Goaltender Tuukka Rask, despite allowing six goals in what would end as a series-tying Game 4 overtime loss in Boston this past Wednesday, deserved a better fate on a night that saw him make 41 stops. The 26-year-old Rask -- hung out to dry throughout the 70-minute affair at TD Garden -- was the only reason the Bruins were in the game in the first place. Rask, an absolute monster throughout the Bruins’ playoff run, was once the victim of rotten luck and defense.

Unfortunately for the Bruins, it’s luck and shoddy defense that’s followed him to Chicago.

In a chance to regain the series lead and head back to Boston with a chance to win Lord Stanley’s Cup on home ice, something that’s eluded the Black-and-Gold since 1970, it would be a fortunate break for Patrick Kane and the Chicago Blackhawks that’d open up the game’s scoring.

Picking up the puck following a Johnny Oduya blast that broke Dennis Seidenberg’s stick, yet another backhander from the 24-year-old Kane beat Rask, striking with his eighth goal of the postseason with just 2:33 to go in the opening period.

It was a major blow for a B’s squad in desperate need of a bounce-back game at the United Center.

Down by one following a period that was mostly Boston’s for the taking, obvious frustration came with the lack of results, and only worsened when Kane struck with his second dagger of the night, answering a ‘response period’ from Boston just over five minutes into the second. And it was that frustration and an increased lack of execution that plagued the Bruins’ woeful second period showing.

Oh, and the loss of their best all around player.

Playing just 49 seconds in the second period -- and ultimately exiting the arena in an ambulance -- second line center and alternate captain Patrice Bergeron played just two shifts (49 seconds of ice-time) in the second frame, and appeared to have an undeniable unraveling effect on the B’s. Bumping Carl Soderberg to the second line in just his first career NHL playoff game (initially thrown into the lineup to take Kaspars Daugavins place on the fourth line wing), the period finished with the Bruins’ best skating like zombies, shying away from the Blackhawks’ pressure.

Regrouped for the third, the Bruins would finally respond with Zdeno Chara’s blast (his third of the playoffs) nearly four minutes into the third period, but would ultimately fall short.

Despite a late-third surge from the B’s -- headlined by yet another missed golden chance for Jaromir Jagr -- the Bruins’ chances were killed when a clear trip on Torey Krug went uncalled en route to Dave Bolland’s empty-net goal with 14 seconds to go.

Giving the Blackhawks a 3-2 series edge and a chance to win the Cup on Boston ice this Monday, it took an injury to their offensive captain and playoff hero to wake the team up, something that’s just not OK when you’re playing for hockey’s most prized trophy. “It’s sad that we’ve got to lose a guy like that to wake the team up,” Rask, who admirably stopped 29 of 31 shots faced in the loss, admitted. “You’re in the Finals, and [if] you play just 20 minutes, it’s not going to be good enough.”

And that’s (somehow) where the Bruins are here following Game 5 of the Stanley Cup.

It took a punch in the mouth from the Chicago Blackhawks and the loss of the club’s best player, for them to snap out of their malaise and realize what they’re playing for. It’s a bad habit that’s resurfaced at, y’know, the absolute worst time for Claude Julien’s squad.

“I don't have that answer. We just played better in the third,” the B’s coach noted when pressed about the club’s pre-Bergeron injury play and their noticeable lack of urgency. “We started playing versus maybe sitting back too much. We were better in the third and gave ourselves a chance.”

But this isn’t Game 27 of the regular season -- Chances won’t cut it at this point. Only wins will.

Pissing away two straight contests and now with elimination on their doorstep for the first time since Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, the Bruins know that their extra gear needs to show up, and it needs to show up when that puck drops at the Garden on Monday night.

“It's do or die. We've been there before, and we've done well in that situation. Right now our goal is to create a Game 7, and to create a Game 7 you've got to win game 6 so that's our approach to it,” said Julien. “We've been good at home, and we need to be good at home next game. It's as simple as that.

“Again, there is no panic. You're not going to push us away that easily. We're a committed group, and we plan on bouncing back.”

However, talking the talk and walking the walk are two different things, and while rally-cries are going to rile a fan-base up, they won’t win you hockey games. It’s on the players on the bench to do that.

Soderberg proves capable of handling playoffs despite loss

Watching from the press box for 20 playoff contests, playoff game No. 21 finally brought the Swedish import, Carl Soderberg, out for something more than the Bruins’ pregame warmup.

In his first career playoff game, and one that forced him to move up from the fourth line to the second line, the 27-year-old forward looked comfortable and (sarcasm) shockingly (/sarcasm), didn’t forgot how to play hockey like some feared he would when put into a ‘pressure’ situation.

Finishing the night with two shots, three hits, and winning 4-of-9 faceoff battles, Soderberg’s promotion up to the Bruins’ second line without Bergeron was a no-brainer given his play.

“I thought we could use him, and although he had very limited experience in this league, he's still a pretty skilled player and had a good year. I thought if we were going to give him a shot, tonight was probably a good time for it,” said Julien of Soderberg, who was brought in following his SEL-leading 31-goal campaign with Linkoping HC. “He showed me enough to be able to move into Bergy's spot.”

What he also showed everyone is that he should’ve been in the lineup over Kaspars Daugavins from the start. Sure, his skill-set isn’t necessarily designed for fourth line minutes, especially if you’re looking at somebody who can play more a rough, Campbell-esque style, but at 6-foot-3, the Swede’s hard to play against, and has a noteworthy hockey-I.Q. out there.

The same, especially the latter, could not be said about Daugavins, who played like a meathead out there for four games, and has certainly earned his way into the Julien doghouse.

Winning time: ‘Hawks best have shown, outclassed Bruins’ best

For the second straight game, the Chicago top-line of Bryan Bickell, Jonathan Toews, and Patrick Kane simply sliced and dice the Boston defense. On this point, and perhaps more shocking, was the fact that they made the Bruins’ pairing of Dennis Seidenberg and the 6-foot-9 Zdeno Chara look pedestrian -- again. What?!

Ultimately forcing Julien to split the two up -- putting Chara back with Johnny Boychuk and Seidenberg with Andrew Ference -- the Blackhawks’ ability to win two straight and take the series lead back from Boston boils back to the play of this trio, and mainly No. 88.

With their backs against the wall, the Blackhawks’ best have been their best. Period.

“I think [Kane] gets excited playing with Bickell and Toews, two games in the last series, two games, just seemed to be a little chemistry there. They get excited about that togetherness, and they seem to read off each other,” Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said of Kane, who scored two of the club’s three goals on the night, with three goals in his last two games overall. “Everybody brings a little bit something different to the party, and they scored two huge goals for us tonight.”

They’ve pestered the Bruins, on and off the ice (see: their comments regarding Chara’s disdain for being hit in the corner), and it’s really looked as if they’ve taken the series over. Uh-oh.

Boychuk meeting with Department of Player Safety

Likely the hit that forced the Blackhawks’ captain out of action, it sounds as if Johnny Boychuk will in fact talk with Brendan Shanahan and the league’s Department of Player Safety to discuss this hit and whether or not it warrants some supplemental discipline.



My bet: Despite the hit -- which I’m still on the fence about, finding it to be ‘borderline suspendable at best’ to be honest -- there’s just no way that the league suspends a defensemen as important as Johnny Boychuk for an elimination game in Boston. It just doesn’t really happen like that, really.

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