Thursday 28 March 2013

Toronto @ Boston

On Monday night Boston played host to Toronto in a back to back game. TOR beat BOS 3-2 on Saturday night up in TOR. So who would come out on top in this Division Game?

1st Period

Andrew Ference with a drive through the traffic, but Jay Pandolfo, provided the screen but TOR James Reimer had to save the shot. BOS's Tuukka Rask saw his first shot from TOR six minutes into the game. BOS had two registered shots on goal. Rask had his first challenged of the night, made repeated saves on Nikolai Kluemin in front, as the Leafs forward tried to whack his rebounds in but to no prevail. 

BOS had most of chances earlier on in the first but it became a tight-checked game with not too many opportunities at either end. BOS's Daniel Paille with speed streaked down the left wing and then fired a shot off Reimer's pad. Patrice Bergeron had a chance on the rebound. TOR's Colton Orr went to the box for a boarding call, BOS headed to their first Power Play (PP) of the game with 2:41 left in the first. 

The horn sounded to end the 1st, with the game scoreless. BOS's lead 9 shots to TOR's 6.

2nd Period

With just 27 seconds of the 2nd BOS's Aaron Johnson went to the box for a interference call.  BOS with their first Penalty kill (PK) of the game. TOR took the lead with 2:04 gone in the second. Joffrey Lupul all alone at the bottom of the Left Wing circle, as Rask squared up to Jake Gardiner, who then passed the puck to Lupul. 


 Lupul celebrates his goal with a team mate

There was a nice shift by Paille, Bergeron and Tyler Seguin. 2 great chances by Paille off the wrister and near the tip off shot by Johnson. Seguin had a chance with a wrister too. 

TOR's Kulemin beat Rask's stick side on a breakaway but after Nazem Kadri fed a pass up the middle of the ice, following a block of a TOR's shot. BOS down 2-0. Not long after TOR scored their second, BOS scored to make it a 2-1 game. 


 Kulemin celebrates his goal with his team mates 2-0 TOR





BOS's Rich Peverley picked up a loose puck and fed it to Milan Lucic, who then powered in on Reimer, and put it a five-hole.


 Lucic celebrates with his team mates after his goal.


TOR's Phil Kessel broke his stick, as BOS's Dennis Seidenberg went to the box for a slashing call with 3:23 left in the 2nd. BOS's back on the PK for the 2nd time of the game.

During the BOS's PK, Paille with good speed, with a shorthanded spun and had a great chance in front of Reimer and Peverley had a chance earlier on in the PK. There was quick pace after Lucic's goal to end the 2nd. 

The horn sounded to bring the 2nd period to a close. TOR lead 2-1 going into the 3rd. 

3rd period

TOR's Lupul drew a hooking call on Bergeron just 30 seconds into the final period of the game. Another great shift by Lucic, Peverley and Jordan Caron. Peverley hacked away in front of a loose puck and then Peverley and Michael Kostka exchanged shoves after the play. 

Bergeron right on front, but Reimer held on to it and everyone jumped in to scramble, with words and then shoves were exchanged. BOS tied the game from Bergeron. 


Bergeron with a backhand in front of Reimer, and after a great feed from Dougie Hamilton. With 9:24 left in the 3rd, the game is tied 2-2. 

  Bergeron celebrates with Hamilton. 

Hamilton showed some great offensive moves down low behind the goal and then he found Bergeron at the right faceoff circle for the equalizer.There was some extracurricular activity after a whistle behind Reimer. But only Ference and Dion Phaneuf head to the box for a roughing call. With under 2:00 to go in the regulation the game is still knotted at 2-2. 

The horn sounded to bring the 3rd to a end, but with the score still tied the game will now go into Overtime (OT).

Overtime

The game is now heading to the Shootout (SO). Zdeno Chara with one of BOS's best chance on a wraparound and Brad Marchand just missed a connecting after the puck went through the crease. 

Shootout

Seguin was up first and scored top right corner. 

BOS won 3-2 in the Shootout. Both Bergeron and Sequin scored for BOS. 

Tonight's 3 Stars were :

1*            Bergeron
2**          Chara
3***        Paille

BOS improved to 11-2-1 on home ice and will now host the Habs on wed night. 




















Sunday 10 March 2013

Montreal @ Boston

On Sunday night Boston took on their fiercest rivals the Montreal Canadiens  in the TD Garden. Are MTL looking for revenge on BOS, because BOS came out on top 2-1 in the Bell Centre on February 6th. 

1st Period

In the first six minutes MTL had four shots to BOS's 1 on goal. BOS's Chris Kelly and Daniel Paille with a 2-on-1 down the right wing. Kelly held and fired a shot that hit the post and ricochets right out. Within 10 minutes of the 1st MTL drew the first penalty of the night, as BOS's Andy Ference went to the box for interference. During MTL's Power Play (PP), Tomas Plekanec opened the scoring. Plekanec fanned on a shot, right at the top of the crease and the puck went right off the heel of his stick and through Tuukka Rask's leg.

Just forty seconds after MTL scored BOS tied the game 1-1. Patrice Bergeron won the faceoff and Brad Marchand got the puck behind the goal and past it to Bergeron who then fed it to Tyler Sequin who then tapped it in.

Seguin celebrates his goal with Marchand.

Right back to the other end David Desharnais gave MTL a 2-1 lead. Play was under review as the puck looked to come off his skate but the goal stood. A serious momentum shifted back and forth at midway point of the 1st period. The three goals were scored in  two minutes but MTL were leading 2-1.

With less than 2 minutes to go in the period BOS had their first PP of the game, as Brendan Gallagher went to the box for a charging call.

The horn sounded to bring the 1st to a end..MTL leading 2-1.

2nd Period

Five minutes into the second BOS tied the game 2-2. Seguin raced down the left wing and feed Bergeron, who then slotted the puck past Peter Budaj and into the net. Lars Eller went to the box for a cross-checking call but just five seconds later Milan Lucic went to the box for a holding call. 4-on-4 action for 1:55. With ten minutes gone in the second BOS took the lead 3-2. Marchand's initial shot was deflected and it ended up on Dougie Hamilton's stick whose quick shot put it home. There was a lucky bounce on Hamilton's goal.

 Hamilton celebrates his goal against MTL.

MTL had a two player advantage as both Adam McQuaid and Ference went to the box for cross-checking and a hooking calls. Milan Lucic and Brandon Prust squared off near the blueline in a heated bout. Lucic with a handful of hard rights. McQuaid and Eller nearly had a go in front of Rask's goal. The crowd in the TD Garden erupted.


 Lucic and Prust with their bout in the 2nd period.

Not long after the Lucic and Prust fight, BOS captain Zdeno Chara, took a exception hit on Seguin by Alexei Emelin. Chara threw eight or nine upper cuts on Emelin behind the goal line. Chara had a triple penalty (fighting, misconduct and a instigator). Shawn Thornton served Chara's instigator.


The horn sounds to end the second. BOS leading 3-2.

3rd Period

Six minutes into the last period MTL tied the game 3-3. Max Pacioretty with a shot from the high slot, and from Rask's reaction, he didn't see the puck through the traffic.


 Pacioretty celebrates his goal against BOS.

Thornton lost his stick and Marchand made a drive with the loose puck shot it over the errant stick. But Budaj made the save. Right after the great chance by BOS, thanks to Daniel Paille's forecheck. MTL rushed right to the other end and Desharnais found the loose puck in front. Pacioretty's initial chance nearly went in at the goal mouth but Rask's right pad and the post saved it. But Desharnais then pounced on the loose puck to poke it in. MTL leads 4-3. BOS were looking for a delay of game call after the puck went over the glass but the call did not come. With less than three minutes to go BOS were looking for their comeback magic

With less than a minute to go BOS pulled Rask out of the goal. Twenty seconds left BOS called a Timeout. At the end of the game Budaj robbed Seguin.

The horn sounded to end the game....

MTL won 4-3

Tonight's three stars were:

1st*     David Desharnais
2**     Patrice Bergeron
3***   Tyler Seguin.

BOS now travel down to Washington to take on the Capitals on Tues with a 7p start.














Sunday 3 March 2013

Boston @ NYI

On Tuesday night Boston ended their long road trip, when then took on the New York Islanders in Nassau Coliseum in Long Island. 

1st Period 

At the start of the game both BOS and NYI were both trading speedy rushes earlier. There was a great chance by the pair of Brad Marchand and Tyler Seguin. Marchand redirected a pass from Seguin in front but it was stopped. With 7 minutes gone in the 1st BOS took the lead. BOS's Seguin fed Adam McQuaid into the zone at the right point and McQuaid who fired a shot and it got through NYI's goaltender Evgeni Nabokov's on his glove side.

There was a lot of back and forth but BOS's goaltender Tuukka Rask was looking solid with timely stops including a Michael Grabner's breakaway. With 14 minutes gone  in the first BOS's Gregory Campbell went to the box for a tripping call.

BOS managed to kill the penalty but NYI scored to tie the game 1-1. Rask went down to stop Josh Bailey but Bailey managed to fed the puck to NYI's forward Casey Cizikas who roofed it.

 Cizikas's celebrate with his team mates after a tieing goal.

It was a fairly uncharacteristic backchecked by BOS on the NYI's goal. NYI were able to chip the puck in behind the Defense and beat BOS to the scoring area. With less than 3 minutes to go in the first BOS got their first Power Play (PP) of the game, as Radek Martinek went to the box for a tripping call.

The horn sounds to end the 1st period. Score still tied at 1-1.

2nd Period

With just 38 seconds into the 2nd, Marchand scored BOS's 2nd goal and the 3rd goal of the night. BOS's Andy Ference's shot from the left point got through, and Marchand found the loose puck in front. BOS's Zdeno Chara, fed a cross ice pass to Nathan Horton on the right side, who then passed it to Milan Lucic and then Lucic backhanded it over to David Krejci on the left wing, who then ripped it in. BOS leading NYI 2-1.

 Lucic celebrating Krejci's goal.

Within 3 minutes NYI had two penalties Mark Streit went to the box for a roughing call and Lubomir Visnovsky went to the box for a delay of game call as the puck went over the glass. BOS nearly converted after Chris Bourque drove the puck from the slot and Patrice Bergeron could not put the loose puck into the net but nice job by NYI on the Penalty Kill (PK) to keep it out.

BOS went on a PP as Travis Hamonic went to the box for a hooking call. During the PP Krejci displayed his two-way play. Gone down to block NYI racing down the left wing. It was great timing to cancel the shorthanded chance. Johnny Boychuck showed his wheels with a wraparound opportunity earlier and then just had room to carry the puck into the zone and created havoc for Nabokov. BOS's Bergeron went to the box for a interference call. Rask had a fantastic save on a Streit shot from the top of the circles. Not sure how Rask saw the shot through the traffic but Rask got his right pad on to it.  With 2 minutes to go Chara went to the box for a hooking call.

The horn sounds to end the 2nd period. BOS leading the NYI 3-1.

3rd Period

Krejci had a incredible chance on the backhand and then Lucic with a one-timer stopped by Nabokov. Nathan Horton with a drive and Krejci nearly got his stick on a loose puck in front. Under 2 minutes to go NYI pulled Nabokov. Campbell with a shot from the neutral zone and the puck ended up in the net.

The horn sounds to end the game. BOS won the game 4-1.

1* Tuukka Rask
2** Brad Marchand
3*** Patrice Bergeron

BOS's next game is at home against OTT with a 7 start......