If last night’s Bruins/Rangers game was a movie, it would be called “There Will Be Blood”.
Lumber was a-flying and the team trainers were going through cotton gauze like Taylor Swift goes through boyfriends.
Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara, and Carl Hagelin were just some of the players that needed zippers to close up gashes. Tyler Seguin got clubbed in the face trying to split the Rangers D.
And even with a blood stained sweater and egg above his eye, the Professor is still absolute perfection.
Bruins took a decisive 3-0 series lead on the Rangers last night with a 2-1 victory at Madison Square Garden. Lundqvist was stellar in net and showed us all why he’s nominated yet again for the Vezina Trophy.
While Lundqvist was great, the Bruins’ 4th line was better. Shawn Thornton, Gregory Campbell, and Danny Paille were by far the best line for either team. I double dog dare you to name a more productive and skilled 4th line in the entire NHL.
Merlot Line. Drink it up. Tastes so smooth.
The advantage of having a 4th line like the Bruins, is that most teams don’t have an answer for them. They simply don’t have the personnel to get the match-up needed to neutralize the speed of Paille, the physicality of Thornton, or the shot of Campbell. The Merlot Line has accounted for five of the team’s six points (1 G, 4 A, 6 SOG).
Last night, Paille scored what might be the most fluky, improbably goal in the Playoffs. The puck bounced off Lundqvist’s mask, fluttered down to the goal line, then bounced forward, AWAY from the net. Paille was then able to put it in. Everyone was all “WTF just happened?!”
Other game notes….
Teen Wolf Tyler Seguin is still looking for his first goal of the playoffs…but it is most certainly not for a lack of trying. He’s been shifted to the 3rd line but don’t think for a minute that this is a demotion. Playing with Peverley and Kelly has seemed to open up his game and allowed him to get some quality scoring opportunities. But he has got to be frustrated.
Young Guns on Defense – The Bruins’ young defensemen Torey Krug & Matt Bartkowski have had a great series so far. Krug has scored 2 goals in 3 games. What he might lack in size, he more than makes up for in skill.
Soft hands, people.
Jagr’s Beard.
What is this thing? At first, I thought that it was shaved in the middle, like some weird mutton chop thing you might find on an extra in Game of Thrones. But then it realized that it is just gray.
You know, the more I look at it, the more I love it. It is bizarre, but when you are one of the greatest players in the game and on your way to the Hall of Fame, you can do whatever the hell you want.
Bruins can close out the series with a win tomorrow, sweeping the series and securing a spot in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Should that happen Thursday, I would not want to be anyone in that Rangers’ locker room.
A more productive 4th line? I know the “fat bug-eyed walrus” shuffles his lines a lot during games to get just the right match-ups; but how about the Sens 4th line of Greening, Condra and Pageau of the Ottawa Senators? He slips Conacher in there sometimes instead of Greening, but they are a great “possesion” line with occassional timely scoring. Nice blog… fun reading.
sorry i really should check my grammar and spelling before posting….
Love the Taylor Swift comment, and the rest of the Bruins lovefest.