The Bruins skated past the Canadiens with a 5-1 victory in Montreal last night. The win saves the B’s season and brings this relentless bunch back to Boston to try and tie the best-of-seven series at three games apiece. Boston, who had only score a total of five goals in the previous four games, lit the lamp up for five in Thursday’s playoff battle.

A major component to the Bruins success was the return of Phil Kessel, who scored the Bruins’ first goal and tied the game at one. Kessel had been a healthy scratch for the last three games of this series. Call it being unfairly singled out for the lack-luster play of the Bruins in game one. But it was a coaches decision for the benching. It seemed that Claude Julien wanted to get a tougher bunch against the Habs. It wasn’t only Kessel that seemed outmatched in that opening game. The entire Bruins team looked terrible. However, with hardly any playoff experience the B’s sub-par play was somewhat expected. I liked the move of changing things up and getting Vladimir Sobotka in the line up but Julien took out the wrong guy in my opinion. Sobotka deserves to play, but not at the expense of Kessel. Julien should have sat out Jeremy Riech or Shawn Thornton in those three games. Both guys are exactly the same type of players. If these two are playing a lot, your team is not scoring. The two players are grinders at best. You need offense and whether it shows up on the score sheet or not, Kessel’s speed and creatability opens the ice for Boston’s offence, especially with no red line.

Much to the dismay of the few who watched Boston over the last month, this team can score goals. They just forgot where the net is. Even I forgot. For awhile I thought the opposing goal was in the corner. All it seemed this team would do is cycle the puck in the corner for an hour and eventually throw it away. Goals don’t happen from the corner and having your smaller forwards battle big defensemen behind the net is insanity. Of couse your forwards will get pushed around throughout the course of the game but to make the job easier for the opposing blueliners is stupidity. When Boston went through its scoring slump, they cycled too much. They didn’t attack the net. Wasting a whole shift in the corner without a shot on goal is not a successful shift unless you’re the fourth line. Goals are score out front in the slot not though two 6′5″ 240 pound monsters then through a goalie from an off angle. Boston College’s hockey team found that out real fast and they won the National Championship with small forwards who go to the net. Rather than exert all their energy battling bigger defensemen in the corners, they used their speed and created plays in the slot. The Bruins, at least for one game, figured their offense out, and low and behold they had a convincing victory.

What Kessel brought back to the Bruins was that attack the net mentality. Using his speed, he brought the puck to the net all night long. It seemed that the rest of the Bruins’ squad followed suit. They finally tested the young Carey Price. Previously, Price seemed unbeatable because the B’s didn’t have too many quality shots in the first four games. That all changed in game five, for the first time in the series the Bruins have rattled the young net minder. All because they went to the net and not the corner. Now when Boston got a lucky bounce it was near the goal and not in the corner.

Leave a Comment