all year and not the scattershot guy of earlier in the series. Let’s hope he’s back to normal.
*Soderberg had another strong game (he might’ve the second best Bruin) and was rewarded with the primary assist on the game-winner (Boychuk had the secondary). He had a golden opportunity to give at the Bs a late lead with a yawning net and out-of-position Price but he clanked it off the crossbar in a moment that had more than a few Bs fans harken back to Glen Wesley, thankfully only temporarily though. Loui was second in ice-time among Bs forwards with 19:32, 11 seconds behind David Krejci.
*I’m the last guy to feel bad for a New York team but the Rangers did get royally fucked by the NHL schedule-makers. Teams are already battling fatigue in addition to a host of injuries this time of year so there’s no need to pile on by making one team play six times in nine nights. It’s not fair and greatly gives one team an advantage they didn’t earn. But we all know money (in the form of TV) calls the shots, rest be damned.
*Price on the game-winner: “It bounced over my stick, and I lost it in the crowd of people in front of me,” Price said. “Somebody yelled ‘Over!’ so I looked over my left shoulder and obviously it wasn’t there, and somebody poked it on in.” Sounds like somebody doesn’t want to take full responsibility. By the way, “Somebody” is a great tune off of Aerosmith’s incredible self-titled 1973 debut album.
*I’m still laughing and mildly shocked that the Canadiens and/or the Bell Center staff took the time to manually block Barstool Sports on their Internet network. Now? All of a sudden? I mean, how childish can you get? Props to Joey McDonald for not being afraid to say he peruses our fine stable of blogs for the common man and for bringing attention to the fact that an arena actually, suddenly blocked a website that was, presumably, accessible prior to this series. I kind of wish I was in Montreal last night to cover the game just so I could ask them if they could please unblock the site I write for so that I could file my story like everybody else; a site, by the way, that has been credentialed by an NHL team for four seasons running and the league itself for two Stanley Cup Finals (2011 and 2013). But it’s not good enough for Montreal. Typical. Also gotta love the local nitwit bloggers with sticks up their asses siding with the enemy because of their disdain for the Stool. Which is ironic because they write about a league in which about half the players are huge fans of the site they abhor.
*Non-Bruins Blog Item of the Week. After five episodes, it’s safe to say HBO’s work comedy “Silicon Valley” is a keeper. Created by Mike Judge, the guy who gave us the seminal workplace comedy “Office Space”, it’s mainly about a young guy (Richard) who turns down a guaranteed $10M for his website so that he can see it through to completion and potentially reap much more. It’s centered on his crew of friends that also happen to be his co-workers. “Silicon Valley” is also brilliant in the way it satirizes tech boom culture and all the awkwardness that entails. However, the show also carries with it an air of sadness. Christopher Evan Welch, who made a nice acting career for himself and became a “that guy” (and the only memorable thing in “The Master”), passed away from lung cancer complications at just 48 years old during filming. He played on-the-spectrum billionaire Peter Gregory and was, hands down, the funniest character on the show. And I really think this role would’ve been the one to take him to the next level because he was so brilliant in it. Too bad. Still, the show is the funniest new show I’ve seen in awhile and the actual Silicon Valley looks like it can supply at least a few seasons of quality material to skewer. Oh, and it has the great Bill Haverchuck in it.
letitbleedrearad@gmail.com