Final, Bruins 5-2: That’s it and that’s all. The Bruins win it easily, and they’ll take the 2-0 series lead with them to New York.
Third period, 18:00, Bruins 5-2: There are two minutes to play, and the Bruins are still leading by three.
Third period, 13:09, Bruins 5-2: The fun continues, this time with the fisticuffs.
Gregory Campbell and Derek Dorsett just dropped the gloves not long after the Milan Lucic goal.
Third period, 12:39, Bruins 5-2: This one is officially a laugher.
Milan Lucic continues to play extremely well in these playoffs, and this time it’s a gritty second-chance goal to give the Bruins the three-goal lead.
Third period, 10:32, Bruins 4-2: The Bruins were able to kill off the New York penalty behind a couple of more saves from Tuukka Rask.
A few minutes later Jaromir Jagr had a brilliant chance for a one-timer goal from just in front of the net, but Henrik Lundqvist denied Jagr with arguably the best save of the series.
Third period, 5:24, Bruins 4-2: Johnny Boychuk just earned himself a hooking penalty. So that’s what the Bruins will be working on for the next two minutes.
Third period, 0:26, Bruins 4-2: That didn’t take long at all.
Patrice Bergeron just found Brad Marchand in the slot, and the latter slid the puck through Henrik Lundqvist’s legs, and the B’s have a 4-2 lead now.
Third period, 0:01, Bruins 3-2: The Bruins and Rangers are underway here in the third period.
Second period reaction: The Bruins, for the first time all game, were able to sit on a lead there in the second period. After Johnny Boychuk made it 3-2 with 7:52 to play in the period, the B’s were able to make the lead stand up until intermission, after coughing up early leads just moments after taking them.
Of course it’s not extremely important for the Bruins to protect that lead here into the third period, which is something that has given them troubles all season long. It’s going to require another big period from Tuukka Rask who is a big reason Boston took the 3-2 lead to the dressing room after two. Rask has 25 saves through 40 minutes, and it certainly won’t hurt to have him at his best in overtime.
If the Bruins do hold on, you can probably exect Torey Krug to be donning the Army Rangers jacket after the game. The rookie has been sensational here in Game 2, and he’s got two points to show that. His ability to handle the puck at the blue line in the offensive end is something that’s obviously pretty special. He did a great job of finding a shooting lane on the Bruins’ second goal that came when Krug put the puck on net and Gregory Campbell backhanded the rebound.
The Bruins were 15-4-4 when taking a lead into the third period during the regular season, but they’re 2-0 this postseason when leading after two periods.
End second period, Bruins 3-2: The second period comes to a close with Boston leading 3-2.
Second period, 17:59, Bruins 3-2: The Rangers weren’t able to score on the power play, but it wasn’t for a lack of chances. They put some good pressure on the Bruins as they have all afternoon really, but Tuukka Rask came up big in between the pipes.
He’s quietly having a very nice game, and he’s getting better as the game goes on it seems.
Second period, 13:57, Bruins 3-2: The Rangers have another power play, again thanks to a Rich Peverley high-sticking penalty.
Second period, 12:00, Bruins 3-2: The Bruins are back out in front thanks to a great shot from the high slot off the stick of Johnny Boychuk.
The Boston defenseman beat Henrik Lundqvist with a wrister, with a little help from a Patrice Bergeron screen in front.
Second period, 11:46, 2-2: The B’s weren’t able to get anything on the power play, but they did get a couple of scoring chances on pucks tipped near the net.
Torey Krug looked impressive with the puck on his stick, as he wheeled and dealed from the point during that man-advantage on the second PP unit with Dougie Hamilton at the other point up top.
Second period, 8:28, 2-2: The Bruins are going to get their first power play after Derrick Brassard hooked Dougie Hamilton.
Second period, 6:09, 2-2: The Rangers have gotten a significant jump from the Rick Nash goal, and they’re starting to put the pressure on the Bruins.
Tuukka Rask just ensured the game stay tied for now, though, with a big save on a rebound chance from Ryan McDonagh. After Rask made an initial save on Nash, McDonagh tried to slam home the rebound, but Rask made the right pad save in front.
Second period, 3:20, 2-2: The Rangers have been looking to get something out of Rick Nash, and they got it here in the second period.
The prominent goal-scorer just tied the game with a backhander by Tuukka Rask less than a minute after Gregory Campbell gave the B’s a lead.
Second period, 2:24, Bruins 2-1: Shawn Thornton spoke before the game about how he wished his line could finally cash in on their chances to add some balance to the scoring. They just did that here in the second period.
Campbell backhanded the rebound of a Torey Krug shot under the crossbar, and the B’s lead 2-1.
Second period, 0:10, 1-1: The second period is underway.
First period reaction: The first few minutes of this game were highly entertaining, thanks in large part to a couple of early goals. Unsurprisingly, however, the game tightened up after that, something that should come as no surprise given these teams’ penchant for defensive play.
Torey Krug got the scoring going early for the Bruins, and he continues to impress in his improbable playoff chance with the B’s. Both he and Matt Bartkowski have been really good in both Games 1 and 2, and Dougie Hamilton, despite being outplayed for a puck in the first period, has been good as well.
Give the Rangers credit for withstanding an early surge from the Bruins. The B’s came out like a house of fire to begin the game, and that reached a high point when Krug scored just 5:28 in. However, the Rangers took the punch and punched back. New York made it much more difficult for the Bruins to move the puck, and that obviously slowed Boston’s momentum.
End first period, 1-1: The Bruins killed off the penalty to Zdeno Chara before the first period comes to an end.
It’s all tied up 1-1 through one.
First period, 17:31, 1-1: The Bruins will try to kill off another penalty, this time to Zdeno Chara.
He was called for slashing, and the B’s get back to work on the PK.
First period, 16:22, 1-1: The young Bruins defensemen continue to do a great job of moving the puck and they continue to just look very confident.
Matt Bartkowski was just the latest to prove that by carrying the puck all the way behind the New York net, back around the other side and out to the point.
First period, 12:33, 1-1: The Bruins’ power play is nothing special, but boy does it look like a well-oiled machine compared to New York’s.
The B’s easily kill off the Rich Peverley penalty on a power play that produced no shots on goal. The Rangers had a difficult time just getting the puck into the Boston zone as they turned it over a handful of times on the man-advantage.
First period, 9:16, 1-1: New York gets the first power play of the day.
Rich Peverley was just called for high-sticking.
First period, 8:01, 1-1: The Rangers aren’t gonna go away that easy.
Ryan Callahan just won a race to the puck in the neutral zone that allowed him to walk in all alone and score the game-tying goal, a brilliant deke to beat Tuukka Rask.
The play started with an ugly Brad Marchand turnover, which was then misplayed by Dougie Hamilton who couldn’t beat Callahan to the loose puck.
First period, 5:28, Bruins 1-0: The Bruins look great breaking out the puck right now, and it resulted in a goal.
Adam McQuaid made a great diving play to break up a scoring chance for Brian Boyle, which sent the B’s heading the other way. Torey Krug hustled back into the offensive zone, and he was rewarded when Nathan Horton hit him with a pass as the D-man entered the zone.
Krug skated in and took the shot from the left wing and beat Henrik Lundqvist. Not a bad couple of playoff games for No. 47.
First period, 0:01, 0-0: It’s time to play the game. Game 2 is underway here at TD Garden.
3:06 p.m.: Both teams are going with the same lineups for Game 2 as they did for Game 1.
2:48 p.m.: The Bruins look to be going with the same lineup for Game 2 as they used in Game 1. They featured the same lines and defensive combinations during their pregame skate, including the three rookie defensemen.
Here’s what the lineup will look like, according to the skate. If you don’t have it down by now, start paying attention, will ya?
Milan Lucic — David Krejci — Nathan Horton
Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — Jaromir Jagr
Rich Peverley — Chris Kelly — Tyler Seguin
Daniel Paille — Gregory Campbell — Shawn Thornton
Zdeno Chara — Dougie Hamilton
Johnny Boychuk — Matt Bartkowski
Torey Krug — Adam McQuaid
2:30 p.m.: Claude Julien was extremely brief in his pregame remarks. He answered just one question (only one was asked), and it was about an update on the lineup.
Dennis Seidenberg and Wade Redden both skated this morning, but neither will play in Game 2.
1:20 p.m.: Good afternoon from TD Garden where the Bruins and Rangers are about two hours from getting underway and where we’re about 30 minutes from hearing from Bruins head coach Claude Julien.
When we do hear from the head coach, we should get a better idea of what the B’s will do on the blue line. As mentioned earlier, the B’s are reportedly going with the same defense corps for Game 1 as they did in Game 2. The one thing we know for certain is that Zdeno Chara will be in the lineup, and we’re pretty sure he’s going to play a ton.
I did some digging on the stats page in regards to Chara’s ice time this postseason, and it’s pretty remarkable. The only skater who has played more than Chara this postseason is Kings defenseman Drew Doughty. The Los Angeles D-man has 13 more minutes of ice time than Chara does this spring. Oh yeah, that’s also in one more game than Chara has played. Doughty is a minutes machine, and he has been all season long. It’s probably worth noting that Doughty is also only 23 years while Chara is 36.
Chara is also averaging 30:05 minutes of ice time per game for the playoffs, which is nothing short of absurd. That’s about 2 1/2 more minutes per game than he played in the Stanley Cup run back in 2011.
11:20 a.m.: The Bruins won Game 1 despite starting three rookies on defense, and it sounds like they’re going to have to go with the youthful trio again in Game 2.
TSN’s Darren Dreger just tweeted that Wade Redden isn’t ready to return, and it looks like the Bruins will go with the three rookies — Matt Bartkowski, Dougie Hamilton and Torey Krug — for Game 2 as well.
11 a.m. ET: The Bruins have had a flare for the dramatics this week, and if they can do so with success again Sunday, they’ll end a pretty impressive week of hockey, and they’ll also head to New York with a pretty comfortable lead.
The B’s host the Rangers on Sunday afternoon in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference semifinals series, and Boston is looking to follow up on an exciting Game 1 win. Brad Marchand finally broke out by scoring a game-winning goal in overtime to give the Bruins the win and the series lead.
Marchand played his best game of the playoffs in Game 1, and he did so in the second game of Claude Julien’s line experiment. Marchand was skating with Patrice Bergeron and Jaromir Jagr, while Tyler Seguin was on the third line; those were also the same lines the Bruins used in Game 7 of the first round against Toronto. The Marchand-Bergeron-Jagr combination looked solid all night, and unsurprisingly, that line was kept together at practice Saturday, so it’s likely that’s what the B’s go with again in Game 2.
The Rangers, meanwhile, are looking to jump-start themselves after a somewhat lackluster Game 1. The power play has been a point of contention, and it got the Rangers nothing in Game 1 as well. That led Rangers coach John Tortorella to say the man-advantage unit “stinks” right now, which makes you believe there may be a change.
We’ll get a better idea of that a little later when the Bruins and Rangers get underway in Game 2, with puck drop scheduled for 3 p.m. at TD Garden.
