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Tied up: Chara, Bruins smile on Easter |
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Ty Anderson
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A wicked smile from Zdeno Chara at the end of the first period said it all in the Bruins’ series-tying 4-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday. It’s the smile that’s haunted the likes of Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby and even the Sedins. Grinning ear to ear and laughing as Detroit defenseman Brendan Smith tried to pop him in the mouth, the Black-and-Gold were able to wear the Red Wings down and force them to play Boston’s preferred style of hockey.
“Nothing really,” the 6-foot-9 Chara said when asked about what was going through his mind at the end of the first with Smith going at him. “It’s just, that’s playoff hockey.”
Yeah, striking fear into people with a smile, that’s playoff hockey. Or something like that.
For the Bruins, the end of 20 skirmish came at the end of a period where the Bruins scored two goals -- one off a fortuitous bounce that put the puck on Justin Florek’s stick with Jimmy Howard 20 feet out of his net and the other with Reilly Smith jamming the crease on the man advantage -- and dictated the tempo in all three zones.
Detroit would make things interesting with a goal off the glove of Luke Glendening, though but when Boston added goals from Milan Lucic at the end of the second and another power play marker, this time from Chara early in the third, the Wings’ hopes for a comeback were crushed.
In a series of two heavyweights, and after the Red Wings showed the Bruins their best in Game 1, it was only fitting that the Black-and-Gold returned the favor this time around.
“I thought we were ineffective, period, to tell you the truth. I didn’t think we were very good. I thought they were better,” Detroit bench boss Mike Babcock noted after Game 2. “I thought we were better than them Game One. I thought they were way better than us in Game Two. They were engaged. They won the battles. They were quick, we were slow. We didn’t execute.”
Hard on his squad following the loss, Babcock noted the Wings’ late game resurgence, but was more disappointed in his club’s decision to take the bait being put forth by the more physical Bruins.
“I just think you’ve got to decide what you want to do,” the veteran coach Babcock began, “Do you want to play like them or play like us? .. I just looked at the sheet here, we had one, two, three, four roughing calls. We haven’t had four roughing calls this year.
“So you’ve got to do what you do, not what they do.”
This has been a formula for years now for the B’s, and if there’s one team that’d prefer to not play Boston’s style of game, it’s the Wings. Especially when they’re operating at less than 100 percent.
“I think we got to stay out of the BS out there and just play whistle to whistle, and not worry about getting into the scrums or anything like that and proving your manhood out there,” said Red Wings’ goaltender Jimmy Howard after the loss. “Just skate, play our hockey, don’t get into their motive and get into their scrap playing real physical. Just get back to playing our game.”
And just like that, we have a tied series between two Original Six franchises facing off with one another in a postseason series for the first in 57 years. This is basically what you expected, really.
But how did the B’s get there? An ability to draw calls and playing the matchups.
On a matchup front, the Krejci line, which was just given fits with its matchup against the Sheahan line in Game 1, went against the Wings’ third line (the Darren Helm line) this time. Whether their success against that line was due to an advantage on the forechecking wings or not, I’m not exactly sure, but it sure seemed to open the ice up for Jarome Iginla (two assists) and Lucic (a goal).
“You know we felt like we didn’t leave enough out there in the first game, and sometimes in a series it takes a little bit to get things going,” said Lucic. “As this has gone on I think it got a little bit better today, but I think moving forward we still have to get better to get to the top of our game.”
And on a night where the power play went 2-for-4, guys like Carl Soderberg, who drew two penalties with his dogged determination in the attacking zone, went a long way for the Bruins, who were able to dominate the early portion of this game en route to a 2-0 lead on the scoreboard.
“We just said we needed to be on the puck a little bit more and we had to go in there with more determination because like I said last game, we didn’t come up with the puck as much and we’re a team that doesn’t mind the physical game,” Julien said after Sunday’s victory, sending the B’s to Detroit with a 1-1 series tie. “And it only works when you’re able to get there. Last game, we weren’t. Today, we were. We were able to use the physical aspect of our game a little bit more and because of that, we were able to get to pucks and turn pucks over a little bit more as well. That’s the important part of our game. We know that. So again, they work hard at making our route to pucks a little bit longer but we skated well enough today to get around those and get to the pucks.”
Another big help? The return of the heavy hitting Kevan Miller.
The California-born Miller, who missed about a week’s worth of practice before sitting out Game 1, returned to the Bruins’ third pairing with Torey Krug this afternoon, and welcomed himself back to the lineup with huge hits at every turn. Though still a player in his first year at the National Hockey League level, his presence was noticeable. Like it has been since he was first called upon to replace Adam McQuaid and Dennis Seidenberg some four months ago.
“He stepped up for us huge this year with the absence of some key D-men that we lost throughout the year. And to see him step up like he did here tonight, and how he’s been playing throughout the year, has been great to see,” Lucic said of the undrafted, University of Vermont product. “He’s a physical guy, he’s a real competitor, and you saw that here tonight, especially in the first five minutes.”
An all Red Wings Game 1, and then an all Bruins Game 2. Something’s gotta give as the scene shifts to the Joe Louis Arena for a pivotal Game 3 showdown between these two (budding) rivals.
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