Just under five minutes into the second period, Tampa Bay forward Steven Stamkos was struck in the face by a slap shot off the stick of Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk.
Stamkos went down in pain as the sickening sound of puck meeting bone reverberated around the Garden. He quickly sprinted off the ice with blood pouring from his face, his nose broken. But Stamkos returned to the game before the end of the period and finished the contest.
"I have broken my nose before," Stamkos said. "It was just a weird play. The guy cut in front of me right before and I didn't see the puck coming. It just hit me square on. Nothing was going to keep anyone in this dressing room to stay out of this game, that is for sure."
Stamkos returned wearing a full cage to protect his face. He received plenty of respect from players on both sides for his display of toughness, but didn't get any help from the one guy on the ice who probably new best what he was going through.
Bruins forward Chris Kelly suffered his own facial injury in game 3 of Boston's opening-round series with Montreal when he was driven face-first into the net by Scott Gomez. Kelly also finished the game and returned for the next contest reluctantly wearing a full cage for protection.
He eventually was able to drop the cage for a smaller visor, but not before putting together a scoring surge with 4-3-7 totals over the next seven games with the cage on. A more superstitious player might never have taken it off, but Kelly couldn't wait to get rid of it.
He was also not about to offer Stamkos any tips in adjusting to playing with the cage, not with a trip to the Stanley Cup Final at stake.
"I wasn't giving him any pointers if that's what you're asking," Kelly joked when asked if he was worried that Stamkos would go on a similar binge once he put on the cage. "I was keeping a tight lip on that."
Now cage-free, Kelly has four assists but no goals in his last nine games, but he has remained a valuable two-way forward centering the third line and contributing on the penalty kill. Few expected him to have the impact he has when he was acquired from Ottawa in February, but Kelly had an inkling he was joining something special when he came to Boston.
"I can still remember like it was yesterday [Ottawa general manager] Bryan Murray telling me I was traded to Boston and there was almost that sigh of relief that if I was going to get traded, I was going to the Bruins," Kelly said. "Playing them so many times in our division I knew they were a great team and had a real chance to go to the Stanley Cup. Obviously there's been a lot of work, but it's kind of surreal that we're going to the Finals."
