If the Boston Bruins wanted to head back home with a tied series, they knew that something had to change in their Game 4 showdown with the Montreal Canadiens.
The Habs, taking advantage of every bounce that went their way, and with goaltender Carey Price standing on his head, were in the driver’s seat of the series. And with Boston looking to avoid falling into a borderline inescapable 3-1 hole, the subtle changes were made with the re-insertion of Matt Bartkowski into the defensive six (back in for Andrej Meszaros) and call-up of Providence’s Matt Fraser.
So naturally, Bartkowski carries the puck out of his zone and into the Montreal end, while the 23-year-old Fraser bangs home a loose puck, scoring his first career playoff goal and giving the Bruins a series-tying 1-0 win just 1:19 into overtime. Just like everybody envisioned.
Right? Right? Is this thing on? Hello?
Fraser’s goal, just his third at the National Hockey League level, can’t be considered an actual series saver, but that’s basically what it is. The math is simple -- being tied at 2-2 is better than being down 3-1. That’s a fact. And with the 26-year-old Price shining, it would be almost impossible to see the Bruins winning three straight games against Montreal --especially with the middle of that hypothetical three being in Montreal at the ever noisy Bell Centre. So at the risk of sounding hyperbolic, let’s just call it like it is and admit that Fraser’s goal may have saved the 2013-14 Bruins.
And man, was that strike overdue for that line.
Though the 6-foot-2 Fraser was skating in his first game with the Bruins’ third line featuring Loui Eriksson on the right and Carl Soderberg at center, there was some undeniable chemistry between the three, with the Soderberg line skating as Boston’s best unit throughout their pivotal Game 4 victory. Even when they weren’t scoring -- something you’ve heard grumbles about since the start of this series given the way they dominated the Detroit series -- they were pushing the Habs back on their heels. They absorbed hits, outworked Montreal defenders, and got shots on Price.
Speaking of outworking Montreal defensemen-- How about the way the Bruins bullied the defensive pairing of Mike Weaver and Douglas Murray in the Canadiens zone? Both of these guys are shot-blocking based defenders, and they both handled the puck like it was a hand grenade. It was a brutal combo, and ultimately burned the Habs in the overtime frame. Coming back home to Boston, with the benefit of last change, the B’s can continue to exploit that duo (if Montreal head coach Michel Therrien continues to turn to those guys as his third pairing).
Even with this series knotted up at two games apiece, though, don’t you still feel that there’s a definite sense of worry when the Habs have the puck and charge into the Boston zone? Every touch the Canadiens put on the puck makes me think, “Oh, they might score here.… And that’s in a series where names like Max Pacioretty and Thomas Vanek have been relatively quiet.
That’ll do a whole lot of good (read as: nope, nope, nope) for your blood pressure in a scoreless game.
But on the topic of overdue contributions, what Tuukka Rask did for his club last night was exactly what the Black-and-Gold needed. In a series of Carey, Carey, Carey, the Bruins needed to respond with a night of Tuukka, Tuukka, Tuukka. Stopping all 33 shots thrown his way -- becoming just the third Bruins goaltender to win a 1-0 playoff game via overtime, joining Tiny Thompson and Tim Thomas -- Rask was simply dynamite for the Bruins. Headlined by 14 third period saves, including a sequence where Rask was the backbone to a prolonged stretch with a gassed Chara-Hamilton and the fourth line in the Boston end, Rask finally stole a game in this series.
What a time to do it, too, huh?
Obviously, Boston’s work is far from finished. They earned a split in Montreal -- which I think most realists considered the best case scenario -- and now come back home to kick off a best-of-three with a trip to the Eastern Conference Final on the line. This is still a Boston club that’s led for not even 12 minutes in this entire series, and one that’s had just one real goal scored from their top line.
If they want to make it a 3-2 series in their advantage, that’ll all have to change on Saturday night.
Another cool stat for the Bruins: With his goal last night, Fraser became the first-ever player to score an overtime goal in the Calder Cup Playoffs and Stanley Cup Playoffs in the same spring. Yes, the same Fraser that the day before was eating Chipotle and wondering what he was going to do that day.
An undrafted winger making history in his first playoff call up? Sounds like the Stanley Cup Playoffs.