Chara/By S. Bradley
Although the Bruins finally got two goals from forwards who do not skate on their third line, it was a shot from their defense that was the difference tonight.
Zdeno Chara capped a three-point night with a 4-on-4 goal from the right point off Roman Hamrlik’s stick that was the game-winner with 1:53 left in regulation in a 4-3 win against Washington in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.
The Bruins twice trailed by one goal in the game and also squandered a one-goal lead in the third period.
Chara also recorded two assists, on goals by Rich Peverley (first of the series) and Brian Rolston. Daniel Paille scored the Bruins’ fourth goal.
Boston now leads the series 2-1 with Game 4 scheduled for Thursday also in Washington.
▪Chara produced three points, but defense partner Dennis Seidenberg, who finished the night with just one assist, was even better than the captain. Seidenberg kept the puck alive down low and the helped screen Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby on Chara’s goal. Seidenberg also drew a penalty, threw four hits and blocked four shots. He also kept the puck in along the wall before Rolston’s score.
The only negative against the Chara-Seidenberg pair was Brooks Laich’s game-tying goal in the third period. Somehow Laich made it to the Boston blue line unscathed without the puck and then took a Nicklas Backstrom pass in for a goal. Boston’s top pair made than made up for that gaffe over the course of the rest of the night.
▪With Rolston’s goal that’s three goals in three games for Boston’s newly-named “Bennie & The Vets” line. Rolston scored on the rebound of a Chris Kelly shot. Kelly scored in Game 1, Benoit Pouliot in Game 2.
▪Head coach Claude Julien tried to wake up his offense – to mixed results – by switching Patrice Bergeron to a line between Milan Lucic and Peverley, and David Krejci between Brad Marchand and Tyler Seguin. Peverley scored his goal 4-on-4.
▪Paille, Gregory Campbell and Shawn Thornton were back in fine form and it finally paid off with a Paille goal on a rebound of a Greg Zanon shot. Campbell made the pass out to Zanon, and the Bruins got position because of Thornton’s hard work on the forecheck against Jeff Schultz.
▪ Marchand didn’t record a shot on net, but drew two penalties.
▪Backstrom was handed a match penalty at 20:00 of the third period for taking a post-horn run at Peverley. It will be interesting to see if there’s any additional discipline coming for the Caps center.
▪Lucic got his feet moving better as the game went on. But he lost his temper again and was punished with a double-minor during a late-game power play. He engaged with Matt Hendricks and then went nuts on Karl Alzner after the Caps defenseman grabbed Lucic from behind. Can’t blame Lucic for going after Alzner, but he could’ve backed away from Hendricks considering it was a power play.
▪Tim Thomas finished with 29 saves on 32 shots, none bigger than a point-blank save on Jay Beagle. The Bruins also blocked 21 shots to Washington’s 15.
keith
I think leave Pouliot with Rolston and Kelly. Their chemistry is good. Julien gives more ice time to whichever line(s) are playing well. I thought last night was the best night Pouliot has played, from a physical aspect, since he joined the Bruins. I may have to eat my hat on this one. Seguin is the one that needs to get his “mojo” going.
clemens,
you’re out of your mind. they settle for way too many shots from the perimeter.
keith,
not crazy pouliot is playing well.
Call me crazy, but put Pouliot with Krejci and Lucic. He has earned it. Then Pevs, Kelly and Rolston can play with serious speed
BigJim-
I dunno, this whole series they always try to make that one extra pass, or throw it in the middle even though the points are open. They also try to stick handle through double teams rather than dumping it in, especially the first 2 lines. Just seems like Holtby was very shaky last night and the Bs shouldve just thrown everything at him.
I’m in Atlantic Canada and I had the game in HD on channel 495 with my Rogers package.
Mais, je dois ecouter jack edwards, il est terrible.
J’ai NESN. Je peux regarder tous les matchs. Ou sont Les Habitants?
PatrickD: I have Eastlink. It’s ok, I guess. Not everything has to be in HD for me to enjoy it. Glad they do put it on after the Sens game at least.
Ryan et al: you would think that winning the Stanley Cup would carry some panache but CBC feels we Atlantic Canadians would rather watch a team from Ontario play…that being said if you don’t have Bell you can buy the French package as the game is airing in HD on RDS2…that makes sense right? The French channel is showing the Bruins game and the English channel is showing the Sens game. Because you know…Ottawa isn’t french at all or even really that close to Quebec geographically…oh…wait…what?
Anyway at least the main network has the decency to cut away to the game after the Sens game is over. So we get to see the end of the game at least.
I hear ya Ryan. But online is better than nothing I guess. I think though this is the end of the games watched online as I think CBC will not be broadcasting these games at the same time as the Sens-Rangers game any more (so I’m told).
Bruins16, i missed the third period as i had a game of my own. but i’m glad to hear it. now if they can limit him in the first 2 periods we’ll be all set.
clemens, you might be the only person on earth who would accuse the bruins of being “too fancy” offensively. all they do is throw it on net, it’s brutal.
Ryan and Sandenn. On Bell there are 3 channels showing the Bruins games but it in no way helps those of us with shaw. At least I work Thursday night and the store uses Bell
Oh and if they repeal the suspension what about the suspension they gave Lucic against montreal a few years back, it wasn’t nearly as deliberate and he got a game.
@Ryan, I know it’s crappy of CBC but you can watch it on the CBC alternate channel called CHEX, it’s only in standard definition but is channel 217 on Bell, hope this helps.
Couple quick thoughts:
-Time to do away with the cursory Corvo bashing. It’s broadly recognized that he has not only underperformed in his stint thusfar, but also that McQuaid’s injury is the only thing keeping him on the ice. And even in spite of all that, he has NOT been bad this series. Sure, Julien hasn’t skated him during lockdown portions of the game, especially in late-game situations, but he hasn’t made any major errors and has been good with the puck in his own zone, distributing to the neutral zone and maintaining possession alone to change out the forwards. Sure, those are small things, but at this point, he’s doing what’s asked of him. The commenters on this site are too keen and understand the game too well to keep making the token dig at Corvo.
-2nd point is on the top 6 forwards. Seems some folks are panicking about their lack of production, issues gaining the blue line with speed, settling for perimeter shots, etc. We’ll all agree they’re capable of better play, but this isn’t the first time these lines have gone cold simultaneously. The good news is that we’re up 2-1 in the series and took back home ice advantage; both without much offensive contribution from our main contributiors. Seguin and Marchand each skated better last night and Luc and Krejci will be able to create more space as the series wears on the Caps’ smaller dmen. One other item that has been overlooked this series: very ordinary (about 50:50) faceoff numbers for the B’s. The Bruins’ propensity for winning draws in all three zones can’t be overstated for its contribution to their team +/- and overall success. Beagle (64%) and Backstrom (56%) have done well to neutralize the dots. A few draws in our direction should generate some scoring opportunities and tranistion.
@Ryan, that sucks you can’t get the series on TV where you are. This year in the U.S. every playoff game across the league is being televised live. Being able to watch the Canucks/Kings games has been quite a treat.
Not sure if anyone noticed or not but Backstrom got a Match Penalty at the end of that game for a cross check to Peverly’s face. This apparently will leave him suspended for game 4 unless the league pulls it back. I didn’t end up seeing it live, but seeing it after it was quite the use of the stick. It was an unnecessary run that Ovie gave Peverly at the end of the game and Peverly rightfully game him a good trip after. All is fair until the cross check.
No surprise really that all the scoring is coming from the bottom 6 forwards, the top two lines are trying to do too much in the neutral zone, Julien needs to remind them this is a team that needs to get the red line, get it deep and make washington’s defense turn and skate, and of course pay the price in the corners. These tricky touch passes through the neutral zone just aren’t working and it wont matter who’s centering who if they keep it up. Simplifying the game is only going to help Seguin and especially Marchand get going, young guys in big games need to think less and skate more.
That being said, Chara looks good, Lucic looks mean and Seidenberg is playing on a higher level than anyone on the ice. You know Timmy is going to ramp it up the farther it goes. I think we’re in good shape.
I only wish CBC wasn’t forcing me to watch a live internet stream. Bruins have 2 Atlantic Canadians and a Stanley Cup yet Atlantic Canada can’t get the series on TV on either cable provider, regardless of what packages you buy. Even Centre Ice package doesn’t show playoffs. What a joke CBC.
As John said below, Alzner must really have no idea what he is dealing with. If Looch gets a chance to throw down with him in coming games, he’s going to wish that childish gesture he made had never crossed his mind. I really didn’t like that Looch got the extra penalty on that scrum, but I loved the fact that it turned up the intensity that much more.
Bring on that hatred, that’s the medicine they don’t want to feed the B’s.
Great game again from the third and fourth lines.
B16, I didn’t notice although it’s certainly noticeable when he is out there. Wishing the Quaider a timely return.
Good hard fought win boys, don’t take the foot off the pedal, let’s bury them! Go B’s!
The Bear is awake!
love that the intensity got turned up a notch. Watching all of the other series as well it had to be a matter of time. We play our best when the hate gets turned up. Know lets run them over!
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Clemens, David
Hockey Night in Canada gave two of the three stars to D-men, Boychuk and Chara. I think either one could have been interchanged with Sidenberg.
Big Jim
You probably noticed that Corvo only had one, maybe two shifts in the third period.
I gotta believe the B’s have turned the corner in this series and are now poised to win it in short order. Their best game was tonight as they have opened up the scoring lanes and it’s now bowl’em over and bowl’em in!
Huge game by Seidenberg! Yeah, huge error letting Laich get behind him but otherwise a great game, he was all over the ice.
The first two lines still have to step it up though, especially Seguin. He seems so lost out there. And the offense still seems to try to get too fancy sometimes, just throw the puck on net!
Alzner must have a death wish. No idea what he was thinking.