Boston Bruins Gamenight: Rask, Defense shine, Bruins win epic double OT struggle

So…what happens when the Boston Bruins go on the defensive to a Pittsburgh Penguins team that showed up on fire and completely dominated the action?

Thanks to Tuukka Rask, still a Bruins win.

A double overtime win, a victory that has the Bruins on the cusp of a trip to the Stanley Cup finals and the Penguins scratching their heads – the game winning goal a carbon copy of two other game winners on bonus pucks, a play that the Penguins have seen before, yet were too exhausted to stop…

…a win that was so physical and so chippy that in the end it truly came down to who wanted it more, a game in which the desperate Penguins set a pace so frantic that it would have overwhelmed just about any defense in the world – just not the Bruins.

As demoralizing as Monday night’s 6-1 loss in Pittsburgh had to be for the Penguins, Wednesday night’s 2-1 loss in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals had to be just devastating.  The Penguins finally played their game instead of trying to go toe-to-toe with the big bad Bruins, but it wasn’t enough.

In fact, the Penguins threw everything they had at Boston, and for four 20 minute periods they sprinted up and down the ice, displaying the form that helped them easily outdistance all other teams in the conference to nail down the top seed…

…outshooting the Bruins by nearly two to one, same with faceoff wins – something that never happens to the Bruins – at least not since Patrice Bergeron came to town.  The Penguins dictated the speed of the game, and the pace was furious…

…and still, it wasn’t enough.

Tuukka Rask was absolutely sensational in net for Boston, stopping drive after drive as the Penguins found their range, their frenzied pace opening the shooting lanes for their sharpshooting, slick skating forwards on all four lines, but only one puck found twine.

But the 53 shots that Rask turned away tell only a part of the story, as the number of pucks that were blocked before they even got to the clutch Finn would have put the number of shots in the sixties as the Bruins gave the hockey world a textbook example of team defense.

Torey Krug standing Penguins up in the crease, Chara patrolling the slot, clearing away any thing that bounced off of Rask, Andrew Ference forcefully escorting the heavy shooters to the wings, Johnny Boychuck hitting the ice hard to put himself between the shooter and the goal – something that every Bruin took to task, and something that cemented Gregory Campbell’s name in Bruins’ lore…

…an act of courage which deserves recognition on it’s own, the center on the Merlot line going to the ice to block a Evgeni Malkin power play drive and took the puck just below the knee, snapping the bone – in agony, willing himself onto his skates and defending the point on one leg, not leaving his teammates to fall into a two-man disadvantage.

“It was a huge play by him.” gushed an exhausted Bergeron of Campbell, “Again, we’re talking about details, we’re talking about little things that go a long way, and that block was super. That’s the way he is.  He sacrifices the body always for the team, for the better of the team.”

And it was Campbell’s courage that tells one all they need to know about the Bruins’ effort on this evening – to take nothing away from the Penguins who did everything they could, pushed the envelope until they could barely stand from exhaustion – a team that pressed and pushed and fought and hit and brought their fabled offense in wave after wave – but who came away from the game in a 3-0 hole and in danger of being swept…

…swept by a Bruins’ team that the Penguins themselves had swept in their regular season series.

When Brad Marchand took a pass from Jaromir Jagr and set up shop on the left wing, hitting Bergeron’s stick right on the tape and deflecting the puck into the net to end the contest, it was the same play that had beaten the Maple Leafs in that epic Game 7 in the quarterfinals and Game 1 of the semi’s against the Rangers…

…a play that Boston goes to when they know they have the other team back on their heels, when the Bruin’s collective superior conditioning and will to win trumps their opponents’ best efforts, a play that the other team knows is coming but is powerless to stop – and usually ends up deciding the game.

It’s fundamental hockey, so it’s something that the Bruins do better than any other team in the league, and something that exemplifies their mindset.  They’re not going to trick you, they’re not going to try to get around you – the Bruins are going to come right at you and run you over…

…and if it’s your task to try and stop them, to try and intimidate them or to beat them physically or mentally – well, good luck.  The Bruins live to jam pucks right down their opponent’s throats – and have players who can do it on a broken leg.