The puck went every which way but in for the Boston Bruins in their Game 1 loss to
Jimmy Howard and the Detroit Red Wings at TD Garden on Friday night. But when the Bruins missed the back of Howard’s cage on their final real push of the game -- a
Milan Lucic redirect that dodged the red line by mere inches -- the Red Wings made them pay.
On the Wings’ next rush up ice, with 3:01 left in the third, they scored the first goal of the night, coming off the stick of the always shifty and never duplicated
Pavel Datsyuk.
Pulling the puck to him from behind his body, the 35-year-old centermen took the puck through
Brad Marchand, left
Reilly Smith and
Patrice Bergeron in the dust, and paid no mind to
Zdeno Chara and
Dougie Hamilton en route to his first goal of the 2014 playoffs, and his 104th point in 141 career postseason contests.
That’s hockey. In a game where the Bruins didn’t capitalize on a single chance of their own, peppering Howard for 25 shots by night’s end, Boston’s inability to make their own luck doomed them.
“Eventually it came down to whoever was going to score that one goal,” Chara, Boston’s 37-year-old captain, noted after the loss. “It was a lot of battling, the goalies were very good, and there were some chances on both sides. Eventually, it went for them. It’s going to be an even series.”
But where exactly was the deathblow in Game 1?
Jordan Caron’s whiff on a wraparound?
Jarome Iginla’s stick snapping before he could fire off a one-timer on the power play? One of
Loui Eriksson’s billion chances that just eluded the blade of his stick in front? Well, maybe it’s just better to state the obvious and say that none of these missed opportunities helped.
At the end of the night, the Bruins simply weren’t consistent enough against a skill-based Detroit club, and that much was painfully obvious at points in this one. Though the Bruins came out flying in the first period, Detroit undoubtedly took over the pace of the play in the middle frame, and in essence pinned the Bruins in their zone with relative ease, even if the shots (they finished the second period with five shots compared to seven for the Bruins) didn’t necessarily indicate such.
And while it’s admittedly hard to be a doom-and-gloomer after just one game -- one that was knotted up at zero for 57 minutes, no less -- it’s obvious that these Wings squad is going to present Boston with a whole boatload of challenges in round one. Namely, their speed. The Bruins jammed and banged at every stop, but the Red Wings didn’t care. Guys like
Gustav Nyquist,
Tomas Jurco, and
Darren Helm took the blows dished their way and stayed the course. In a true throwback to his 2011 style,
Brad Marchand did everything he could to get under the Wings’ skin. Nobody not named
Danny DeKeyser took the bait. They shrugged it off.
As the club’s unfavorable side of recent playoff history has shown, that can eat at the Bruins.
It wasn’t all bad for the Bruins in this one though. It seemed as if the recently redesigned
Carl Soderberg line with the 28-year-old Eriksson and 6-foot-4 prospect
Justin Florek had a boatload of chances, and feasted on their matchups against the Wings’ weaker defensive pairings. Even if Florek’s replaced by
Chris Kelly -- the original plan for that line before Kelly suffered an undisclosed injury that’s kept him off the ice this week -- it seems like the combo of Eriksson and Soderberg has the net-front presence and chemistry to have their say before this series is donezo.
And how about Caron? I know that Caron’s become the whipping boy of a Presidents’ Trophy winning club (not like you had many other options, I suppose), but the 23-year-old made the most of his ice time on the Bruins’ fourth line tonight. His night began with a furious forecheck that saw him smack Detroit top pairing defensemen
Brendan Smith in the mouth, and he nearly struck with what would’ve been his first career playoff goal. Almost doesn’t count, I know, but the chances from your fourth line fill-in are enough to call tonight a success for the 6-foot-2 winger.
That being said, you’d still love to have
Danny Paille (undisclosed), back in this lineup.
On the point, the absence of
Matt Bartkowski and
Kevan Miller was quite apparent.
While the team’s eighth defensemen, Oiler-turned-Bruin
Corey Potter, turned in a solid night in some considerably sheltered ice-time (Potter’s best showing came on a penalty killing sequence that saw him paired with the 6-foot-9 Chara). The same can be said for
Andrej Meszaros. But these guys are not Bartkowski or Miller, and they’re not on the same page with the B’s forward core like the aforementioned young guns. That undoubtedly hindered Boston’s ability to move the puck out of their zone and up ice. But you’re out of your damn mind if you think that you can use minor bumps and bruises as a legitimate excuse against this year’s Red Wings squad.
Obviously, fans in the Hub would prefer to see a victory. It’s the playoffs. But did you
really think that this was going to be a sweep, easy, or anything even close to either? Strap in, because this one’s going to be an all out battle, and that’s exactly what the Bruins are expecting.
“I think it’s two teams that play pretty solid systems and they stick to it,” said Bergeron after tonight’s loss. “There wasn’t much on both sides of the ice. And that’s it. We’re going to have to expect that for the rest of the series and find ways to create some offense.
“We were ready for a tough and long series, and we’re in for that. So we’re fine with it.”
Through 60 minutes, the Bruins don’t have a lick of offense to their name. But it’s not for a lack of trying, really. The rebounds were there all game long, and while Howard finished the night a perfect 25-for-25 in net, it’s not as if the Bruins are being completely shut down a la Braden Holtby in ‘12.
“Just trying to establish myself outside the paint,” the Syracuse, NY native Howard said when asked about his approach after the victory. “[the Bruins] are such a good team, they are so deep and they have so many weapons, I just want to give myself the chance to stop as many shots as possible.”
And for something completely unnecessary, I present to you -- Cup checks, with Milan Lucic.
Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. This is the second time in a month that Lucic has been accused of spearing a player. First it was Montreal's
Alexei Emelin, which Lucic vehemently denied, but I don't think he can make a case against that damning video. Again, dumb.
Bruins begin playoffs minus four regulars
After a ‘wait and see’ week of missing practices and preparation, Game 1 came and went with some bad-but-expected news on the Boston lineup front: Both
Danny Paille, out of action since taking a thunderous hit on Apr. 12, and
Chris Kelly were out of the lineup. They were joined in the press box as the club’s unhealthy scratches by both Bartkowski and Miller.
That’s not how you’d prefer to start the postseason, really.
It’s clear that the Bruins are already thin in terms of their depth both up front and on the point, so
starting things off with a few less bullets than you expected flat out sucks if you’re the Boston Bruins. And though it’s expected given the nature of postseason injury disclosure, it doesn’t sound as if any of these guys are ready to go for Sunday just yet. But it’s the playoffs, and a whole lot can change by Sunday. Especially with the Bruins facing an 0-2 hole if they fall flat in Game 2.
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