One game after Matt Fraser welcomed himself to Boston’s third line by way of an overtime goal to tie the Bruins series with Montreal up at two games apiece, Fraser’s linemates, Loui Eriksson and Carl Soderberg, got in on the fun in Boston’s 4-2 Game 5 victory.
With Montreal bench boss Michel Therrien sticking with veteran defenseman Douglas Murray -- a player undoubtedly whipped around by Boston’s speed (and in particular the B’s third line) in Game 4 -- Boston’s first goal of the night came on a keep-in that left the 6-foot-4 defender trying to outskate Eriksson behind the Canadiens net. The end result? A Eriksson to Soderberg pass that saw Soderberg pot his first career playoff goal by way of a wicked snapshot.
Giving Boston a 1-0 edge with under seven minutes to go in the period, and with the lead for what felt like the first time in the entire series, the Bruins were given a chance to open this game wide open. And unlike their previous chances in this series, a Tomas Plekanec goaltending interference whistle that carried over into the second period let the Black-and-Gold do just that.
Opening the second with a beautiful power play sequence capped by Reilly Smith’s tip-in (his third goal of the series), with the assists to Dougie Hamilton and Soderberg, the Bruins made Plekanec, one of Montreal’s better penalty killers, pay for his transgressions.
Just 26 seconds after the B’s scored on Plekanec’s first penalty of the night, a high-stick catching Johnny Boychuk sent Plekanec back to the box, and before long, it was 3-0 thanks to Jarome Iginla’s fourth goal of the postseason.
The Bruins, burned by a Habs’ ability to take advantage of their miscues earlier in the series (at an alarming rate no less), were spinning the tables on Plekanec and the Canadiens.
Montreal would make it 3-1 behind a power-play goal from Brendan Gallagher, but with a third period putaway goal from Eriksson, the Habs were dead, even if P.K. Subban had his say with an absolutely filthy one-timer with 2:29 to go, cutting the Habs’ deficit to two.
So what else did we see from the Black-and-Gold in their strong Game 5 showing?
The power play. My God, the power play. Now, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the Bruins struck for two power-play goals with Plekanec in the box. The 31-year-old Plekanec is certainly Montreal’s best two-way centerman, and his loss was noticeable out there. I don’t think that the Bruins move the puck around the point with such ease on their first power-play goal if Plek is out there. Nor do I think that Iginla is left all alone if he’s out there the second time around. The Boston man advantage unit made those costly penalties for Therrien’s club, and that seemed long overdue.
“I think our power play was due. After the first period, our power play was just average so we had a little chat and talked about bringing the intensity up there on our power play and winning more battles and making stronger plays,… B’s coach Claude Julien said after the win. “It gave us obviously those two goals, which were huge for us, but as always and as a normal situation will tell you, you always like to play for the lead, and it was nice for us to have it and be able to hang onto it.…
As a defensive unit, the Bruins really reverted back to their first round ways and limited Montreal’s space in the middle of the ice. You didn’t see the same lackadaisical, breakaway-friendly defensive effort, and with Tuukka Rask looking more and more dialed in, that obviously helped. And while this doesn’t really have much to do with the Bruins, I suppose, man oh man did Montreal’s lineup changes really benefit the Bruins. Danny Briere was taken out of the lineup for Brandon Prust. Meanwhile, Murray was left in the lineup for the Habs. Now, while he hasn’t been the player the Canadiens committed $8 million to over the next years, Briere’s been one of the Habs’ better players against the Bruins. In fact, Briere had a role on that fourth line of starting the rush up the other way that really held an advantage over Boston’s fourth line (at least in my eyes).
Subbing Prust, a heart-and-soul type player, back into the lineup over Briere, really backfires when your team plays like it has no heart and soul. Which is exactly what Montreal looked like.
Unfortunately for the Bruins, they won’t get those gifts a second time around, as Briere will return to the lineup tonight, while Murray sits in favor of former first rounder Nathan Beaulieu.
Watergate: The NHL Edition
Silly. Juvenile. Bush-league. Call it what you want, and you’re probably right. Let’s just state the obvious: Boston’s Shawn Thornton should not have squirted P.K. Subban with water in the closing minutes of Game 5. That much is known. That much is obvious. But for the love of God, can we stop acting like it was acid that was thrown at Montreal’s beloved puck-mover?
Just days before Thornton’s spraying of Subban, Anaheim’s Corey Perry squirted water into the gloves of Kings sniper Jeff Carter. Though it was done between whistles, everybody really looked at what Perry did as comedic gold, with Perry playing the role of lovable pest. OK.
But when somebody on the Bruins squirts water at somebody during play? Typical dirty, thuggish Boston Bruins. Bring out your conspiracy theories, edited Daily Show videos, and Colin Campbell.
For the better part of four years, this is what we know about the Bruins: They’re the satanic overlords of the National Hockey League, and they pull the strings in their favor all day, every day.
At least that’s what I’ve come to know by reading the allegedly outraged tweets after every game. This isn’t defending Thornton -- who was undoubtedly in the wrong and rightly fined -- but is Thornton spraying Subban with water why Montreal lost Game 5? Is that why they now head into a must-win Game 6 in their building? Or why their top line has been MIA? Not a damn chance.
And if you’re going to dub a moment as the true tipping point as to why you don’t like or respect the Bruins, please, for the love of God, don’t let it be Shawn Thornton squirting water over the bench.
What to expect in Game 6
Somehow, someway, the Bruins have the chance to put the finishing touches on the Canadiens’ season tonight in Game 6 at the Bell Centre. Based on the way that Boston played and how Carey Price looked through the first four games of this series, that alone is a straight-up miracle.
But eliminating the Habs in their own barn? That may require yet another miracle.
In the head-to-head playoff showdowns between these archrivals, the Bruins have eliminated the Canadiens in Montreal just three times, accomplishing the feat in 1929, 1988, and 2009. It just doesn’t happen that often, and it’s just really tough to beat that team in their own building when their backs are against the wall. That’s something that most of the Bruins learned in 2011’s Game 6.
Skating onto the ice with the chance to deliver the deathblow to Montreal, the Bruins instead found themselves two-men down twice in the same game (a rare accomplishment in its own right, and no, not in the good way), and saw top-liner Milan Lucic given a rather overzealous game misconduct for a board against then-Hab defender Jaroslav Spacek.
Again, I can’t explain it other than just saying that there’s just something about that building.
If the Bruins are going to eliminate Montreal, you’re simply going to need more of the same from the previous two contests from the Black-and-Gold, really. Right now, I think Rask is on the rise, so while he’s not much of a worry, the lack of production from your top line is still concerning.
By now, it’s clear that David Krejci is not 100 percent. It’s become painfully apparent.
Naturally, this puts a lot of offensive responsibility on the third line, which has accounted for three of Boston’s last seven goals scored. That should, and please put a ton of emphasis on should, give you some confidence heading into tonight’s game, especially with Montreal making lineup changes to reflect and respect the offensive potency of the Soderberg line. If they can continue to roll, and if the Krejci line can break through with just a little bit more zone-time, the advantage goes to Boston.
But if there’s one point of emphasis you’d have to put on the B’s shooters tonight, it’s in their attack.
Look back at Game 5-- Soderberg? Quick release. Iginla? One-timer. They weren’t hanging onto the puck like they were in the first 200-minutes plus of this series, and that’s what they have to stick with moving forward. I think by now everybody on that Bruins roster realizes that Price is way too sound to get beaten by these hang-on-for-an-hour type shots. And even if they do think they can beat him with one of those shots, Montreal defensive unit has proved more than capable of blocking the lane.
Keep it fast, keep it simple, and don’t give the 26-year-old Price any time to square you up.
Your pessimistic stat of the night: Though the Bruins are 5-5 in Game 6s under Julien, they're 1-4 when that Game 6 has a chance to eliminate the other team, with all four of those losses coming on the road.