Final, Bruins 5-3: That’s it, and that’s all. The Bruins have evened the series with an incredible comeback win.
Third period, 18:54, Bruins 5-3: Milan Lucic just added the empty-netter, and it sure looks like this series is heading to Montreal all tied up.
Third period, 18:40, Bruins 4-3: The Montreal net is empty.
Third period, 16:28, Bruins 4-3: And just like that, the Bruins have the lead back.
Reilly Smith got open on the right wing, and he scored the goal after Brendan Gallagher couldn’t quite break up a pass through the slot. What a comeback.
Third period, 14:17, 3-3: Tie hockey game.
The Patrice Bergeron line does a great job of keeping the puck in the zone, and Brad Marchand ended up getting the puck along the boards to Bergeron. He just turned and fired from the right-wing boards, and the puck somehow gets by Carey Price.
Third period, 10:56, Candiens 3-2: The Bruins are still alive apparently.
Dougie Hamilton just got the Bruins within one, as he beat Carey Price with a wicked snap shot from the point. Brad Marchand carried the puck into the zone, stopped and found Hamilton trailing. Patrice Bergeron created traffic in front, and Hamilton finished.
Third period, 8:45, Canadiens 3-1: Shawn Thornton is back on the ice because, well, he’s a hockey player.
Third period, 6:30, Canadiens 3-1: The Canadiens have a two goal-lead.
Once again, Thomas Vanek tipped in a P.K. Subban shot from the point, and the Habs lead 3-1. The Bruins need to wake up, and they need to wake up in a hurry.
Third period, 5:46, Canadiens 2-1: The Bruins have to kill off another penalty. This time, it’s a Dougie Hamilton interference penalty.
Third period, 2:53, Canadiens 2-1: The Canadiens just iced the puck, and the Habs are going to use their timeout.
Here’s a GIF of the Shawn Thornton play via Pete Blackburn on Twitter.
Third period, 0:22, Canadiens 2-1: It doesn’t look like Shawn Thornton will be available for the time being and maybe not for the rest of the game.
Thornton just lined up P.K. Subban for a hit and missed, which sent Thornton crashing awkwardly into the boards right near the benches. Thornton had to be helped off the ice and wasn’t putting any weight on his right leg.
Third period, 0:01, Canadiens 2-1: The third period is underway, as the Bruins are looking for some more late-game magic.
End second period, Canadiens 2-1: The second period has come to a close, and the Bruins will trail as they head to the dressing room. They will also have to kill off 10 seconds of power-play time to begin the third period.
Second period, 18:09, Canadiens 2-1: Someone on the Bruins’ bench said something they shouldn’t, and the Canadiens have another power play.
The Bruins were just assessed a bench minor for unsportsmanlike conduct, and they are quickly coming apart.
Second period, 18:09, Canadiens 2-1: The Canadiens have their first lead of the game.
Just as the 4-on-3 was about to become a 5-on-4, P.K. Subban threw a puck to the front of the net, and that was deflected by Thomas Vanek for th egoa-ahead goal.
Second period, 16:23, 1-1: The Canadiens are going to get a long 4-on-3 power play. Andrej Meszaros and Tomas Plekanec got tied up along the boards deep in the Bruins’ zone. Meszaros pulled Plekanec down, and he gets the roughing penalty.
Huge sequence coming up here.
Second period, 16:09, 1-1: Back to 4-on-4 play.
Torey Krug and Lars Eller both picked up minor penalties after the play ended in the Boston zone.
Second period, 15:24, 1-1: The Bruins got the puck by Carey Price, but the ensuing euphoria was short-lived. Milan Lucic saw the puck hit his hand and into the net, which is obviously illegal. The play was reviewed and a quick decision was made to disallow the goal.
Second period, 14:50, 1-1: Carey Price is playing some of his best hockey right now.
He just made a great save on Patrice Bergeron, as the Boston forward barreled into the zone and put a shot on goal from the slot. The eventually bounced to Torey Krug, who was pinching down the left wing. Krug had a clear look at the net, but he didn’t get much on the shot and Price made a relatively easy save on that shot, too.
Second period, 12:28, 1-1: The Bruins could not do anything on the power play. The best chance came when Patrice Bergeron and Carl Soderberg worked a give and go that resulted in a chance in close for Bergeron, but Carey Price made the save.
Price has been good once again and has 21 saves so far.
Second period, 10:28, 1-1: The Bruins are starting to show some life, and they’re going to get a power play out of it all.
First, Jarome Iginla was robbed by Carey Price on a one-timer in the slot, which was Price’s best save of the game so far. The Bruins eventually retrieved the puck and David Krejci got into the zone on with a burst of speed and was eventually hooked by Lars Eller.
Second period, 8:22, 1-1: The Bruins are struggling to get the puck through the neutral zone, but they were just able to do that, and they almost took back the lead.
Loui Eriksson ended up with the puck in the slot all alone, as he tried to wait out Carey Price. Eriksson finally took the shot, but Price came out of his crease and made the blocker save on the Bruins’ best chance of the period.
Second period, 6:10, 1-1: The Bruins have killed off the penalty and are back to even strength.
Second period, 4:01, 1-1: The Canadiens, who have had plenty of jump to begin the period, are going back on the power play.
Kevan Miller just picked up a roughing penalty for taking down Brendan Gallagher in front of the Boston net.
Second period, 1:09, 1-1: The Canadiens have tied the game.
Brad Marchand made a bad turnover in the neutral zone, and the Canadiens have a way of making sure that finds the back of the net.
Tuukka Rask made a couple of big saves on Brandon Prust in front, but the Habs were able to corral the puck and get it back to Mike Weaver just outside the right faceoff circle. His shot through traffic got by Rask to tie the game.
Second period, 0:01, Bruins 1-0: The second period is underway. There will be 39 seconds of 4-on-4 play before P.K. Subban and Zdeno Chara step out of the penalty boxes.
End first period, Bruins 1-0: The first period has come to a close, and the Bruins will take the 1-0 lead to the dressing room.
First period, 18:39, Bruins 1-0: The Bruins killed the penalty, despite the fact that Patrice Bergeron broke his stick late in the kill. Just as the penalty expired, Zdeno Chara and P.K. Subban got tangled up behind the play. They both get unsportsmanlike conduct minors, and they’ll spend the rest of the period in the dressing rooms as we’ll be 4-on-4 here.
First period, 16:29, Bruins 1-0: The Bruins will have to kill off a penalty late in the period. Dougie Hamilton was just called for interference.
First period, 13:02, Bruins 1-0: The Bruins are on the board.
Andrej Meszaros’ shot went wide and around the boards, which is where Carl Soderberg picked it up. Soderberg made a great pass to Daniel Paille, and Paille — playing on the htird line today — beat Carey Price with a wrist shot form the slot that beat Carey Price stick side.
First period, 9:30, 0-0: The Bruins had the puck for much of the 5-on-3, but they couldn’t score on the two-man advantage or the minute that followed when they were up a man.
First period, 7:18, 0-0: The Bruins will have a 5-on-3 power play for an entire minute. Brandon Prust was just called for holding, and the B’s have a great chance.
First period, 6:18, 0-0: The Bruins are getting a power play now.
Dale Weise was just called for hooking.
First period, 5:59, 0-0: The Bruins have killed the penalty. The B’s had a chance as the Montreal power play expired, as Patrice Bergeron fed Jordan Caron on a rush into the Canadiens’ zone, but his redirection attempt was stopped by Carey Price.
First period, 3:41, 0-0: The Canadiens are getting a power play. Jordan Caron was called for hooking on what appeared to be a pretty soft call.
First period, 1:11, 0-0: Rene Bourque and Kevan Miller got tied up behind the play as they did some pushing and shoving.
Torey Krug stepped in to do some shoving of his own, and both he and Bourque get sent off with minor penalties.
First period, 0:01, 0-0: And we’re off. Game 2 is underway.
12:20 p.m.: It looks as if the Bruins are making some lineup changes. Andrej Meszaros took line rushes in place of Matt Bartkowski on defense. Also, Jordan Caron appears to be in for Justin Florek, with Daniel Paille skating on the third line with Carl Soderberg and Loui Eriksson.
Here are the projected lines and defensive pairs per pregame warmups.
Milan Lucic — David Krejci — Jarome Iginla
Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — Reilly Smith
Daniel Paille — Carl Soderberg — Loui Eriksson
Jordan Caron — Gregory Campbell — Shawn Thornton
Zdeno Chara — Dougie Hamilton
Andrej Meszaros — Johnny Boychuk
Torey Krug — Kevan Miller
11:50 a.m.: Here is all of what Montreal head coach Michel Therrien had to say about Bruins fans, and how they’re not the same people who sent racist tweets directed at P.K. Subban.
10:30 a.m.: The first wave of media availability is through, and Canadiens coach Michel Therrien spoke with reporters a few moments ago. The most noteworthy development is that Michael Bournival will be in the Montreal lineup for Game 2, and he’ll replace Travis Moen.
Therrien also said that he spoke with P.K. Subban on Friday about the controversy surrounding racist tweets aimed at the blueliner following his game-winning goal in Game 1. Therrien said that Subban is a tough kid who won’t let that bother him. Therrien also acknowledged that the small pocket of people responsible for the tweets aren’t representative of Bruins fans as a whole.
More on all of that, including what the Bruins had to say, in a bit. Claude Julien will speak in about 40 minutes.
9:55 a.m.: Good morning, and welcome into TD Garden bright and early for Bruins-Habs Game 2. Puck drop is in about two and a half hours. If you’re leaving for the Garden soon and happen to be reading this blog entry right away (which would be a huge coincidence), make sure you avoid Soldiers’ Field Road and Storrow Drive eastbound. It’s a parking lot as some moving truck apparently got stuck down by Boston University. The NESN.com Bruins live blog: not only hockey updates, but traffic reports, too.
Anyway, onto more pressing matters, the Bruins will hit the podium in a few moments for some pregame media availability. I’ll have that for you soon.
8 a.m.: The Boston Bruins are in familiar territory.
The B’s lost Game 1 of their second-round Stanley Cup playoffs series with the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night in double-overtime and find themselves down a game in the series. The same thing happened in the first round against the Detroit Red Wings, but Boston stormed back to win the series in five games. They’ll look to start a similar comeback starting Saturday afternoon in Game 2 at TD Garden.
The B’s and Habs will play a rare Saturday matinee at the Garden, and the Bruins are hoping to have the series even when things shift back to Montreal for Games 3 and 4. If Boston is going to even the series, they will need to be much better on the penalty kill. The Canadiens scored twice on the man-advantage — both off the stick of P.K. Subban — including the game-winner in double OT. The B’s are confident they can fix that and be better starting in Game 2.
“There’s no panic here,” Boston coach Claude Julien said after Game 1. “It’s game No. 1 here. So obviously, P.K. Subban’s got a good shot from the point and we’ve got to do a better job of fronting him, but our penalty kill’s been through a lot this year and we still have confidence in it.”
The penalty kill may also be helped by a better performance from Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask. The Vezina Trophy finalist had a rough night by his standards, allowing four goals on just 33 shots. Rask picked apart his own game on Thursday night, and he’s got a way of rebounding after a rough game, especially in the playoffs. Rask stopped 34 of 35 shots in Game 2 against Detroit, and if he’s able to have a similar bounce-back showing on Saturday, the Bruins should be quite OK.
Puck drop from the Garden is bright and early, scheduled for 12:30 p.m.
