Bruins-Red Wings Live: B’s Power Play Propels Boston to 4-1 Win Over Wings
Third period, 18:07, Bruins 4-1: The Bruins just easily killed off the Detroit power play, and this one is all but over.
Third period, 16:07, Bruins 4-1: For what it’s worth, the Red Wings are going back on the power play.
David Krejci just picked up a tripping penalty.
Third period, 12:17, Bruins 4-1: OK, so the whole Zdeno Chara on the power play down in front is working out pretty well for the Bruins.
Chara just scored his first goal of the season, a power-play tally, that gives the Bruins the commanding 4-1 lead. Chara had a near goal earlier in the power play, but he hit the post. He avenged that miss just a few seconds later.
The Bruins were able to keep the puck in the offensive zone with good forechecking from Milan Lucic, and then Torey Krug and Chara worked what was essentially a 2-on-1. Krug found Chara and then the big D-man deked Jimmy Howard out of his pads and beat him with the backhand.
Third period, 10:21, Bruins 3-1: The Bruins are getting another crack at the power play here in the third, which means they’re getting another chance to really just put this one away.
Johan Franzen is the latest guilty party, as he gets an interference penalty.
Third period, 9:19, Bruins 3-1: The Bruins’ fourth line has come close to scoring a couple of times so far, and they had arguably their best chance of the night on their last shift.
Shawn Thornton took the puck into the zone with a head of steam down the left wing, and he shoveled it into the slot where Daniel Paille had taken the center lane. He couldn’t quite control the puck in front, and neither was Campbell who came racing in behind the play as the puck eventually popped up into the air and came down behind the net.
Third period, 9:00, Bruins 3-1: Despite heavy pressure and three shots on net during that power play, the Bruins were unable to score on the man-advantage.
They’re certainly making it difficult for Detroit to come back, though, as the Red Wings are having some issues getting the puck with possession past the red line.
Third period, 6:33, Bruins 3-1: Not many whistles here in the third period, but when one finally did blow more than six minutes into the period, it was to signify a Detroit penalty.
Danny DeKeyser was just called for interference in a textbook example of the infraction with Jordan Caron streaking through the neutral zone. The Detroit defenseman couldn’t cut him down quick enough, and he got called for the interference as Caron tried to break through and into the attacking zone.
The Bruins are going on the power play where they are 1-for-2 so far.
Third period, 0:01, Bruins 3-1: The third period is underway here at the Garden.
End second period, Bruins 3-1: The second period just came to an end, and the B’s are 20 minutes away from winning their second game in as many tries.
Second period, 18:40, Bruins 3-1: The Bruins weren’t able to convert on the powep lay but they came close.
Patrice Bergeron sent a pass through the slot that was right on the tape of Loui Eriksson’s stick, but the forward couldn’t beat Jimmy Howard. It looked like Eriksson simply could not lift the puck, and had he done so, it would have almost certainly been a goal.
Second period, 16:13, Bruins 3-1: Once again, the Boston penalty kill does its job, and it does so in another convincing effort.
Gregory Campbell did some great work on that PK as he got into the Detroit zone and made life difficult for Pavel Datsyuk, as Detroit struggled to get the puck out of its own zone.
The Bruins are actually going on a power play of their own now. Todd Bertuzzi was deemed guilty of hooking, and the Bruins get another power play after scoring on the man-advantage in the first.
Second period, 13:45, Bruins 3-1: The Bruins will have to kill off their first penalty of the evening.
David Krejci was just called for hooking after pulling down a Red Wing forward in front of the Boston net, and the PK — which scored twice Thursday — goes to work here for the first time.
Second period, 11:52, Bruins 3-1: The Bruins came close to adding to their lead here in the second, but they couldn’t quite convert.
Shawn Thornton had the puck in front of the net with Jimmy Howard on his butt, but Thornton couldn’t quite corral and lift the puck for a goal that would have put the B’s up 4-1.
Second period, 7:58, Bruins 3-1: Jordan Caron doesn’t want to give up his spot on the linehp.
The Bruins’ third-line winger, skating in place of the injured Carl Soderberg, just scored his first goal of the season after yet another effective game so far. They are flying around, and it finally paid off with a goal.
Caron scored on a one-timer in front when Reilly Smith wheeled around with a backhanded pass to Caron who jammed it by Jimmy Howard.
Second period, 6:37, Bruins 2-1: There appears to be good news for the Bruins, as Brad Marchand returned to the bench during this TV timeout. He took a quick twirl and then sat down on the bench, so it would appear at least that he might be OK.
Second period, 3:35, Bruins 2-1: The Bruins will temporarily be without Brad Marchand, who just went back to the Boston dressing room.
The Bruins winger was nearly decapitated by Justin Abdelkader who looked to hit Marchand pretty high, as Abdelkader went flying through the air to make the hit. It looked, at least from first view, to be a borderline dirty hit.
Second period, 0:36, Bruins 2-1: That didn’t take long.
The Bruins just opened the second period with a bang, as Brad Marchand just scored his first goal of the season with an absolute snipe from the right faceoff dot that hit the side of the post before bouncing into the back of the net.
That was an absolute dart from Marchand to get him on the board.
Second period, 0:01, 1-1: The second period is underway here from TD Garden.
First period reaction: All in all, it was a pretty good first period for the Bruins, who really dominated about the middle third of the period, which is where they scored the power-play goal for the game’s first tally.
It was a pretty fundamental power-play strike for the B’s, as Torey Krug reminded everyone of how effective he really could be on the man-advantage. The rookie defenseman scored his first career regular-season goal with an absolute cannon of a shot from the top of the slot that Jimmy Howard had no chance to stop. Adding to the difficulty for Howard was the fact that Zdeno Chara was camped in front of the net. It’s hard enough to stop a slap shot from Krug, but it’s damn-near impossible when Chara is standing in front of you.
The Bruins seemed to get a good bit of jump from the goal, and that’s when they really built the lead in shots on goal, a lead that they stretched to 14-5 by the end of the period. However, as has been the case in the past, they weren’t able to convert any more chances, which kept Detroit around and allowed the Red Wings to tie the score. Detroit did get a little bit lucky, it appears, as the puck looked like it hit a Detroit player on the bench, which means it should have been blown dead. Play continued, however, and the Red Wings eventually scored the game-tying goal. It was a gorgeous one from Henrik Zetterberg, as he grabbed a rebound from just to the left of the slot and beat Tuukka Rask over the goalie’s glove and left shoulder. He’s really good still.
End first period, 1-1: The first period just came to an end with one more scoring opportunity for the Bruins.
Niklas Kronwall coughed the puck up next to the Detroit net, but Patrice Bergeron wasn’t able to do anything with it, as he was cut down in front of the net, as Kronwall got help in front after the turnover.
First period, 16:49, 1-1: THe Bruins have dominated much of the first period, but the first 20 may end in a 1-1 tie.
Henrik Zetterberg just tied the game at 1 apiece when he buried a rebound attempt. Justin Abdelkader’s original shot was stopped by Tuukka Rask, but Zetterberg was there to put home the rebound with a gorgeous goal up over Tuukka Rask’s glove hand.
First period, 16:00, Bruins 1-0: The Bruins are all over the Red Wings right now. The B’s are outshooting Detroit 12-3 right now, and they’re getting some big-time scoring chances.
The latest just came from Zdeno Chara who got an open shooting lane near the blue line and hammered a slap shot on net that Jimmy Howard was able to deflect away with another blocker save.
First period, 9:11, Bruins 1-0: Torey Krug has been aggressive so far in the early going, and it just paid off in the way of a power-play goal.
The defenseman just absolutely ripped a shot from the top of the slot that beat Jimmy Howard glove side. The goalie really didn’t have any chance at all, as not only was the shot a missile, but Zdeno Chara was screening Howard in front. There’s no way he ever saw the puck.
First period, 8:56, 0-0: The Bruins will get the game’s first power play.
Niklas Kronwall was just called for holding, and the Boston power play will go to work.
First period, 6:39, 0-0: So far we’ve had a lot of skating up and down the ice with not much else really. Through the first almost seven minutes, we’ve seen just three combined shots on goal between these two clubs.
One of those shots came off the stick of Torey Krug in what was one of the best possessions for the Bruins. It came from the third line, as they turned in arguably the best shift of the game so far for the Black and Gold. They were able to possess the puck in the Detroit zone, which eventually produced the Krug shot from the left point that Jimmy Howard made a blocker save on.
Other than that, though, not much else going on.
First period, 0:01, 0-0: And we’re off. The puck has been dropped, and the Bruins and Red Wings are underway.
6:45 p.m.: These are the lines the Red Wings appear to be rolling with for this one, at least based off their pregame skate.
Hernik Zetterberg — Pavel Datsyuk — Justin Abdelkader
Johan Franzen — Stephen Weiss — Daniel Alfredsson
Danny Cleary — Joakim Andersson — Todd Bertuzzi
Drew Miller — Cory Emmerton — Tomas Tatar
Niklas Kronwall — Jonathan Ericsson
Dan DeKeyser — Jakub Kindl
Kyle Quincey — Brendan Smith
6:34 p.m.: The two teams have taken the ice for pregame warmups, and it will be Tuukka Rask going for the Bruins and Jimmy Howard getting the start in net for the Red Wings.
6:15 p.m.: As mentioned earlier, the Bruins are likely to use the same lineup for this game that they used Thursday night against Tampa Bay.
In case you forgot, these are the lines they used for that contest.
Milan Lucic — David Krejci — Jarome Iginla
Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — Loui Eriksson
Jordan Caron — Chris Kelly — Reilly Smith
Daniel Paille — Gregory Campbell — Shawn Thornton
Zdeno Chara — Johnny Boychuk
Dennis Seidenberg — Dougie Hamilton
Torey Krug — Adam McQuaid
6 p.m.: Good evening from TD Garden where we’re about a half hour away from pregame warmups. We’re also keeping an eye on what’s going on across town in the Red Sox game where the Sox just took a 2-0 lead over the Tampa Bay Rays.
Be sure to check out Ricky Doyle’s Red Sox live blog as well if you’re keeping your eyes on the Bruins tonight.
As to matters here at the Garden, the Bruins are looking for what’s been rare success of late against Detroit. The B’s are 0-3-1 in their last four games against Detroit, and they haven’t defeated the Wings since Nov. 29, 2008.
Goalie Tuukka Rask is looking to change his fortunes against the Wings as well. He’s just 0-1-1 with a 4.00 goals against and .860 save percentage against Detroit for his career.
2 p.m.: There was once a time when visits from the Detroit Red Wings to Boston were special because they were so rare. While they’re still pretty special, Bruins fans will see a lot more of the boys from Motown starting this year, thanks to the NHL’s realignment.
The Wings are now in the Eastern Conference, and they also share a division with the Bruins in the new-look Atlantic Division. The two teams will meet for the first time as new conference and division mates Saturday night when Detroit invades TD Garden in Boston.
The Bruins are looking to run their record to 2-0 after an opening night win over another new divisional rival, the Tampa Bay Lightning. B’s goalie Tuukka Rask made 32 saves, and Boston scored a pair of shorthanded goals on the way to the 3-1 win.
They’ll be tested in a different way Saturday night against a Red Wings that is no stranger to success. The Wings are also a favorite of many to challenge for the Eastern Conference’s spot in the Stanley Cup Final. It will certainly be a good test for both clubs.
For the Bruins, it looks as if they’ll use the same lineup they used for Game 1 against the Lightning. It doesn’t appear Carl Soderberg will return to the lineup as he battles an ankle injury, which means Jordan Caron is going to be back in the lineup manning the third-line left wing spot. He had a very nice game to open the season on Thursday night, and he’s looking to build on that going forward in an effort to make the lineup decisions a little more difficult when Soderberg returns.
Puck drop from TD Garden is scheduled for just after 7 p.m.
