Final score: Bruins 7, Philadelphia 3
Krejci/By S. Bradley
PHILADELPHIA — Here we go again.
The Bruins are ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers in a playoff series.
One year after going up 3-0 and then losing to the Flyers, the Bruins started this season’s Eastern Conference semifinal rematch with a convincing 7-3 rout that sent the message the Bruins were trying to convey all week and head coach Claude Julien verbalized: “last year was last year; this year is this year.”
David Krejci, who recorded one point in the seven-game first round against Montreal, erupted for two goals and two assists. The Bruins jumped out to a 5-1 lead and hardly looked back, much to the chagrin of the Wells Fargo Center crowd.
Here’s a glance at the rest of the box score:
•Krejci and his linemates Nathan Horton and Milan Lucic were a combined plus-8. Horton registered a goal and an assist.
•Defenseman Dennis Seidenberg set up two goals and posted a plus-4 rating. Five different Bruins enjoyed multi-point nights.
•Center Gregory Campbell, who like his former Florida teammate Horton is in his first NHL playoff season, scored his first postseason goal to cap Boston’s scoring.
•The Flyers pulled goaltender Brian Boucher at 17:14 of the third period when it was 5-1. He finished the night with 18 saves on 23 shots. Rookie Sergei Bobrovsky stopped eight of 10 shots in relief.
I’ve said all along that I would have rather preferred Wisniewski or Pitkanen but Chiarelli trained in on Tomas. I also still say the Bruins forwards on the PP have to take allot of the blame on the PP ineptness.
Kaberle still has time to make up for some of his play and I would still make the trade it was worth the gamble.
@ Alan, you had a tough d-man in Mark Stuart and all we heard was the defense corps was constantly getting tied up. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not crazy about Kaberle and I didn’t like what they gave up to get him. But, the d-corp is better than last year and Kaberle is part of that improvement.
Gotta love how this team played and the results were the proof that the CJ system works.
The PP however..not so much.Just keep working it!
GO BRUINS GO!!!! ALL OF EM.
Another great game by the Bergie line. A huge game for Brad Marchand. The kid keeps showing up.
SanDog – Really? You’re defending that trade? Just look at his TOI. Why do you think he’s low on the Bs in minutes? Is it because he’s been a good fit and difference maker? Maybe they don’t want to get him hurt before signing him to that contract next season…. give me a break. Kaberle is perhaps the worst trade made by the Bs in recent memory. He’s up there with the LaPointe and Blaine Lacher signings. Yes – he has a lot of assists. I’m not saying he’s not a decent hockey player. I’m saying that was a terrible trade, and a worse evaluation of talent and fit by PC. I am a PC fan. I think he’s done really good things that most fans don’t credit him for, and as I’ve said before… I think the final judgement of PC was to be made b/w this last deadline and this offseason as this was the salary and asset window where by he’d have his shot at building a winner for years. The Kaberle deal is a HUGE swing and miss.
Kaberle is soft.
Bringing a soft player onto a tough team wreaks havoc.
He won’t go hard to the corners. Won’t hit. I cringe when I see the puck go to his corner because he lets the forward in and doesn’t make him pay.
Think of what that money would have done if spent on some tough D’man with less skill. Look at Green, and any of Chicago’s top D’men, tough and with passing skill.
Setting aside the power play, I don’t think that Kaberle is playing all that poorly. Kaberle’s game has never been that physical and it certainly isn’t physical now. But, what he is adept at and continues to do well is make a quick, clean outlet pass.
The Bruin’s defence in general is playing better than last year’s post season in large measure because they are breaking out better. They aren’t always trying to force the puck up the wall but rather using the center of the ice better when the wall is clogged up. While this isn’t all on Kaberle, he is making his contribution to the Bruin’s improved breakout.
Bojangles , Kaberle does need to play better but he has the 4th most assists since the lockout not goals. I keep asking everyone “Do want Tomas to shoot for the forwards as well ?”
If Chiarelli does resign Kaberle I want it cheap for two years with incentives or don’t sign him at all. Tomas has been distributing properly but have the forwards been collecting it then making a good shot ? I say no…
Sometimes its all about matchups. The speed of the Canadiens top two lines obviously neutralizes the HuLK line. Only time they made a showing against Montreal was in extra sessions once their lines were either taking chances, or were wearing down.
Can’t believe the difference in terms of speed b/w the games. The need to skate hard and constantly, and the need to move the puck quickly in tight spaces against Montreal seems to have given the Bs a real advantage in game one. Will Philly adjust?
PP getting worse. Is that possible?! Kaberle has lost millions and millions in the matter of weeks. I’m sure he must have thought it would have swung the other way with a shot at a deep playoff run. His soft game simply is the worst possible fit. I give PC a lot of credit for what he’s done these last 4 years, but has anyone ever misjudged a player and fit this bad before?
I think Lavi is too good a coach to not tweak the issues with todays game. I think one huge problem was the line match ups. The Flyers couldn’t contain the Krejci line or honestly the Bergeron one. The Flyers I think have more scorers, but I think our forwards are better defensively and are able to get the puck back or control the puck in the offensive zone to get a good shot in.
Also, I don’t care how much anyone says goaltending doesn’t really matter-it does when there are defensive breakdowns. If your defense is going to break down-give me Thomas any day over the three headed goaltender of the Flyers.
Today’s game showed us that the Krejci line can score, that the Flyers are out to get Krejci, and we better be ready on Monday for a more disciplined Flyers team (and if the Flyers aren’t more disciplined this likely will end badly for them). I think Lavi is too good a coach.
Also, it was nice to see the B’s not sit on the lead but to continue to press and move the puck into the offensive zone. Makes me think Julien maybe learned his lesson from last year that sitting on a lead and just dumping the puck often leads to losing games.
So true, DaveinJ. I see lots of Price& CDNs up here and they have a goalie for a long time. Subban, star in the making. Best thing for Bruins was to have such a good hard series with the Habs, taught them to play hard all the time, Hope they keep it up!
This game makes you appreciate 2 things: just how good a goalie Price is, and how good a defenseman Subban really is.
in before hab trolls. lot of red seats down there.
thomas >>> boucher
need to win game 2 and game 3/4.
Great game. Good to see krejci come to play. Lucic looked good even though he wasn’t on the score sheet.
The powerplay still sucks. They can barely get set up and they were still forcing the puck to chara. When are they gonna experiment with chara in front of the net?
Don’t expect this to be an easy series even after that game. Philly was clearly over-confident coming into the game. Expect a different team Monday.
“Basically, I see this series shaking out with the Bruins finally playing one great, 60-minute, all-around game and the Flyers’ goaltending faltering one time so that they have to switch goaltenders at least once. And I don’t see the Bruins getting more than those two games.”
@Matt K- Which one was it tonight?
Hell of a job to go to Philly and take the game on their ice so convincingly. Nice of the first line to realize it’s playoff time.