Marc Savard celebrates a 3rd period goal en route to the victory
(Photo Credit: AP)
by Brian Finkelstein
So much for rust. The Boston Bruins, playing their first game in 10 days, dominated the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night, taking Game 1 of the best of seven series by a score of 4-1. David Krejci opened up the scoring by tipping in an Aaron Ward point shot 94 seconds into the game. The goal seemed to allow the Bruins to shake off any rust they may have had the remainder of the period. "It was good to get that first one," said Marc Savard, who scored twice for the Bruins.
What's scary for the Hurricanes, though, is the Bruins believe they were far from perfect Friday. "It wasn't a bad game," said coach Claude Julien. "I'm going to tell you right now that there are some things in our game we need to improve. A lot of that is probably due to the long layoff. We were good tonight. We can be better. I think everybody in that dressing room knows that." Tim Thomas neutralized some of those bad things in their game by stopping 26 of the Hurricanes 27 shots, including a point blank save on Eric Staal with less than 15 minutes left. "There was some rust in the first period," Thomas said. "Not anything that was a game-changer, but we got better and better as the game went on and shook the rust off. After nine days off, one bad period is not a bad place to be."
Marc Savard was the offensive star for the Bruins with his two goals. Savard's first goal made it a 2-1 game 7:21 into the second. After Savard's strong forecheck, the puck came out to Phil Kessel in the slot. With several Hurricanes fighting for the puck, Kessel managed to get a shot on net. Ward, distracted by the large Milan Lucic, left a juicy rebound for Savard at the far post to bang in. The other 2 goals by the Bruins came as a result of some terrible turnovers by Carolina. Savard's second goal came after he stole the puck from Matt Cullen in the neutral zone. Kessel led the rush going the other way and dropped a pass for Savard. Savard's point blank slap shot beat Ward to give the B's a 4-1 lead late in the third.
Michael Ryder continued his strong playoffs by cashing in on Tuomo Ruutu's turnover in the second. Ryder's 5th goal in 5 playoff games came unassisted as he stole Ruutu's errant pass and led a two on one rush with Blake Wheeler. Ryder simply walked in and fired a wrist shot by Cam Ward giving the Bruins a comfortable two goal lead. Ryder however, is fully aware they have to play better as the series goes along. "There's little things we have to work on, areas we weren't as sharp," Ryder said. "Maybe it was the delay that had us a little sluggish or a little off, but I think we've done a good job."
The Bruins showed last night why they are the team to beat in the East. The B's came out slowly in the first, trying to shake off the long layoff, but they still managed to score first. Then Julien switched up his lines and put Lucic with Savard and Kessel. That line went on to create two of the next three goals by creating turnovers. Tim Thomas was also a big factor in the game. He made several huge saves that had to discourage the Canes. If Thomas continues to play like he did tonight, the Bruins may be unbeatable.
Also, Zdeno Chara did a good job containing Eric Staal. Stall was a -1 with only 2 shots on goal. Staal has yet to score against Boston this year in five games. The way the Bruins looked last night, this series may be over soon. But let's not forget, the Hurricanes had a very similar Game 1 in the first round when they lost to the Devils by the same score. We'll see if the Canes can rebound on Sunday.
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