It was a great night for Boston sports. The Boston Red Sox won Game 1 of their 2007 American League Championship Series with the Cleveland Indians and the Boston Bruins won a high scoring game against the Los Angeles Kings. This one had it all with fights, assists, goals, trash talking officials. Ironically the first period ended 1-1 with goals by Boston's Phil Kessel and LA's Brad Stuart. The second period took off as the Bruins scored three goals in the span of five minutes but the Kings scored the final two of the period. Kessel scored another to open the third period but LA scored the next two to tie the game. The Bruins then scored three straight goals including an empty net one to seemingly put the game away. Just for vanity the Kings scored with 5 seconds left as the Bruins had beaten the Kings 8-6 at the Staples Center.
The Kings took the first penalty 6:06 of the first period when Jack Johnson was called for hooking, but the Bruins did nothing on the powerplay. Zdeno Chara got called for hooking 9:24 into the period but the Bruins killed off the penalty. Then it was fight time with 7:13 left in the period when Raitis Ivanans decided to go with Milan Lucic. Ivanans landed more shots but Lucic held his own. Michal Handzus got called for holding with 5:06 and the Kings were in the process of killing it off....but David Krejci found Phil Kessel just as the powerplay ended to put the Bruins up 1-0. Aaron Ward got called for hooking with 92 seconds left in the first period and old friend Brad Stuart scored on Manny Fernandez with 13 seconds left to tie the game heading into intermission 1-1.
The Bruins poured it on in the second period beginning with a too many men penalty on the Kings 3:25 into it. On the ensuing power play, Chara found Marc Savard for a shot that rebounded right to Glen Murray. Murray shot it in for the powerplay goal to make it 2-1. Just under two minutes later, Lucic and Savard found Ward open in the slot for a goal to make it 3-1. Brady Murray got a double minor for high sticking 7:41 into the period and Patrice Bergeron found Savard who passed it to Kessel who scored again. Bergeron went off for hooking with 5:01 left and the Bruins killed it off, but Brady Murray took a loose puck and banged it in with 2:15 left. Krejci got called for hooking with 1:11 left and Mike Cammalerri fired one off Fernandez with Anze Kopitar putting in the rebound. After the second period it was 4-3 Bruins.
The Bruins didn't waste any time scoring to open the third as Peter Schaefer sent it to Savard who shot on the net but Jonathan Bernier kicked it out. Kessel banged it in for the hat trick and a 5-3 lead 1:27 into the period. The Kings didn't give up as Alex Frolov and Derek Armstrong plowed through Boston's D and passed it to Cammaleri who banged it home at 4:37 into the period. Glen Murray got called for hooking 7:07 into the period and the Kings went on the powerplay. Rob Blake passed it to Kopitar who's shot clanged off the post and in to tie the game 8:19 into the period. Things fell apart for the Kings as Kyle Calder got called for hooking at 9:04 and it took just 38 seconds for Peter Schaefer to grab the puck. He dished it to Glen Murray who faked shooting but passed it to a wide open Savard who banged it home on the powerplay to give Boston the lead back 9:42 into it. With under 5 minutes left in the game, Chara passed it up to Krejci who slid it over to Lucic for his first career goal to essentially ice the game. Kings coach Marc Crawford got a penalty for taunting the officials and the Bruins killed off crucial time on the clock on the powerplay. With less than 90 seconds and the goalie puilled, Savard dished it to PJ Axelsson who passed it to a streaking Chuck Kobasew. Kobasew was pulled down but still put the puck in the net for the empty net goal. Somehow Patrick O'Sullivan scored with 5 seconds left to inch the Kings closer but that was it, the Bruins had won it 8-6.
Reaction:
That was definitely the most entertaining game of the season but good grief where was the defense? Manny Fernandez was essentially left out to dry a few times by Chara, Marc Stuart, Ward, Dennis Wideman, Andrew Ference and Andrew Alberts. The good news is that offense is going to be deadly by the end of the year. You got 19 year old Lucic, 22 year old Bergeron, 20 year old Kessel and 21 year old Krejci. They also have two prospects, 20 year old Vladimir Sobotka in Providence and 19 year old Brad Marchand who's tearing up Juniors. Chuck Kobasew the BC hero from 2001 is only 25 as well so this is a young, hungry offense. The additions of Chara and Savard are going to pay off if this young team continues to develop. Lucic getting into a fight and holding his own was also an encouraging sign. With coach Claude Julien's defense first mentality, even on an off night like this, it looks like this could be a fun season. Last year they had talent but wasn't listening to Dave Lewis but Julien seems to have their attention. The Bruins have gone 2-2 on this season opening West Coast trip and it ends tomorrow night in San Jose. Hopefully they can keep the momentum going at the HP Pavillion.
No comments:
Post a Comment