For the majority of the first 40 minutes, the Rangers looked like they had 2 hours, rather than 2 days, between games. As much as coach John Tortorella has been denying it when asked, the Rangers looked like a tired team. The Devils dominated play, winning battles and spending an inordinate amount of time in the Rangers’ defensive zone. At 1:51 of the second, after Henrik Lundqvist denied attempts by Ilya Kovalchuk, Dainius Zubrus and Adam Henrique, the coach used his timeout to try and get the team to regroup. The Devils got 26 shots on goal in the first 2 periods, each and every one of them turned aside by Lundqvist, who was key in keeping the Rangers in it and the game scoreless.

But yet, as they have so many times this season, the Rangers found a way to collect themselves. They came out in the third looking like a different team. At 2:11 of the third period, Devils’ defenseman Bryce Salvador took a hooking penalty, setting the stage for the Rangers’ power play to go to work for the second time on the afternoon. Brad Richards won the faceoff and moved the puck back to Dan Girardi, who was all alone at the circle. Girardi fired and beat Martin Brodeur on the stick side, giving him his third of the playoffs and the Rangers a 1-0 lead.

“During the regular season and we’ve gone through the playoffs, that’s what I like about our team,” Tortorella said after the game.  “I’m not sure how far we go. I’m not sure what goes on from here, but it’s a team that stays with it. And, again, I thought our game started coming back a little bit in the second period. Our third period was more what we were trying to get to. We still have things to improve on. But there’s no panic. We know who we are. We know how we have to play. We’re trying to do that more consistently. And that’s how we’ll go about it.”

Girardi’s goal would prove to be the game winner when all was said and done. All three of the All-Star defensemen’s goals in these playoffs have been game winners.

The Rangers, however, were not quite done paying back their goaltender for his heroics on the day. Chris Kreider continued to write an incredible playoff story for himself, scoring 1:57 after Girardi broke through, giving him his 5th goal of the playoffs. The tip-in of Ryan McDonagh’s shot put Kreider in the record books, making him the only NHL player to score 5 playoff goals before ever playing a regular season game.

 ”I don’t even know the kid,”  Tortorella responded when asked when he sensed the rookie would be so good for them. “For me to sit here and say I thought it was going to be that time, I have no idea. I don’t know the kid at all. I’ve probably spoken to him probably three or four times since he’s been here. But he has a knack. The puck follows him around. And he has a ways to go away from the puck, but he has a knack with that puck. We talked about it in between periods. We needed him to be better defensively, but we felt he had the best chance to score the goal. We end up scoring a couple of them, and him scoring one.”

Ryan Callahan, who has struggled to score in the playoffs, solidified the victory with an empty-net goal at the 17:47 mark of the 3rd period.

Lundqvist stopped the remaining 10 shots the Devils took in the game to secure his second win and second shutout of the series. He agreed with the coach’s assessment of  how the team as a whole found a way to win.

“They had some chances in the second, and I felt like it was a good timeout by Torts, they came out flying there in the second created big chances. But we didn’t panic, and that’s the biggest thing. I think we had moments during the year where we got into some tough minutes, if you can call it that, but we didn’t panic, we kept our composure, kept playing the same way, and as a goalie, you know sooner or later it’s going to turn. It’s going to turn in our favor.  We’re going to get a chance. We’re going to get a break. And that’s the feeling I had.  In the third we came out big, made some really big plays and scored some really good goals for us.”

Without Lundqvist’s stellar performance, the Rangers would have never had a chance at being in this game, let alone the opportunity to win it. As the playoffs go on, “The King” continues to throw his hat in the ring for Conn Smythe consideration, and silence the critics who have criticized him in the past for not coming up big in the playoffs when he’s needed the most. He’ll need to come up with 2 more superhuman efforts in this series for the Rangers to move along. The Rangers will once again get an opportunity to take a 3-1 lead in a playoff series on Monday night. They have yet to do so, a part of the playoff pattern that they hope won’t repeat itself for a third time.

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Brandon Prust will have a hearing with the NHL Sunday morning regarding his elbow to the head of Devils’ defenseman Anton Volchenkov in the second period. There was no penalty called on the play, and Volchenkov was not injured and remained in the game.

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The scene is set before game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, which the Rangers won, 3-0.

For the second series in a row, the New York Rangers took their playoff series to the limit, and for the second series in a row, got past their opponent to move on. For the first time since 1997, they are in the Eastern Conference finals, battling against an old nemesis, the New Jersey Devils.

So much of this run has had fans looking at parallels to 1994. Of course this is 2012 and the teams are nothing alike – with this one focused on a young homegrown core instead of being a win-now, guns-for-hire group that stripped the franchise of so much of its up-and-coming talent to go for it – but it is hard not to. After all, they faced the Washington Capitals in the second round that year (defeating them in 5 games) and then faced the New Jersey Devils in that epic 7-game series that sent the Rangers to the finals. In an ironic twist of fate, should this year’s game 6 take place it will be on May 25th, the anniversary of the game Mark Messier “guaranteed” the Rangers would win (and they did, thanks in part to a hat trick from the captain). Game 7 would take place on May 27th, the same date as the double overtime “Matteau! Matteau! Matteau!” game that ended that series.

The fans were certainly ready to go last night, getting the “Marrrrtyyyy” chants going even before the puck dropped. Once again, the FDNY Emerald Society drummed behind the penalty boxes to get the night started. For the first time all playoffs, the pregame videos were projected on the ice, rather than strictly on the scoreboard. Stephane Matteau was brought to encourage the 18,200 in attendance to put on the blue t-shirts that had been handed out as fans walked in. Once again, Ron Duguay made an appearance to try and get the crowd going.

There’s been talk heading into the series about how no team has gone on to win the Stanley Cup after going the 14-game distance in the first 2 rounds. There’s been talk about how the week of rest the Devils earned by dispatching the Philadelphia Flyers in 5 would benefit them, compared to the Rangers being less than 48 hours removed from eliminating the Washington Capitals in 7. With or without any encouragement, the Garden Faithful were certainly ready for this installment of “The Battle Of The Hudson.” But would the Rangers be? In the end, the answer was “yes,” as the Rangers shut out the Devils, 3-0 to take a 1-0 series lead.

Looking at the score alone is deceiving, as the game was far closer than one would think by looking at those numbers. Henrik Lundqvist made 21 saves, but made them count, especially in the second period when the Devils surged and had the better of the play. The Devils flashed the aggressive penalty kill they’ve become known for this season. But Lundqvist came up big, stoning Zach Parise on 3 consecutive tries while killing off an Andy Greene slashing penalty, to keep his team in the game.

“As a goalie you always have to step up when the team needs you not when you feel good and you have your moments,” the Vezina trophy candidate said after last night’s game. “A lot of times it’s when the team’s struggling you have to step up. And it’s fun, too, to be there and try to make the difference sometimes when the team is going through a tough stretch.”

His strong play set the stage for a third period in which the Rangers finally broke through against Martin Brodeur. As good as his defensive partner Ryan McDonagh was, notably using his speed to catch Parise on a breakaway and to neutralize Ilya Kovalchuk as he came in 1-on-1 on his goaltender in the first, Dan Girardi had a rare rough night defensively. Girardi had a ghastly turnover in front of the net that Lundqvist was able to stop and then also had to shake off the painful after effects of blocking a shot and a cut near his eye when he was boarded by Steve Bernier midway in the 3rd period. But this can be a game where a hero can become a goat in an instant and vice-versa. Girardi found redemption when he struck 53 seconds into the 3rd period off a pass from rookie Chris Kreider, a goal that Lundqvist would make stand up as the game winner. Kreider would add an insurance goal on the power play, snapping it past Brodeur off a pass from Artem Anisimov at the twelve minute mark. Anisimov would seal the deal with 1:27 left and Brodeur pulled for the extra skater. Mike Rupp took a roughing penalty with 38 seconds remaining to put the Devils up 2 men, but Lundqvist denied them to earn his second shutout of the postseason.

The Rangers now find themselves in familiar territory – up 1 game to 0 in the playoffs and will look to go up 2-0 in a series for the first time in the 2012 playoffs Wednesday night.

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Here is the leader-board through the first two rounds of this year’s playoffs:

1) Woodward –> 9-for-12

2) Philp –> 6-for-12

3) Levin –> 2-for-4

4) Muscat –> 6-for-12

5) Cohen –> 5-for-12

Eastern Conference

(6) New Jersey Devils vs. (1) New York Rangers

Cohen– Rangers win in 7 . X-Factor –> Devils’ Record-Breaking Penalty Kill vs. Rangers’ Lifeless Power-Play

Philp– Devils win in 7. X-Factor –> Martin Brodeur

Muscat– Rangers win in 7. X-Factor –> Rangers’ Third Line

Levin– Devils win in 7 . X-Factor –> Adam Henrique

Woodward– Rangers win in 7. X-Factor –> New York’s Power-Play

Western Conference

(8) Los Angeles Kings vs. (3) Phoenix Coyotes

Cohen–  Kings win in 7. X-Factor –> Mike Smith vs. Jonathan Quick: Who Cracks First?

Philp– Coyotes win in 6. X-Factor –> Mike Smith

Muscat– Kings win in 5. X-Factor –> Jonathan Quick

Levin– Kings win in 6. X-Factor –> Drew Doughty

Woodward– Kings win in 6. X-Factor –>Mike Richards/Jeff Carter Line

Stanley Cup Finals

Cohen (Edit #2)– Rangers Over Kings

Philp (Edit #2)– Devils Over Coyotes

Muscat (Edit #2)– Rangers Over Kings

Levin–                    Devils Over Kings

Woodward (Edit #1)– Kings Over Rangers

Conn Smythe Award

Cohen– Henrik Lundqvist (New York Rangers)

Philp– Zach Parise (New Jersey Devils)

Muscat– Henrik Lundqvist (New York Rangers)

Levin– Ilya Kovalchuk (New Jersey Devils)

Woodward– Jonathan Quick (Los Angeles Kings)

Rather than be down in the series 3-2 and have to fight for their playoff lives in game 6, they were up 3-2 with a chance on Wednesday to knock the Capitals out in front of their home crowd. Sadly, the Rangers didn’t really bother to show up. They got behind early after Anton Stralman took a tripping penalty 1:35 into the game on which Alex Ovechkin converted. Jason Chimera added the second goal in the second period and that was all the Caps would need. The Rangers’ power play that came up clutch for them in game 5, was nowhere to be found in this one. They went 0-for-5 on the night, the lowlight going shotless on Jeff Halpern’s double-minor for high sticking John Mitchell midway through the second period. A Marian Gaborik goal with 51 seconds left in the game with Lundqvist pulled prevented Braden Holtby from recording the shutout, but it was just window dressing on a night where no one (with maybe the exception of Lundqvist, who made some great saves to keep the Rangers close) really had a notable game for the Blueshirts.

Instead of opening up the Eastern Conference Finals at home Saturday night against the New Jersey Devils, they are hosting a game 7 against the Capitals. As they’ve done many times over the course of this season following a lackluster performance, they’ll have to find a way to bounce back. So how do they do that?

Score first. Heck, they just need to find a way to score, period. In the first 6 games of the series, the team that has scored first has won. With the exception of game 1, which the Rangers won 3-1, every game has been decided by either a 2-1 or 3-2 score, so goals have been hard to come by. Part of the credit has to be given to the Capitals taking a page out of the Rangers’ book when it comes to defensive hockey. A large part of it though falls on a  team with an anemic offense and an awful power play. With the way both have been going, a 1- or 2-goal deficit can seem insurmountable.

In practice Friday, John Tortorella reunited Chris Kreider with Derek Stepan and Ryan Callahan. The line was effective early in the series, until Kreider  made a major gaffe in game 4 that led to an Ovechkin goal. It was a game the Capitals wound up winning. Kreider wound up playing 7:43 in that game, followed by 6:57 in game 5 and 6:06 in game 6. As we’ve learned with Tortorella, and as we’ve seen with Kreider, ice time depends on trust. But in a game 7, and starving for offense, he has to play and just hope that, if the kid does have a defensive lapse, the other 5 players on the ice for the Rangers can bail him out. With their backs to the wall, the reward outweighs the risk.

Then there’s the power play that still has yet to find any regular effectiveness after 95 games. Move the puck quickly, cut down on the cutesy passing and just take the shot. Cycle. Get in front of the net. Easy for me to say, but it’s now or never for them to find success.

Get At Holtby and Outplay Him. Can the 22-year-old rookie, who became a father on Thursday, push that out of his mind  and keep focus for a few hours? We saw what happened in game 1 when he wasn’t focused, mostly because the Rangers only took 14 shots on him. He’s been good for the Capitals when he’s needed to be. The Rangers have to throw everything at him, and not just shots in the hopes of creating rebounds. Crash the net. Create screens. Staal scored the overtime winner from the point in game 5, a shot Holtby admitted he can’t see.

Like it or not, this game 7 will fall squarely on the shoulders of Lundqvist. There’s been quite a bit made in the last few days about the Capitals “finding” his weakness. Anyone who has seen Lundqvist since 2005 knows that high glove is the way you’re going to beat “The King.” A 1.73 GAA and a .936 save percentage ideally should be good enough, but when the 18 skaters aren’t generating any offense, it’s not. Lundqvist is going to have to have the game of his career for the Rangers to have any chance of playing on Monday night.

Get Back To Playing “Rangers Hockey.” While they failed to score, the first period of game 5 was probably the last time they played the kind of hockey the Rangers have come to be known for this season. For 20 minutes there was high energy, physical, controlling hockey by this team. That is the kind of effort they’ll need tonight.

Take Advantage of Home Ice Advantage. The Rangers worked all season to earn the number one seed and have home ice advantage. During several of the home games in the first 2 rounds the crowd was so into it during the anthem you couldn’t even hear John Amirante sing. Even when the team has gotten down in games, the crowd would cheer to encourage them to get back into it. There’s no reason to expect that the fans’ passion will be any less tonight. It’s not only about the Garden Faithful, some of whom will pay a pretty penny on the secondary market to be in the building (average price for a ticket per seatgeek.com is $441.00). It’s also about getting more desirable matchups with the last changes, which will be critical when trying to keep the likes of Ovechkin off the scoreboard. History doesn’t mean much, but for those who look for anything for some optimism, the Rangers are 4-0 in game sevens at Madison Square Garden. Why can’t they make it 5-0?

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Part I –> Top Six Forwards

Part II –> Bottom Six Forwards

Part III –> Defense Group

Part IV –> Extra Skaters/Call-Ups

Part V –> Goalies

Part VI –> Coaching/Management

Each day over the next week, I will update this blog with the addition of one player (in numerical order). For the bottom six, I will start with Gregory Campbell.

#11 Gregory Campbell

Age: 28

Contract Status: $1.100 MIL Cap Hit/ Unrestricted Free Agent On July 1, 2012

Regular Season Stats: 78 GP, 8 Goals, 8 Assists, 16 Points, -3 Rating

Playoff Stats: 7 GP, 0 Goals, 2 Assists, 2 Points, -2 Rating

– Duplicating a career season is a tremendously difficult task and one that players throughout the sports world often fall short of achieving. After falling just a goal or an assist shy of reaching the thirty-point mark (13G/16A) for the second time in his career during the 2010-’11 season, Campbell saw his offensive production sliced nearly in half this year (8G/8A). However, as anyone who has watched even a minute of Bruins’ hockey over the past few seasons would tell you, the true value of the 28-year-old London, Ontario native comes in the form of his unmatched grit and intangibles. Surpassing the century mark in the hit column and blocking over fifty shots whilst eating up valuable minutes on the penalty kill, the second-year Bruin’s contributions can not be overlooked. Slated to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, along with fellow bottom-six forwards Daniel Paille, Benoit Pouliot and Chris Kelly, Campbell will likely seek a slight raise from his last contract, which paid him $1.1 million dollars each year. In all likelihood, the Bruins will bring back just one of the two centermen with expiring deals (Campbell and Kelly). If that is the case, General Manager Peter Chiarelli will face a tough decision in determining whether Kelly’s ability to produce offense on a more consistent basis is worth the presumably hefty difference in the price tags of the two Canadian pivots.

Final Grade: B

#20 Daniel Paille

Age: 28

Contract Status: $1.075 MIL Cap Hit/ Unrestricted Free Agent On July 1, 2012

Regular Season Stats: 69 GP, 9 Goals, 6 Assists, 15 Points, -5 Rating

Playoff Stats: 7 GP, 1 Goal, 0 Assists, 1 Point, -1 Rating

– After struggling to find a spot in the Boston lineup for much of the 2010-’11 regular season — seeing action in only 43 of 82 games –, Paille looked to be the odd man out once again as the 2011-’12 campaign began. With former first round draft choice Jordan Caron — who plays a similar style to Paille — waiting in the wings, it seemed as though the former-Buffalo Sabre would once again become a press box regular. However, the 28-year-old left wing began the season with a strong training camp and earned his spot alongside Gregory Campbell and Shawn Thornton on the Boston fourth line. The Welland, Ontario native went on to enjoy another solid season for the Black and Gold, picking up nine goals and six assists, while seeing time on the B’s top penalty-killing unit. With his contract set to expire on July 1, and a pair of youngsters in Anthony Camara (3rd Round (81st Overall)/2011 Entry Draft) and Lane MacDermid (4th Round (112th Overall)/2008 Entry Draft) ready to take on a bottom-six role with the big club, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Paille pulling on a different sweater come October of 2012.

Final Grade: B-

#22 Shawn Thornton

Age: 34

Contract Status: $1.100 MIL Cap Hit/ Unrestricted Free Agent On July 1, 2014

Regular Season Stats: 81 GP, 5 Goals, 8 Assists, 13 Points, -7 Rating

Playoff Stats: 5 GP, 0 Goals, 0 Assists, 0 Points, EVEN Rating

– Since arriving on the scene in the summer of 2007, Shawn Thornton has met and exceeded everything that was expected of him by fans, coaches and the Boston Bruins organization. Fresh off a Stanley Cup championship with the Anaheim Ducks, the 34-year-old veteran brought with him the type of toughness and attitude that demands respect throughout locker rooms across the league. His personality, style of play and commitment to the city of Boston have made the Oshawa, Ontario native an ice hockey staple in the Hub. The 2011-’12 campaign was nothing out of the ordinary for Thornton, chipping in with a handful of goals — the most remarkable being his back-hand roof-job against Winnipeg’s Ondrej Pavelec on a penalty shot — while collecting over 150 penalty minutes and dropping the gloves whenever the situation called for it. After sealing a brand new two-year pact in March, Thornton will remain in Boston for at least the next two seasons, earning $2.2 million dollars over the life of the contract.

Final Grade: B

#23 Chris Kelly

Age: 31

Contract Status: $2.125 MIL Cap Hit/ Unrestricted Free Agent On July 1, 2012

Regular Season Stats: 82 GP, 20 Goals, 19 Assists, 39 Points, +33 Rating

Playoff Stats: 7 GP, 1 Goal, 2 Assists, 3 Points, +1 Rating

– General Manager Peter Chiarelli‘s prized acquisition from the 2011 trading deadline, Chris Kelly went far and above expectations in his first full season with the Black and Gold. Posting career-bests in goals, points and plus/minus during his contract season, Kelly has set himself up to sign a lucrative (and well-deserved) new deal on July 1. The hero of Boston’s game one overtime win against the Capitals in the first round of the postseason, Kelly was also one of the few Bruins’ forwards that fully lived up to his playoff expectations in 2012. While Kelly’s increased offensive production (20G/19A) in 2011-’12 came as a surprise to many, the six-foot Toronto-native once again lived up to his billing as a defensive zone stalwart, winning a number of key draws for the Bruins and posting the league’s third highest plus/minus rating (+33). Unfortunately for B’s fans, Kelly may have just played his way out of Boston. After a career year in 2011-’12, Kelly will undoubtedly be looking for significant raise on the deal that’s paid him $2.125 million dollars over the past two seasons. It will be interesting to see if Chiarelli is willing to offer Kelly the type of deal he signed fellow third-liner Rich Peverley to last fall (3 years/$3.250 MIL per).

Final Grade: A

#49 Rich Peverley

Age: 29

Contract Status: $3.250 MIL Cap Hit/ Unrestricted Free Agent On July 1, 2015

Regular Season Stats: 57 GP, 11 Goals, 31 Assists, 42 Points, +20 Rating

Playoff Stats: 7 GP, 3 Goals, 2 Assists, 5 Points, EVEN Rating

– Despite missing nearly the entire second half of the season after suffering a torn MCL, Boston’s most versatile forward was still able to surpass the 40-point mark for the second time in his career. In the absence of the concussed Nathan Horton, Peverley did an admirable job filling in on the Boston top line, and was solid in his role at center — after the Patrice Bergeron injury — during the B’s first round series with the Capitals. Peverley’s five points (3G/2A) in seven playoff games was good for first on the team as number 49 was without doubt the most consistent producer amongst the Boston forward group in the 2012 postseason. Signed to a brand-new three year contract extension (worth a total of $9.75 million dollars) in October, it is evident that the 29-year-old Ontario-native is a major part of GM Peter Chiarelli’s long-term plan for the success of the Bruins.

Final Grade: B+

#67 Benoit Pouliot

Age: 25

Contract Status: $1.100 MIL Cap Hit/ Restricted Free Agent On July 1, 2012

Regular Season Stats: 74 GP, 16 Goals, 16 Assists, 32 Points, +18 Rating

Playoff Stats: 7 GP, 1 Goal, 1 Assist, 2 Points, -1 Rating

– In more ways than one, Benoit Pouliot’s first campaign in a Boston Bruins’ uniform produced eerily similar results to what the B’s came to expect from the man no. 67 replaced: Michael Ryder. In two of his three seasons with the Black and Gold, Ryder hovered around the 30-40 point mark — which is right where Pouliot fell in 2011-’12 — while leaving B’s fans frustrated at his streaky tendencies. At times this season, Pouliot showcased the type of top-line skills that made him the fourth overall selection in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft. However, there were also periods in which the Alfred, Ontario native seemed to resort to the type of on-ice behavior that saw him banished to former head coach Jacques Martin‘s doghouse during his time with the Montreal Canadiens. Coming to the Hub by way of a one-year, $1.1 million dollar contract, Pouliot was the epitome of a low risk/high reward-type off-season signing by general manager Peter Chiarelli. Picking up 32-points (16G/16A) in 74 games this season, Pouliot more than earned his salary, but never truly found the type of consistency that Chiarelli and the Bruins had hoped to see from the former Sudbury Wolf.

Final Grade: B-

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Now a week and a half removed from Boston’s game seven loss at the hands of the Washington Capitals at TD Garden last Wednesday, it seems we’ve reached the perfect time to begin my six part series of Bruins’ postseason report cards. The order will look like this:

Part I –> Top Six Forwards

Part II –> Bottom Six Forwards

Part III –> Defense Group

Part IV –> Extra Skaters/Call-Ups

Part V –> Goalies

Part VI –> Coaching/Management

Without further ado, I present to you part one, detailing and grading the 2011-’12 seasons of each of the Bruins’ top six forwards.

#17 Milan Lucic

Age: 23

Contract Status: $4.083 MIL Cap Hit/ Restricted Free Agent On July 1, 2013

Regular Season Stats: 81 GP, 26 Goals, 35 Assists, 61 Points, +7 Rating

Playoff Stats: 7 GP, 0 Goals, 3 Assists, 3 Points, +2 Rating

– For the second straight season, Boston’s resident power forward posted a solid sixty-point campaign whilst easily exceeding the century mark (135) in the PIMs category. Lucic’s 2011-’12 regular season was very much on par with what we’ve come to expect from number 17 on a year-in/year-out basis. However, also for the second straight season, his postseason performance left a lot to be desired. In an NHL playoff series, its awfully tough for any team to come out victorious without even a single goal from their top-line left wing. It may all shake down to the fact that even at his best, Lucic isn’t a true first line player in this league. That is by no means a knock on the 6’4″ bruiser but merely a recognition that his playing style is best suited for a second line role, where he isn’t expected to produce 70-point campaigns.

Final Grade: B-

#18 Nathan Horton

Age: 26

Contract Status: $4.000 MIL Cap Hit/ Unrestricted Free Agent On July 1, 2013

Regular Season Stats: 46 GP, 17 Goals, 15 Assists, 32 Points, EVEN Rating

Playoff Stats: Missed Postseason Due To Post-Concussion Syndrome

– Without doubt, Nathan Horton is the toughest to assign a grade of any of the Bruins’ top six forwards simply due to his absence from the lineup for nearly the entire second half of the season. Number eighteen was able to recover from a poor start to the 2011-’12 campaign (five points in twelve games) by picking up 15 goals over the course of the next 34 games he participated in before suffering a concussion in Philadelphia on January 22. It’s tough to gauge where the Bruins will go from here in regards to their 2011 playoff hero. In the same way he declared that Horton would be back before the season ended this year (at the trade deadline), general manager Peter Chiarelli proclaimed last week that he expected the Welland, Ontario native to be ready to go by the start of the 2012-’13 season. However, as anyone with a working knowledge of concussions will most certainly tell you, it is near impossible to predict the return to normalcy for anyone suffering from post-concussion syndrome with complete accuracy.

Final Grade: C+

#19 Tyler Seguin

Age: 20

Contract Status: $3.550 MIL Cap Hit/ Restricted Free Agent On July 1, 2013

Regular Season Stats: 81 GP, 29 Goals, 38 Assists, 67 Points, +34 Rating

Playoff Stats: 7 GP, 2 Goals, 1 Assist, 3 Points, +3 Rating

– Boston’s sophomore phenom came out with guns blazing in 2011-’12, leading hockey pundits everywhere to believe that number nineteen had reached the level of the player he’d drawn so many comparisons to during his final season of junior hockey in Plymouth, Michigan: Steven Stamkos. Picking up twenty-four points (12G/12A) over the first two months of the season (23 games), it looked like the Brampton, Ontario native had already reached superstardom. However, things slowed down for Seguin as the season went along and he ran into a few bumps in the road, including the infamous Winnipeg alarm clock situation that made headlines in Boston last December. Over the course of the entire campaign, Seguin emerged as a consistent force on the Boston front line, often flaunting the amazing skill and speed that made him the second overall selection in the 2010 Entry Draft. As the dawn of his third season in the NHL approaches with training camp this coming September, it’s clear that the 20-year-old Seguin is well on his way to becoming a true superstar in this league.

Final Grade: A-

#37 Patrice Bergeron

Age: 26

Contract Status: $5.000 MIL Cap Hit/ Unrestricted Free Agent On July 1, 2014

Regular Season Stats: 81 GP, 22 Goals, 42 Assists, 64 Points, +36 Rating

Playoff Stats: 7 GP, 0 Goals, 2 Assists, 2 Points, EVEN Rating

– Twenty goals, sixty points, a league-best plus-36 rating, a 59% success rate in the faceoff dot and a Selke nomination. Sounds like a pretty phenomenal season, right? It would be for a number of players in the NHL. Yet, all of it was simply business as usual for Boston’s incumbent alternate captain who enjoyed the most consistent season of any forward in the Bruins’ top six forward group. The Quebec-native once again proved himself invaluable to the B’s in 2011-’12, leading the team in both assists and plus/minus while facing the task of shutting down an opponent’s top line on a nightly basis. It’s impossible not to feel good for the oft-underrated Bergeron who is finally receiving the recognition that he’s deserved for many years with his first career Selke nomination. After playing through a debilitating oblique injury and posting only two points in seven games during the Bruins’ opening round defeat at the hands of the Capitals, Bergeron made no excuses, taking full responsibility for his uncharacteristic lack of production. Just another likeable trait that makes the 26-year-old pivot one of the classiest players in the game today.

Final Grade: A

#46 David Krejci

Age: 26

Contract Status: $5.250 MIL Cap Hit/ Unrestricted Free Agent On July 1, 2015

Regular Season Stats: 79 GP, 23 Goals, 39 Assists, 63 Points, -5 Rating

Playoff Stats: 7 GP, 1 Goal, 2 Assists, 3 Points, EVEN Rating

– While David Krejci’s sixty-two point season in 2011-’12 was nothing to balk at, it sure made me look awfully silly after predicting the Czech-born centerman to surpass the 80-point mark in one of my many pre-season blog entries. This year’s campaign can all be boiled down to one word for No. 46: Inconsistent. During the months of December and March, Krejci looked like the top line pivot that Peter Chiarelli hoped he would eventually become. However, in October, February and April, he was nothing but a passenger, collecting only three goals and three assists in 24 games. After competing for the Conn Smythe – eventually won by Tim Thomas — in 2011, Krejci’s playoff performance fell off a steep cliff in 2012. Following up a 12-11-23 line during last year’s run to the Stanley Cup with a pedestrian 1-2-3 output during this season’s playoffs, questions about Krejci’s reputation as a clutch player have began to come to the surface. Don’t get me wrong, Krejci is a phenomenally skilled player — one that any team would be lucky to have on their roster — but much like Lucic, seems to have reached his ceiling (20G/50-65 Points) when it comes to offensive production.

Final Grade: C

#63 Brad Marchand

Age: 23

Contract Status: $2.500 MIL Cap Hit/ Restricted Free Agent On July 1, 2013

Regular Season Stats: 76 GP, 28 Goals, 27 Assists, 55 Points, +31 Rating

Playoff Stats: 7 GP, 1 Goal, 1 Assist, 2 Points, -1 Rating

– Boston’s favorite agitator did nothing but improve in 2011-’12 after a breakout rookie season last year. Falling just two tallies short of the 30-goal mark, Marchand reached fifty points for the first time in his young career whilst taking on an expanded role with both special teams units. Admittedly, his two-point effort this postseason was nothing to write home about, the Halifax-native’s overall performance this season has cemented his place in the Boston lineup – alongside Patrice Bergeron –  for many years to come, as a sturdy two-way forward that head coach Claude Julien can rely on in any situation.

Final Grade: B+

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Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Andy Greene is a superstar.  However, he’s the perfect workman-like player for the Devils lineup.  His poise with the puck and specifically while under pressure, he’s typically able to move the puck forward, out of the zone and typically onto the stick of a teammate.  He has good timing in terms of knowing when to jump into the play.  A good example of this was the winning goal by Alexei Ponikarovsky in overtime last night.  Take a look at the replay of the goal.

Click here to view the embedded video.

While Ilya Kovalchuk circled around back into his own zone, Andy Greene slips behind Wayne Simmonds and Daniel Briere to help create the 2-on-1 rush that led to the winning goal.  Greene entering the zone pushed back Andres Lilja and helped to create the space Ponikarovsky utilized to get the shot that led to the rebound which led to the goal.

Did Greene receive anything on the stat sheet to show his contribution?  No, but he definitely had an impact on that winning goal.  Keep in mind, we’ve only talked thus far about Greene’s contributions on the offensive side of things while in reality, it’s on the defensive side of things where Greene truly has his biggest impact on the game.  Here’s an example of another under the radar type of play that helped the Devils to a Round 1 victory.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Greene basically prevents a Panthers goal, as he neutralized the ability of Florida’s Scottie Upshall to put in the loose puck.  It’s another example of a play that doesn’t hit the stat sheet,  but has a major impact on the outcome of a game.  It’s the type of play Greene makes pretty often and why Greene is so valuable to the Devils that how the Michigan native earned a four-year $12 million contract.

It’s just another example of how Andy Greene makes contributions that go well beyond the stat sheet.  Most successful teams will need a guy like Andy Greene in their lineup.  Teams that go far in the playoffs tend to have players like Greene, who do the little things teams need to win.  Paired with Mark Fayne, the duo have been invaluable to the Devils in the playoffs, especially in Round 2 against Philadelphia.  If the Devils are to continue on and win the series over the Flyers, you can expect Andy Greene to play a major role in it.

Photo taken seconds before the Rangers are told they don't get paid extra for overtime.

I’ve loved the game of hockey for over 40 years. Yeah, I’m old. But there have been a lot of times, particularly in the late nineties/early aughts that I felt the love was unrequited.

Then there was last night in the Verizon Center.

This was a game that really didn’t decide anything – it was Game 3 in a best-of-seven. Hell, there’s still every chance that the New York Rangers may go home after this series is over, despite winning last night’s epic triple-overtime game against the Washington Capitals.

And, in the record books websites all that will be in the final tally of the postseason series will be:

NYR 2 WSH 1 – 3OT

Is that fair? There is a romance to having some exalted status for games like last night, some way to let people know years and decades from now that there was something special that happened last night. Maybe an asterisk, or a larger font. Stars around it or something.

Instead, we’ll have to look elsewhere to be able to tell people about the sheer will of Ryan Callahan. Somewhere, someone will have pictures of Brian Boyle and Dan Girardi’s sweaters with blood stains. Mike Knuble looked like he had been bobbing for french fries after he was patched up. Heretofore unknown Braden Holtby and Vezina finalist Henrik Lundqvist looked like they were going to stop pucks for all eternity. A game in Nashville both began and ended while this one was going on.

NYR 2 WSH 1 – 3OT

Sure, there are things that will be there for statistical perusal. Ryan McDonagh played 53:21 of this game. Marc Staal played 49:30. But those are cold numbers. Shouldn’t there be some way for a box score to scream, “Holy crap, these guys were on the ice for almost an hour!”?

NYR 2 WSH 1 – 3OT

There were a combined 95 shots on goal in this one – 49 for Washington and 46 for New York. 92 of those pucks were stopped. For those of you keeping stats, that’s a combined .968 save percentage for Holtby and Lundqvist. That doesn’t even include the 41 shots that Rangers skaters blocked, or the 40 by Caps skaters. I guess the combined 105 hits can give some indication to the type of game that occurred, but in the end, it will still be:

NYR 2 WSH 1 – 3OT

As if the Hockey Gods knew what was in store, these teams get a little extra rest before they meet again, getting until Saturday afternoon before locking horns again in a series that is far from decided.

Fortunately, they gave us an incredible amount of hockey to hold us over until then.

The last time the Maple Leafs selected a forward with a top five pick in the draft, was in 1989. The Toronto Maple Leafs took Scott Thornton with the third overall pick. Before that, it was Wendel Clark, first overall in 1985.

Of course, The Maple Leafs do not have to take a forward. They could very well select a defenseman with the 5^th overall pick, assuming they don’t trade it. The last time they took a defenseman, they selected Luke Schenn, at number five. The young defender has had his fair share of ups and downs throughout his young career, and will be looking to bounce back in his 2012-2013 campaign, whether it is with the Leafs, or another club.

Outside of who many believe is the consensus number one pick this year, in Nail Yakupov, the draft seems to be quite open. Many scouts have different top 10s, which is expected. There are plenty of talented players available, but the real questions surround team need. You can certainly make the case that the Edmonton Oilers could, and should trade the first overall pick. In which case, many Leafs fans would be salivating at the opportunity to draft Yakupov. However, a first overall pick hasn’t been traded since 2003, and while the Oilers will likely be more open to listening to potential offers on their pick, it just doesn’t seem likely they’d move it.

Brian Burke has made his fair share of draft day trades. Whether it be making a trade to select the both Henrik and Daniel Sedin in 1999 while with the Vancouver Canucks, or most recently moving up to grab Tyler Biggs with the 22^nd overall pick, in last year’s NHL Entry Draft. Burke has already come out and talked about how he expects the team’s biggest moves in the offseason to come via trade, and likely not free agency.

Going into his final year of his contract as President and General Manager of The Toronto Maple Leafs, one would think Brian Burke will be feeling the pressure to get things done this upcoming year. With so many question marks surrounding the team, you have to think something is going to get done. The time for waiting until the right deal comes along is over. The pressure is immense, and everyone, including Brian Burke, know it.

Once the finalists were announced, it was obvious that Malkin was the prohibitive favorite to win the award. The social media world exploded with opinionated outbursts claiming Stamkos didn’t deserve to be a finalist, mainly because his Lightning team failed to make the playoffs. One of the most boisterous was yours truly. I was full of snarky comments like this:

I set out to prove this point After crunching the numbers, I found myself shaking my head over my previous, uneducated rant. The numbers don’t lie. They show just the opposite.

Steven Stamkos is as deserving a Hart Trophy finalist as Evgeni Malkin.

*For the sake of this discussion, I am not including goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. Comparing a goaltender and a skater is a research project for another time.

The Malkin File

Won the Art Ross Trophy for leading the league in points with 109.

First player since 1995-96 to score five points in a game four times.

Finished second in the NHL (behind Stamkos) in goals with 50.

The Stamkos File

Won the Maurice Richard Trophy for leading the league in goals with 60.

First player since 2007-08 to score at least 60 goals.

Finished second in the NHL (behind Malkin) in points with 97.

Led the NHL and set a league record with five overtime goals.

Led the NHL with 48 even strength goals – The most since 1992-93.

Side By Side Comparison

*Goals Created-Calculated by adding goals scored to 0.5 times assists, then multiplying by team goals divided by team goals plus 0.5 times team assists.

Analysis

Stamkos played more games, had more goals, more game winning goals and a much higher shooting percentage.

Malkin had many more assists, points and shots, but a lower shooting percentage.

Stamkos was the more physical player, outhitting Malkin by 80 hits. Malkin blocked more shots.

Malkin had many more takeaways, but also gave away the puck 28 more times than Stamkos.

Both players dominated the bad teams (Maple Leafs, Islanders, Canadiens, Oilers and Blue Jackets). Malkin scored more goals and Stamkos had more points versus the playoff teams.

Stamkos scored more overtime goals (5) than anybody in the history of the NHL

Malkin dominated Stamkos in +/- rating.

The two were virtually even in faceoff percentage, penalty minutes, power play goals and average time on ice.

The competition is just as close in the area of “percentage of team” statistics. Stamkos has a slight advantage as he scored a higher percentage of his teams goals, power play goals and points, while Malkin had a higher percentage of his teams assists.

Both the Lightning and Penguins sorely needed the duo to appear on the score sheet. When Stamkos didn’t have a point, Tampa Bay’s record was 5-15-2. When Malkin didn’t have a point, the Penguins went 5-9-0.

Certainly this exercise proves beyond a shadow of doubt, that Steven Stamkos deserved a Hart nomination. Does he deserve the award?

If you look only at the numbers and base your decision solely on the individual statistics and the players worth to his team…The answer is yes, he deserves it just as much as Malkin does. If you look at the team results, Malkin wins the award easily as he led his team to a fourth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Puck Daddy’s Greg Wyshynski put it this way:

In the end, I believe Stamkos is a worthy finalist and it would be hard to argue if he won the award, based on his numbers. But the fact that the Bolts finished out of the playoffs cannot be ignored.

Given the choice between Malkin and Stamkos, Evgeni Malkin is your Hart Memorial Trophy winner.

*Statistics courtesy of Hockey-Reference.com and NHL.com.

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Photo: Flickr

After the celebration of the 2011 “break up day” last June, the Boston Bruins were quickly snapped back to the harsh reality of what normally constitutes a locker clean out day for most NHL squads. During which, the B’s brought to light the injuries that hampered them throughout the postseason as well as their reflections on both their first round exit and the 2011-’12 season as a whole.

While the most prominent emotion echoed throughout the locker room on Friday was of shock and disappointment, there also seemed to be a bit of collective “relief” in the fact that they’d now get the chance for some time to recuperate and re-energize after partaking in 196 games over the course of the last eighteen months.

“As players, we need to take full advantage (of the extended off-season), to get our rest and get focused and geared up for next year.” – Milan Lucic

“It’s been a long couple of years and right now I think the best thing to do is just rest.  We have to use it to our advantage.” – Brad Marchand

“If there’s one positive to take out (of the long off-season), it’s that everyone can recover.” – Dennis Seidenberg

After eighty-two regular season games in 2010-’11 followed by twenty-five playoff contests en route to the team’s first Stanley Cup championship in nearly four decades, the Bruins had the benefit of only two-and-a-half months of summer before returning to training camp in early September. Couple that with the eighty-two games that comprised this year’s slate and the seven playoff meetings with the Washington Capitals and the B’s seem to have been playing nonstop hockey for nearly a year and a half. Milan Lucic even compared it to the type of grind baseball players endure on a yearly basis while playing through an extraordinarily long 162-game schedule.

“It almost felt like one long season. It was almost like a baseball season.” — Milan Lucic

Tasting first round defeat for the first time since an April evening at the Bell Centre when they were the eighth seed in 2008, there is little doubt that the Bruins came up far short of what they expected to achieve this season. Workhorse defenseman Dennis Seidenberg described the thought of being eliminated so early as leaving him “with an empty feeling” — an emotion that’s likely uniform around that locker room.

An old adage that’s become commonplace in sports is that “you have to learn how to lose before you can learn how to win”. As any fan of the Black and Gold will attest, the Bruins have certainly been dealt their fair share of heart-wrenching defeats. The most obvious of which being the historic collapse of May 2010 against the Philadelphia Flyers. In a sense, the Bruins had to endure the hardships of losing playoff series’ in the manner they did in order to learn exactly what it would take to bring home the Stanley Cup, as they did in 2011.

Now, after another crushing game seven home-ice defeat — their third in the past four years –, the Black and Gold squad will look to use their early exit this spring as added motivation to fuel their attempt to re-capture Lord Stanley in 2012-’13.

“In the future it definitely gives you that extra drive, that extra motivation to get back to where we were (in 2011). It makes you appreciate more and more what happened here last year. It gets that fire boiling inside.” — Milan Lucic

“Watching those games (the remainder of the playoffs) makes you want to be there next year. It makes you want to be part of it and be playing for the Cup again next year. It definitely helps us to get that hunger back.” – Dennis Seidenberg

Successfully repeating as Stanley Cup champions is arguably the most difficult task in all of sports. Especially with the league’s increasing parity and competitiveness. An astonishing statistic to consider? 29 of the NHL’s 30 teams — sorry, Toronto — have qualified for the postseason at least once since the completion of the 2004-’05 lockout. Couple that with the pure exhaustion — that no hockey player will ever admit to — caused by playing in so many games in such a minimal time frame and it becomes near impossible to even come close to retaining the title.

With nearly their entire roster under contract for at least next season and a full off-season to recover from the wild whirlwind ride that’s encompassed these past two years, there is no reason to suggest that the Boston Bruins won’t be right back in the thick of things next spring, competing to bring Lord Stanley’s Cup back to Causeway Street in 2013.

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Eastern Conference

(7) Washington Capitals vs. (1) New York Rangers

Cohen– Rangers win in 7 . X-Factor –> Marc Staal

Philp– Capitals win in 7. X-Factor –> Capitals’ Penalty-Kill

Muscat– Rangers win in 7. X-Factor –> Rangers’ Third Line

Levin– Rangers win in 7 . X-Factor –> Michael Del Zotto

Woodward– Rangers win in 6. X-Factor –> Dan Girardi

(6) New Jersey Devils vs. (5) Philadelphia Flyers

Cohen– Flyers win in 6. X-Factor –> Ilya Bryzgalov

Philp– Flyers win in 5. X-Factor –> Philadelphia’s Prolific Power-Play

Muscat– Flyers win in 6. X-Factor –> Ilya Bryzgalov

Levin– Devils win in 7. X-Factor –> Patrik Elias

Woodward– Flyers win in 5. X-Factor –> Martin Brodeur’s Ability To Overcome Father Time

Western Conference

(8) Los Angeles Kings vs. (2) St. Louis Blues

Cohen–  Blues win in 7. X-Factor –> David Perron

Philp– Blues win in 6. X-Factor –> The Blues’ Defense

Muscat– Blues win in 7. X-Factor –> T.J. Oshie

Levin– Blues win in 6. X-Factor –> Jamie Langenbrunner

Woodward– Kings win in 7. X-Factor –>Mike Richards

(4) Nashville Predators vs. (3) Phoenix Coyotes

Cohen– Predators win in 6. X-Factor –> Mike Fisher

Philp– Coyotes win in 6. X-Factor –> Mike Smith

Muscat– Predators win in 5. X-Factor –> Alexander Radulov

Levin– Predators win in 5. X-Factor –>Patric Hornqvist

Woodward– Predators win in 6. X-Factor –> Phoenix’s Secondary Scoring

Stanley Cup Finals

Cohen (Edit)– Rangers Over Predators

Muscat (Edit)– Blues Over Rangers

Philp (Edit)– Capitals Over Coyotes

Woodward (Original)– Rangers Over Predators

Thursday night, the gentleman who was sitting in front of me at the game brought his “lucky hat” to wear – a helmet with a puck sticking halfway out of it, giving the illusion that it was embedded into the helmet. Needless to say, those of us sitting behind him ordered him to never take it off for the rest of the playoffs.

They’re not the only ones getting caught up in superstitions when it comes to the playoffs. After wearing different jerseys for games 2 and 5, for game 7 I went back to what I wore during the game 1 victory  – my 2010-11 Ryan Callahan heritage jersey. And when someone mentioned to me that they hoped the Devils would get knocked off, I said nothing. Didn’t want to wish any ill will on any other teams; didn’t need karma biting me and the Rangers in the behind. Why unnecessarily anger the hockey gods?

A lot of fans have all kinds of superstitions, thinking something they do are is what propels the team we love to victory. The game 7 win had nothing to do with a gutsy, gritty team once again rising to the challenge in the face of adversity. Not a thing to do with a Vezina- and Hart Trophy-nominated goaltender elevating his game when the team needed him to be just a little bit better. And it definitely had nothing to do with the offense coming from 2 unexpected sources in Dan Girardi and Marc Staal, who is inching ever closer to his pre-concussion self.

Hats, jerseys, foods. Those are what did it for the Rangers Thursday night, right? Well, of course not. But why risk it? Back in my Callahan heritage jersey I will be when the puck drops at 3pm to open up the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Washington Capitals.

The Capitals come into this series on the heels of some 7-game drama of their own, taking out the defending champion Boston Bruins in overtime.  But this time, there are a few twists, with the Rangers coming in the top seed and the Capitals the bottom seed, rather than the other way around. While many of the key Capitals from the last 2 times these teams met in the playoffs are still there, this is not Bruce Boudreau’s run-and-gun, defensively loosey-goosey team. Rather, Dale Hunter has managed to shape them into a more defensive-minded, shot-blocking squad.

Sound somewhat familiar?

Neither team was an offensive juggernaut in the first round (Capitals scored a total of 16 goals in the 1st round; the Rangers 14); their power play effectiveness were almost equal (Capitals at 15.8%, Rangers 15.6%). Even with the Capitals becoming more defense-oriented, they still possess many of the same weapons they did when they were offense-first. The Rangers will need to contain the likes of Alex Ovechkin and Alex Semin, while trying to get their own goal-scorers going. Brian Boyle, the Rangers’ leading goal scorer in round 1 who was concussed in game 5, skated Friday for the first time since he suffered the injury. He’s not expected to play today, but getting him back would be a boost. Chris Kreider has taken the opportunity afforded him by the Carl Hagelin suspension and the Boyle injury, gaining confidence and, in turn, John Tortorella’s trust. As he gets more comfortable and continues developing chemistry with Derek Stepan and Ryan Callahan, he very may well have a big say in the outcome of this series.

We all know what the Rangers have in goal in Lundqvist. The wild card may be what’s happening in the other net. The Capitals have had first-round success with NHL playoff newbies in goal over the last few years. Semyon Varlamov relieved Jose Theodore in 2009 and closed the door on the Rangers. Michal Neuvirth did likewise to them in 2011. Braden Holtby has managed the same feat against the Bruins this year. It will be interesting to see how capable he is at replicating that success against the Rangers. On paper, the Rangers should have the advantage in goal, but the same could have been said about Lundqvist vs. Craig Anderson in the 1st round.

Slowly but surely, the Rangers are slaying some of their playoff demons. Lundqvist coming up clutch in the postseason? Check. Making it past the first round for the first time since 2007? Check. Perhaps the next check will be for beating the Capitals and making it to the Easter Conference Finals for the first time since 1997.

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Steven Stamkos’ 60-Goal Season – An infographic by the team at TampaBayLightning.com

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It was their 196th game in the past eighteen months. Their power-play was once again unproductive, scoring at only a 14% (3-for-23) clip. They’d lost three out of the four playoff games on home ice. The unproven opposing goaltender posted an otherworldly (for a rookie) 2.00 goals against average. Yet, through all that, the Boston Bruins still came within inches of winning their first round series against the Washington Capitals on Wednesday evening.

Less than thirty seconds into the overtime period of game seven, Boston’s sure-handed alternate captain Patrice Bergeron wound up with the puck on his stick while staring at an open Washington goal and a chance to send the Bruins to round two for the fourth consecutive season. Unfortunately, hampered by an upper body injury, Bergeron just couldn’t settle the puck, sending the rubber disk eight inches wide of the yawning net and into the corner.

Only two minutes later, the Capitals would make the Bruins pay for their missed opportunity when fourth line cog Joel Ward backhanded the puck past Tim Thomas to lift Washington to it’s first road victory in a game seven in franchise history.

“It happened so fast, again, as you said, but I knew he was going to take the puck to the net.I was just trying to follow it up just in case there was a puck loose that squirted or a rebound. I just kind of saw it and then gave it one of the hardest whacks I’ve ever given a puck.” – Joel Ward

Becoming the seventh defending Stanley Cup champion in the last nine years to bow out in the first round, summer has commenced on Causeway street much earlier than the Bruins had hoped.

“We we’re used to going you know, all the way. And to be done now it’s like, it’s kind of hard to even understand. It’s like you can’t even believe it’s over right now.” – Johnny Boychuk

For Boston, was it a disappointment? Yes, of course. But was it a choke? Nope.

Let’s call it for what it was: the Washington Capitals deserved to win the series. Their dedication, commitment and desperation far exceeded that of what looked to be an understandably burnt-out Boston squad. In every facet of the game you could logically give the advantage to Washington over the course of the entire seven game set. In a sense, the Capitals beat the Bruins at their own game: they rolled four lines with success, rode timely goaltending, turned their opposition’s mistakes into goals and collectively bought in to their head coach’s strict defensive system.

From top to bottom, the Capitals outplayed the Bruins. It was evident from puck drop in game one. Washington’s top-six forwards (Ovechkin, Backstrom, Semin, Laich, Johansson, Brouwer) produced ten of the team’s sixteen goals on the series and added eleven assists. Spearheaded by Russian uberstar Alex Ovechkin and underrated pivot Brooks Laich, the Capitals’ top forwards elevated their play in this series in the way all superstar players should.

Boston’s top two lines (Krejci, Lucic, Seguin, Peverley, Bergeron, Marchand) were a shell of their former selves, picking up only seven goals and nine assists. Perhaps more telling was that the two players who produced the most out of the aforementioned six were a 20-year-old in his sophomore season (Seguin) and a player who was only given a top-six spot in the absence of the injured Nathan Horton (Peverley). Combining for only three goals and eight points in seven games, Milan Lucic, Brad Marchand and David Krejci seem to have lost some of the luster that regarded them as “big-time playoff performers”.

Much in the same mold as Boston’s fourth unit in 2011, the Washington grinders proved themselves invaluable in this series, picking up two goals — including Ward’s series winner — and adding four assists whilst continuing to hold their own in the defensive zone as head coach Dale Hunter relied on them to preserve leads late in games. The production and dependability of the Caps’ fourth line (Ward, Keith Aucoin, Mike Knuble) provided Hunter the opportunity to line match and wear down the Bruins over the course of the series — something Claude Julien rode all the way to a Stanley Cup championship just one year ago –.

Boston’s defense corps were strong all series long. The German-born tank that is Dennis Seidenberg once again proved how truly valuable an asset he is for the Black and Gold, holding Ovechkin to only a five point series. The Johnny Boychuk — Andrew Ference pairing did a formidable job while consistently being matched up against the dynamic duo of Alex Semin and Nicklas Backstrom. Even the oft-scratched Mike Mottau impressed in games six and seven while filling in for an injured Joe Corvo. However, what shocked many — including myself — and made the real difference in this series was the strong defensive play of Washington’s blueliners. The surprisingly efficient play of Roman Hamrlik, Mike Green and John Carlson, amongst others, is what allowed the Caps to nearly completely shut down the Boston top-six.

Entering this series, the Bruins were thought to have the greatest advantage in this series between the pipes. It was Capitals’ rookie Braden Holtby — who had only seven games of previous NHL  experience — against the reigning Vezina and Conn Smythe trophy winner Tim Thomas. That’s why they play the games, folks. The 22-year-old Saskatchewan native bested Thomas on the stat sheet in every meaningful category — 2.00 GAA to Thomas’ 2.14; .940 SVG % to Thomas’ .923; and of course wins, 4-3 — and by most accounts was the better goalie in this series.

The players in that Bruins locker room deserve tons of credit for how they handled things after being sent home in the first round for the first time since 2008. They were asked about lingering injuries, a shortened summer, a questionable non-call (for goaltender interference) on the game-winning goal, and  missing important pieces of their roster (Horton, Adam McQuaid). The Bruins were given every opportunity to make excuses. They wanted no part of it. And they deserve an immeasurable amount of credit and respect for that.

At the end of the day — for as cliche as this may sound — it’s time for the city of Boston to “give the Devil his due” and recognize the fact that the Washington Capitals were the better team in this series and deserve to be moving on to round two.

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For the first time in four seasons, the Boston Bruins were unable to advance past the first round of the playoffs, becoming the second straight defending Stanley Cup champion to fall in the first round of their title defense.

It was former-Nashville playoff hero Joel Ward who would strike the dagger into the heart of the 17, 565 Black and Gold clad fans on hand at the TD Garden on Wednesday evening with his first goal of the postseason at the 2:37 mark of overtime. Ironically enough, it was former-Bruin Mike Knuble who would block a Benoit Pouliot dump-in attempt and proceed up the ice to create a scoring chance for Washington. The 31-year-old Ward would make no mistake about it, ending the Bruins’ season with one back-handed flip of the puck into an open Boston goal.

“I went for a change and Knubs (Mike Knuble) made a big block there and I assumed we had a little bit of a break up ice so try to take a chance and I knew he was going to take it to the rack and I just tried to follow it up as best as I could. You know, I just saw the puck laying there and I just took a whack at it and it went in.” – Joel Ward

Things didn’t get off to the start the Bruins had hoped for after a Milan Lucic defensive zone turnover would lead to an open chance from the point for John Carlson. The Natick, MA native fired a wrist shot through a crowd that would be deflected by another former-Bruin, Matt Hendricks, into the Boston net.

In typical Boston fashion, the Black and Gold would not go down without a fight. Late in the second period, it would be game six hero Tyler Seguin who would push home the game-tying goal after diving for a loose puck that had slipped through Washington goaltender Braden Holtby and pushing it into the net.

“I tried going in front of the net and I actually fell and Johnny (Boychuk) shot. I kind of saw the puck laying there so I just dove in and whacked it with my stick.” – Tyler Seguin

After a third period in which the B’s were out-shot 12-6 and the city of Boston held it’s collective breath with each Capitals’ shot, the defending champions were served a gift on a silver platter. With just 2:26 left in regulation, Jason Chimera was banished to the penalty box for holding, and the Bruins had themselves an opportunity to end the series with a power-play goal.

“When you talk about tonight, that’s probably the most frustrating part of our game, was that power play that could have ended the series and the game……. Your power play can win you hockey games, and tonight it didn’t.” — Claude Julien

If there was ever a position in which a struggling power-play could erase all it’s previous woes, it was right then and there. Unfortunately for Boston, the man advantage was once again ineffective, producing zero high quality scoring chances throughout the entire two minutes.

Just one minute into the overtime period, the B’s had yet another chance to end the game – and the series – on their terms, when a loose puck bounced directly onto the stick of Patrice Bergeron who was staring directly at a yawning Washington goal.

“It kind of exploded – just rolled on my stick and the puck was bouncing I just tried to go quick because obviously there wasn’t a lot of time and the puck wouldn’t settle.” – Patrice Bergeron

Uncharacteristically, number 37 sent it wide of the net, allowing the Capitals to convert on a scoring chance of their own just ninety-seven seconds later. The loss marks Boston’s third home-ice defeat in a game seven over the past four seasons as the 2011 Champions have been sent to summertime much earlier than they had envisioned.

“It’s hard to swallow, tough to understand right now. I think obviously it’s going to take us a couple of days to sink that one in, we obviously weren’t ready for being done right now.” – Patrice Bergeron

My Thoughts

– I’ll be back on Thursday and Friday with more fallout from this series and a disappointing end to the Boston season. Locker clean-out day is slated for Friday morning. Be sure to check back then for player reaction and analysis.

Ben’s Three Stars:

1) Joel Ward (1 Goal/Plus-1 Rating)

2) Tyler Seguin (1 Goal/7 Shots)

3) Braden Holtby (31 Saves)

Series:  Washington WINS 4-3

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Just a quick hit to get you all ready for Game 7 tonight at the TD Garden. If you’d like my full write up on tonight’s pivotal match-up, you can read my “Five Predictions For Game 7″ piece.

Series: Tied 3-3

Location: TD Garden

Time: 7:30 P.M. (EST)

TV/Radio Info: NBC  Sports Network (Emrick, Olczyk, McGuire)– 98.5 The Sports Hub (Goucher, Beers)

Tonight’s Lineup (Subject To Change):

FORWARDS:

Marchand–Peverley–Bergeron

Lucic–Krejci–Seguin

Pouliot–Kelly–Rolston

Paille–Campbell–Caron

DEFENSE:

Chara–Seidenberg

Boychuk–Ference

Zanon–Mottau

GOALTENDER:

Thomas

Rask

Scratches– …… Joe Corvo, Shawn Thornton, Andrew Bodnarchuk, Anton Khudobin

Injuries:

Nathan Horton (Concussion) – Boston’s top right winger was officially ruled out of the 2012 Playoffs by General Manager Peter Chiarelli during a press conference last Wednesday morning.

Adam McQuaid (Upper Body) — In what’s become one of the more unpredictable injuries of the season, Boston’s dependable blueliner will again be absent from the lineup on Wednesday.

Opposing Goaltender: Braden Holtby (6 GP/1.60 GAA)

Prediction:  You can find my full Game 7 written prediction here. I hope you all enjoy.

This will be the ultimate test of will for a Boston club that dealt with and survived an extreme amount of adversity throughout last year’s postseason. Today we will see what the 2011-’12 Boston Bruins are all about in a do-or-die, winner-take-all situation.

Capitals 2, Bruins 3

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The two most notorious words in sports: Game Seven. The mere mention of the phrase is enough to kick-start the heart of hockey fans across the globe. It’s the most entertaining event in sports for fans with no vested interest in either team playing. But for people who have pledged their allegiance to either of the two sides, it’s an excruciatingly long sixty-plus minutes of heart-in-your-throat action.

On Wednesday evening the defending champion Boston Bruins will look to prolong their title defense in game seven of their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series against the Washington Capitals. Here are my five predictions for what you will all see at the Garden this evening.

1) Jordan Caron WILL Be In The Lineup

– With the upper body injury to Patrice Bergeron one could only assume that the Bruins will once again dress sophomore power forward Jordan Caron, at the expense of one of their other bottom-six skaters. The 21-year-old Caron provides Claude Julien with flexibility in case number 37 becomes more severely injured and cannot fulfill his normal allotment of ice-time. Caron has the ability to play a grinding fourth line role but also possesses the required skill set to skate on one of the B’s first two offensive units. While many believe that it will again be Shawn Thornton who will be relegated to the press box as Caron enters the lineup, I am of the opinion that Benoit Pouliot will be the odd man out on Wednesday. After taking a late penalty in back-to-back games, the Alfred, Ontario native seems to have reverted to the player that was a healthy scratch for the Canadiens during last year’s postseason. Whether it be Pouliot or Thornton to take a seat, expect Jordan Caron to be in the Boston lineup on Wednesday.

2) Alex Ovechkin WILL Be A MAJOR Factor

– Held to just one goal in the first six games of the series, the Russian uberstar has been well contained by Boston’s top defense pair of Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg. However, the Great Eight was buzzing during Sunday’s game six, scoring Washington’s only goal of the third period and creating an abundance of chances for both he and his teammates. I’d expect that to continue tonight with the Capitals’ supremely talented left wing picking up at least one goal for his team on this, the grandest of playoff stages.

3) Braden Holtby Will NOT Crack Under Pressure

– It seems as through Boston sports fans are under the impression that Washington rookie netminder Braden Holtby  is going to “wet the bed” so to speak and come unraveled right before their very eyes on the pressure packed ice of the TD Garden. Those folks could not be more off based in their assumptions. Back in June I remember speaking with a colleague of mine and I told him with confidence that Holtby would have more NHL success than either of Washington’s other 22-year-old goaltenders, Michael Neuvirth and Semyon Varlamov. Varlamov has since been dealt to Colorado and while Neuvirth has enjoyed a solid 2011-’12 campaign, he’s been far from a superstar in net.

Through six games of this series the Boston Bruins have learned exactly why I made those remarks about the Saskatchewan native just nine months ago. He’s shown both skill and composure en route to a 1.60 playoff GAA. If he hasn’t cracked through the first six games of this series — even after the Bruins scored two goals in twenty-eight seconds in game five — there is no evidence to suggest that he will turtle tonight, despite it being his first career game seven appearance.

4) Game Seven WILL Be Decided By ONE Goal

– This Bruins vs. Capitals’ series has been history-making, in the sense that is has been the first series in NHL history to have it’s first six games decided by only one goal. This is a tremendously surprising statistic, being that the NHL has been widely recognized as the league with more parity that it’s professional sports counterparts. I believe that tonight will be no different, as these two squads will set another record, making this the only series in history to have all SEVEN games decided by one goal.

5) The Bruins Will Survive

– If last year’s remarkable run to Lord Stanley taught us anything, it’s that the Black and Gold can never be counted out. Amassing five consecutive wins in games in which they’ve faced the possibility of elimination, the B’s have certainly been in this situation before. Just last summer they became the first team in history to win three game sevens en route to a championship. While it does feel a bit different — and maybe not for the better –  for the city of Boston to have confidence heading into a decisive game seven, I have a hard time picking against the Bruins at home in a do-or-die scenario. My pick would be Boston over Washington 3-2 with the game-winning-goal to come late in the third period.

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The 20-year-old former second overall draft choice had been one of Boston’s best defensive forwards throughout the first six games of this series, but simply hadn’t been able to find the score sheet. After a quiet first two periods, number nineteen was buzzing in the third frame, creating a plethora of offensive chances for both he and his team.

“I think in this series we’ve had a lot of chances and opportunities and I haven’t been bearing down and finishing them off and it’s just really nice to get that feeling off your back.” – Tyler Seguin

Boston had previously allowed three one goal advantages to slip through their grasp before Seguin’s fourth career playoff tally would allow them to escape elimination — at least for the time being –.

The B’s would take a 1-0 lead for the second time of the series at the 5:56 mark of the opening period when Rich Peverley deflected an Andrew Ference shot past Capitals’ netminder Braden Holtby. Washington would quickly erase that deficit as less than four minutes later, defenseman Mike Green would unleash a slapshot from the left point that deflected off Greg Zanon and into the Boston net. It would be the first goal for the former Norris trophy candidate since October 22, 2011. Top line pivot David Krejci would wake from his playoff slumber towards the end of the period when he redirected a Milan Lucic pass into the Caps’ net to give the B’s a 2-1 lead as the two teams went to the locker rooms at the first intermission.

It wasn’t until the 19:18 mark of the middle frame that either team would get on the board again as the Capitals would draw even on power forward Jason Chimera‘s first goal of the postseason. Before Chimera could make it down to score, it looked as if he caught Brad Marchand up high with an elbow to the face, causing the B’s 5’9″ agitator to fall to the ice with blood spewing from his face. Whilst many Boston fans were looking for a penalty call, the replay indicated that number 63 simply hit his own face with his stick and the officials on the ice were correct in their decision to let the goal stand.

Just past the midway point of the third period it was Seguin who would rush up the right wing and fire a perfectly placed wrist shot into the mask of Holtby, allowing defenseman Andrew Ference to capitalize on a rebound in front. NHL uber-star Alexander Ovechkin would blast a one timer past Tim Thomas directly off an offensive zone face-off won by Nicklas Backstrom to once again tie the score with less than five minutes left in regulation.

Game seven is slated for Wednesday evening back in the Hub at 7:30 PM.

“It’s been a great series. Washington’s a great team and we were battling. Game 7 at the Garden it’s what we’ve been working for, home ice advantage so we’re going to seize the opportunity.” – Tyler Seguin

Ben’s Three Stars:

1)  Tyler Seguin (1 Goal/1 Assist)

2) Andrew Ference (1 Goal/1 Assist)

3) Alexander Ovechkin (1 Goal/7 Shots)

Series:  Tied 3-3

Next Game: Wednesday April 25, 2012. 7:30 PM. TD Garden, Boston, MA.

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Facing the possibility of becoming the second consecutive defending Stanley Cup champion to fall in the first round of their title defense, the Boston Bruins will take to the Verizon CEnter ice on Sunday afternoon with their season on the line.

Series: Washington Leads 3-2

Location: Verizon Center, Washington, DC

Time: 3:20 P.M. (EST)

TV/Radio Info: NBC (Emrick, Olczyk, McGuire)– 98.5 The Sports Hub (Goucher, Beers)

Tonight’s Lineup (Subject To Change):

FORWARDS:

Marchand–Bergeron–Peverley

Lucic–Krejci–Rolston

Pouliot–Kelly–Seguin

Paille–Campbell–Thornton

DEFENSE:

Chara–Seidenberg

Boychuk–Ference

Zanon–Corvo

GOALTENDER:

Thomas

Khudobin

Scratches– ….. Mike Mottau, Jordan Caron, Andrew Bodnarchuk

Injuries:

Nathan Horton (Concussion) – Boston’s top right winger was officially ruled out of the 2012 Playoffs by General Manager Peter Chiarelli during a press conference last Wednesday morning.

Tuukka Rask (Groin) — The B’s back up goaltender has been practicing with the team, but is not quite ready to return to action.

Adam McQuaid (Upper Body) — In what’s become one of the more unpredictable injuries of the season, Boston’s dependable blueliner will be forced to sit out again on Sunday after not making the voyage south to DC.

Opposing Goaltender: Braden Holtby (5 GP/2.00 GAA)

Prediction:  Nine times out of ten in the NHL postseason, the more desperate team in each games normally ends up the winner. It’s been no different this spring as you’ve seen in game four in Los Angeles, games four and five between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and game five just last night in Phoenix. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. While I would not be surprised if the Bruins’ are to force a game seven back at the TD Garden, I also wouldn’t hold my breath for it. Washington very much appears to be the more confident of the two squads and playing in front of a raucous red crowd of 18,000-plus that can only increase.

This will be the ultimate test of will for a Boston club that dealt with and survived an extreme amount of adversity throughout last year’s postseason. Today we will see what the 2011-’12 Boston Bruins are all about in a do or die situation.

Bruins 2 , Capitals 3

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Troy Brouwer’s tie-breaking second tally of the series came at the most inopportune time for the B’s, with just a minute and twenty-seven seconds left on the third period clock. The collective life was completely sucked out of a raucous TD Garden when Benoit Pouliot was banished to the penalty box for what head coach Claude Julien called a “very weak call” of slashing. It wouldn’t be long after that the former-Chicago Blackhawk would streak down the right side wing and beat Tim Thomas with a glove-side wrist shot.

The Bruins had mounted not one but two comebacks prior to Brouwer’s late marker, erasing both a 2-0 and a 3-2 deficit. It began right around the mid-point of the game when Washington would be the first to find the twine.

At the 11:16 mark of the second period the Capitals would take advantage of a befallen Joe Corvo and pin the B’s into their own defensive zone. After a lengthy offensive sequence it would be game four hero Alexander Semin who would push home a rebound to give the Caps a 1-0 lead.

Just over three minutes later, Washington would double their lead after a wrist shot from gritty third line pivot Jay Beagle deflected off the stick of Boston blueliner Johnny Boychuk and past Tim Thomas to make it 2-0 in favor of the visitors.

It was at the end of the period that a two-goal outburst in a matter of only twenty-eight seconds by the Bruins would even the score at two. First it was German defenseman Dennis Seidenberg who would snap a wrist shot past Capitals’ rookie goaltender Braden Holtby to cut the Washington lead in half. On the very next shift Brad Marchand would poke a rebound through Holtby’s five hole to bring the score to a tie.

“I jumped by their forward and Looch (Milan Lucic) made a great pass to the outside and all I was trying to do was get the puck on net and somehow it found the back of the net.” – Dennis Seidenberg

The B’s would face even more adversity after former-Bruin Mike Knuble would corral a Joel Ward rebound and slide it into the Boston net for a 3-2 Washington lead just three minutes into the third period. After a stretch of fourteen consecutive failed power-play attempts, the B’s would finally break through when Johnny Boychuk released a rocket slapshot that blistered right past Holtby and into the Capitals’ net.

Boston would swarm the Washington end for the better part of what was left in the third frame, but it would be the Caps who would come out on top after scoring on a power-play that many felt should not been granted in the first place.

“Tough call.  I will leave it to you guys, but it was a tough call to make at 2:15 in the game.  It is a grind out there.  Sometimes you get the calls and sometimes you don’t. To call that at the end it is disappointing but there is nothing you can do about it.” – Benoit Pouliot

My Thoughts

– The one thing that the B’s have going for them is the simple fact that they’ve been here before. While they didn’t necessarily face an elimination game six on road ice, they did confront (and overcome) numerous occasions in which they were in a must-win situation. Game three in Montreal, game three against Vancouver and game five against the Lighting were all situations in which the Bruins were in desperate need of a victory and were able to come through.

If they’re not prepared, they could become the second consecutive Stanley Cup champion to lose in the first round of their title defense.

“It’s do or die for us, and we have to make sure we leave it all out there and try to force game seven. But we’re in their rink. They’re going to be coming out hard, so we got to be prepared.” – Brad Marchand

“It’s good to know that we’ve been in tough spots before and responded well. Having said that, we got to do that. You got to bring it and do it. It isn’t, it’s not going to be for granted that we’re going to do it. It’s up to us in this room.” — Tim Thomas

It’s certainly an unfavorable situation, but if the 2011 Bruins taught us anything, it’s that you can never count out the Black and Gold.

“We may be in trouble, but we’re not dead.” – Claude Julien

Ben’s Three Stars:

1) Dennis Seidenberg (1 Goal/1 Assist)

2) Troy Brouwer (1 Goal)

3) Mike Knuble (1 Goal)

Series:  Washington Leads 3-2

Next Game: Sunday April 22, 2012. 3:00 PM. Verizon Center, Washington, DC.

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A lot of credit has to be given to the Senators. Craig Anderson has been good when he’s had to be, holding the Rangers to 9 goals in 4 games. They’ve also been able to adapt their play after game 1 to match the Rangers’ physical style, inserting Matt Carkner and Zenon Konopka into their lineup. The Senators have also managed to create more traffic in Henrik Lundqvist’s crease – Konopka making his presence felt in this area – something the Rangers have to contend with and find a way to clear out with the personnel they have. (I’ve contended several times this is what the Rangers have glaringly missed since the days of Jeff Beukeboom, and it’s probably what they are hoping prospect Dylan McIlrath will be down the line.) They do have 6’8″ 270 pound John Scott at their disposal to throw out there, but in a series where they’re trying to contend with the speed of their opponent, his overall game is more of a liability than his size would be an asset.

Konopka’s physical play is not the only aspect of his game that has had an impact. He also has a 68.6 faceoff win percentage in the 3 games he’s played. It’s not just him who has turned the Blueshirts into roadkill in the faceoff circle. Through Friday’s games, the Senators have the best faceoff percentage of the 16 playoff teams (54.5%) and the Rangers dead last (45.5%). A quick look at the faceoff stats show the disparity in the wins and losses:

The Senators have spent a lot of time with the puck, controlling play, carrying momentum and taking shots. Lots of shots. In the series, they’ve outshot the Rangers by 18 (134 to 116), but they’ve by far and away blown them out of the water on attempts (299 to 205). In Wednesday’s loss alone the disparity was a staggering 87 to 49. About a third of those (30) made it to  Lundqvist, with the remainder missing the net or being blocked.

After the early nastiness of this series and other series around the NHL, the referees called game 4 much tighter. The Rangers had trouble staying out of the penalty box and it did wind up burning them when Sergei Gonchar tied the game at 2 after Artem Anisimov took a hooking penalty. Ottawa did a pretty good job of marching to the box themselves in game 4, giving the Blueshirts 7 opportunities. They got out to a quick start with 2 power play goals (not a typo, they actually did score 2 on the power play), one by Anton Stralman and one by Ryan Callahan within the first 6:10 of the game. After that, nothing. For the series the power play is (dys)functioning at 16.7%, surprisingly that 1% better than they were in the regular season. Yes, the Bruins managed to win a Stanley Cup last season with a 16.2% power play in the regular season and a 11.4% effectiveness in the playoffs but they were able to generate goals in other situations to get them to the 16 needed wins.

The Rangers, on the other hand, have not cranked out a whole lot of offense. Part of it is the goaltending of Anderson and lack of puck possession noted above, but the places one would expect the scoring would come from have disappeared. Boyle, who began to heat up toward the end of the season, leads the team with 3 goals. Ryan Callahan has 2; Anton Stralman who had all of 2 in the regular season, has 2. Marian Gaborik had 1 in game 1 and aside from 2 assists in the series, hasn’t been heard from since. Perhaps Gaborik being so quiet can be correlated to the 3-game suspension of his speedy rookie linemate Carl Hagelin, which helps to create opportunities. Hagelin will serve his final game tonight and will be available to return for game 6 on Monday. Chris Kreider, who was thrown into Hagelin’s place after signing his entry level contract, has seen limited ice time. Derek Stepan has wavered between looking lost and invisible in this series. Brandon Dubinsky’s season-long offensive slump has spilled into the playoffs. Getting tossed in game 2 for being 3rd man in after coming to Boyle’s aid did not light the fire you might have expected in the games that have followed. This is not to place the blame for lack of offensive output solely on them or on missing Hagelin; there are plenty of people on that roster who need to try and step up. When Stralman, a defenseman who had 2 goals in 53 games in the regular season, is your 3rd leading scorer then something is terribly wrong.

The Rangers have handled adversity and distractions well all season. There’s no magic wand that can instantly fix the power play and faceoff woes that have troubled them through 86 games. Ottawa has managed to respond and adapt to the Rangers’ game. Now it’s their turn to do likewise if they want to be playing hockey beyond next week.

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While it’s quite impressive to see that the Boston Bruins have received a bevy of contributions from their bottom-six forward group, the unfortunate fact of the matter is that without consistent production from their top players, they may not make it out of this first round.

In an effort to help his team break out of the offensive slump that’s engulfed them throughout their series with the seventh seeded Washington Capitals, Bruins’ bench boss Claude Julien opted to give his forward units a complete makeover in advance of Saturday’s game five at the TD Garden. Based on lines from Friday’s practice, the new trios look like this:

Daniel Paille—Patrice Bergeron—Rich Peverley

Milan Lucic—David Krejci—Brian Rolston

Tyler Seguin/Jordan Caron—Chris Kelly—Benoit Pouliot

Brad Marchand—Gregory Campbell—Shawn Thornton

The most obvious and surprising change there is Brad Marchand’s demotion back to the Merlot line, where he spent the entire first half of last year’s regular season. After watching Thursday’s 2-1 defeat at the Verizon Center, it was clear as to who was playing well and who had some areas to improve upon, which likely played a large part in Julien’s decision to alter his lines.

A popular question amongst the Twitter-sphere on Friday was as to if Jordan Caron would be making his playoff debut on Saturday. And if so, whose spot in the lineup would he take? Many suggested it to be sophomore sensation Tyler Seguin. While I would agree that the B’s could use the added grittiness and net-front presence that Caron can provide, I wouldn’t agree with the notion that number nineteen should be sat down. Seguin’s absence from the score sheet has been a major detriment to Boston’s postseason success but he did show signs of improvement during game four, creating opportunities for both he and his linemates.

As referenced above, the Boston third line has been unquestionably the team’s most consistent trio of the series, picking up three of the Bruins’ seven playoff goals. However, beyond that, the B’s haven’t received much else in the way of offense from any of their forward corps.

Contrast In Performance From The Top-Six Brings Teams To Equal Footing

Rich Peverley’s two tallies – one in game 3 and one in game 4 – account for the only two goals scored by Boston forwards currently skating on one of the top two lines during their conference quarterfinal series against Washington.

There is no denying the fact that the absence of 2011 playoff hero Nathan Horton is a huge factor in the struggles of the B’s top-six. Number eighteen provides the Bruins with a constant physical presence and one of the deadliest wrist shots on the team as well as the chemistry he creates with both Milan Lucic and David Krejci.

Despite this, there truly is no explanation behind the complete lack of offensive production from Boston’s superstars. The top line (for most of the year) of Patrice Bergeron, Tyler Seguin and Brad Marchand accounted for nearly 30% of the Bruins’ goals (79 of 269) during the regular season, the most of any Boston trio by a significant margin. On line two, Peverley (who missed a large portion of the season with an MCL injury) Krejci and Lucic combined for sixty goals and 165 total points. Much to the displeasure of hockey fans in the Hub, only Peverley (2 Goals) and Bergeron (1 Assist) have been able to find the score sheet this series.  The other four? Zero goals, zero assists, a combined -2 rating and 36 shots on goal.

On the other side of the ice, the Washington forwards have perfectly fit to a tee the definition of “top-six forwards”, ranking 1-6 in points scored for the Caps during this postseason. NHL mega-star Alexander Ovechkin and gritty power forward Brooks Laich lead the way with four points (1G/3A each) whilst Marcus Johansson and Nicklas Backstrom have a goal and an assist each in the series. Former-Chicago Blackhawk Troy Brouwer has also picked up a goal and game four hero Alex Semin has tickled the twine twice in four games.

The stark contrast in production levels from the top-six from each of these teams is what’s made this series has tight as it’s been. Boston hasn’t been able to capitalize on their distinct advantage both between the pipes and on the defensive end.

While I still firmly believe that the B’s will be able to bounce back on Saturday and emerge from this offensive malaise, if they’re not, they could be polishing off the golf clubs a lot sooner than they’d hoped.

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Much to the chagrin of Black and Gold supporters hoping for the chance to seal the series on Saturday, the B’s were stopped cold in their tracks during a 2-1 loss to the Caps on Thursday thanks to 44 saves from netminder Braden Holtby.

The 22-year-old Saskatchewan native stopped each and every puck that the B’s threw his way including thirteen in the third period to seal a one-goal home-ice victory for the Capitals.

To say that things didn’t get off to the type of start that the Bruins had envisioned  may qualify as a candidate for the understatement of the year award. After a questionable non-call that saw Alexander Ovechkin jump on the back of Boston defenseman Andrew Ference and remove him from the play, the Capitals proceeded up the ice with a 2-on-1 breakaway. Power forward Brooks Laich would slide the puck through the legs of Brian Rolston and over to Marcus Johansson at the 1:22 mark of the opening frame. The 21-year-old Swede made no mistake, sending it into the top shelf to give Washington an early 1-0 lead.

“It was an odd man rush. They made a good play. The puck rolled and stuck right to Johansson’s stick. He was able to bury it top corner.” — Tim Thomas

In typical Bruins’ fashion, Boston would not go down without a fight, evening the score just past the mid-point of the first period. It was Rich Peverley who would carry the puck down the wing and fire a wrist shot through Holtby’s five hole to pull the Bruins in to a 1-1 tie. Despite Thursday’s contest being without doubt the most wide-open of any of the games thus far, neither team could find the twine again until the tail end of the middle period.

After yet another questionable call went against the Bruins – conspiracy theorists may suggest that it stems from Caps’ owner Ted Leonsis’ most recent comments – Patrice Bergeron would be sent to the penalty box with 2:07 on the clock in the second period. It was on the ensuing power-play that Washington would regain their lead after a wicked wrist shot from Alex Semin blazed right past the glove of Tim Thomas and into the Boston net. Even after the Caps had scored the eventual game winning goal while he was in the box, Boston’s always-humble alternate captain was quick to defend the referee’s decision.

“He made that call. It happens fast for me, for him. I’m obviously not going to complain about it.” – Patrice Bergeron

As the second period came to a close and the third period progressed, it appeared as if the Capitals had taken back most of the game’s momentum, controlling play for the better part of the final twenty-plus minutes.

Boston would amass fifteen total shots after Semin had given the Capitals the lead, but simply couldn’t solve Holtby as they fell 2-1 at the Verizon Center. Thursday’s win by the Caps has also assured that there will indeed be a game six played right back here in Washington, DC at some point on Sunday.

My Thoughts

– While it was evident that Braden Holtby was in top form on Thursday, most of the Bruins’ 45 shots on net wouldn’t exactly be characterized as “high quality scoring chances”. A large portion of Boston’s best opportunities to score came on shots that the Caps’ ‘tender was able to get a clear look at, which of course makes the shot far easier to stop.

“He saw everything tonight, that’s for sure. I can’t say there’s too many shots that he didn’t see. He likes to glove pucks, he likes to hold on to it, so like I said we’ve got to get more bodies in front of him.” – Rich Peverley

– In game three, the Black and Gold did an excellent job in disrupting the crease of the Caps’ rookie goaltender and didn’t allow him to find a rhythm. Thursday’s game four was a completely different story as much like games one and two, the majority of the B’s scoring chances had to come from the outside. The overwhelming theme in the Boston locker room after Thursday’s difficult defeat was that the team needed to do a better job in establishing it’s presence in front of the Washington goalkeeper.

“I think our pressure was good. Now it’s about finding the loose pucks. It’s there, we’re in the area, we just haven’t found the loose pucks for the rebounds. We’ve got to be better.” — Patrice Bergeron

“Obviously there is a lot of loose pucks around the net that they cleared and we didn’t get to.  The net front presence has to be better, not just screening but also finding those loose pucks. They’re finding them better than we are. So, there’s probably not a good enough commitment in that area right now until we get that we are going to be struggling to score goals.” – Claude Julien

Ben’s Three Stars:

1) Braden Holtby (44 Saves)

2) Tyler Seguin (6 Shots)

3) Alex Semin (1 Goal)

Series: Tied 2-2

Next Game: Saturday April 21, 2012, TD Garden, Boston, MA.

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WASHINGTON, DC–On Thursday afternoon, the Boston Bruins will have an opportunity to take a commanding 3-1 series lead over the Washington Capitals with a win in game four of their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal Series. After a bit of late-game heroics lead the B’s to a 4-3 victory on Monday evening the team will look to secure a Verizon Center sweep and earn the chance to complete the series on Saturday in Boston.

X-Factor: Through three games this postseason the Bruins’ first two offensive units have produced a grand total of one goal. While the contributions from the bottom-six have been an invaluable asset to the B’s early success in these playoffs, they must see improved production from both the David Krejci line and the Patrice Bergeron line if they are to finish off the Caps in this series. Bergeron was quick to praise the recent play of Boston’s third and fourth lines during an interview following Thursday’s morning skate in Washington.

“They’ve been great all year. They give us some scoring. Depth this time of year is very important and right now it shows. It’s about every line doing their job.” – Patrice Bergeron

Series: Boston Leads 2-1

Location: Verizon Center, Washington, DC

Time: 7:30 P.M. (EST)

TV/Radio Info: NESN (Edwards, Brickley, Funayama) – 98.5 The Sports Hub (Goucher, Beers)

Tonight’s Lineup (Subject To Change):

FORWARDS:

Lucic–Bergeron–Peverley

Marchand–Krejci–Seguin

Pouliot–Kelly–Rolston

Paille–Campbell–Thornton

DEFENSE:

Chara–Seidenberg

Boychuk–Ference

Zanon–Corvo

GOALTENDER:

Thomas

Khudobin/Rask

Scratches– ….. Mike Mottau, Jordan Caron

Injuries:

Nathan Horton (Concussion) – Boston’s top right winger was officially ruled out of the 2012 Playoffs by General Manager Peter Chiarelli during a press conference last Wednesday morning.

Tuukka Rask (Groin) — The B’s back up goaltender has been practicing with the team, but head coach Claude Julien did confirm to us this morning that no. 40 isn’t quite ready to return to action.

Adam McQuaid (Upper Body) — In what’s become one of the more unpredictable injuries of the season, Boston’s dependable blueliner will be forced to sit out again on Thursday after not making the voyage south to DC.

Opposing Goaltender: Braden Holtby (3 GP/2.00 GAA)

Prediction: Despite the suspension to Nicklas Backstrom, I believe that the Capitals will still find a way to pull out a game four victory. In sports it is often times the more desperate team that wins the game, and I think that old adage will hold true once again on Thursday at the Verizon Center. However, if the B’s are able to get off to a hot start and take the crowd out of the game, it’s entirely possible that we could be heading back to Boston with the Bruins holding a commanding 3-1 series lead.

Bruins 4 , Capitals 5

Thanks For Reading!

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