Boston Bruins on Paper: Semi's with Habs opens Thursday; "KIL" line focused and ready

Milan Lucic was in tears.

Hard to imagine, right?  The left winger for the top or "KIL" line for the Boston Bruins, the man that Bruins' play-by-play man Jack Edwards sometimes refers to as a "Freight Train on skates", sobbing like a little boy that had his feelings hurt in a schoolyard scuffle...

...in 2003, Lucic was a kid - not the power forward with the cool nicknames that he has now - but a 14 year old growing up in Vancouver, devastated by not being selected in the 2003 Western Hockey League draft.

"He'd look at the computer every five minutes to see if anyone would pick him up," his mother, Snezana Lucic told the Vancouver Province in 2008. "Nobody picked him and at the dinner table that night he started crying. I asked what was wrong and he said, 'Nobody drafted me. I feel like quitting. I'm going to quit.'"

We've all been there, whether it was being told either directly or indirectly that we weren't good enough - be it in sports, our jobs, school or just life in general - and hopefully all of us had support from family and friends, but it takes more than that.  It takes a resolve to do what you want to do with your life.

"I told him that he was so much better than that." Mrs. Lucic continued, "I told him that his father and I were here to support him. If that's what you want to do (play hockey), someone is going to notice you, someone is going to pick you up. It was touch and go then. He was really disappointed."

Of course, it all worked out, the young Lucic was picked up by the Coquitlam Express of the Junior A British Columbia Hockey League, took his lumps and disappointments that year between not making the Express team out of rookie camp, but eventually ending up on the roster five games into the season...

...then made his debut with the WHL Vancouver Giants for the playoffs and played the entire next season for the Giants before being drafted - finally, someone wanted him - by the Boston Bruins with the 50th overall selection in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft.

The acceptance did something to Lucic.  In much the same way that rejection brought out the tears and doubt in 2003, being drafted in the second round by the Bruins in 2006 brought out the fire and confidence as Lucic tore up the WHL the following season, scoring 68 points in 70 games and capturing the Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy as the Memorial Cup MVP.

After the tournament, Lucic signed his entry level contract with the Bruins and made the roster out of camp, and the saga of Milan Lucic has been well documented ever since...

It's tough to look at the 6' 4" 240 pound Lucic and try to remember that he is just 25 years old, the junior member of a Bruins' top line that includes future Hall of Fame inductee Jarome Iginla and being centered by fellow seventh year veteran David Krejci, the Krejci/Iginla/Lucic (KIL) line combining for 73 goals and nearly a third of the Bruins point total for the 2013/14 NHL season...

...a season that saw the Bruins ascend to the pinnacle of regular season success, taking the Presidents' Cup by one point over the Anaheim Ducks as the team with the best record in the league, and now preparing to meet the hated Montreal Canadiens in the Eastern Conference Semifinals after dispatching the Detroit Red Wings in the quarterfinals.

And it's Lucic's perseverance stemming from working through his early disappointments in Juniors that gives him such confidence in his game, and perhaps why he seems to carry a chip on his shoulder out on the ice - and also maybe why he and the rest of his Bruins' teammates seem to truly appreciate being involved in a seven game series with the rival Habs, cementing their names into hockey lore with each shift.

Game one in the series is slated for 7:30pm on Thursday evening at TD Garden in North Boston.

"So another Original Six battle that we get to be a part of, and a lot of hatred between the teams, the fans, the cities when it comes to this kind of rivalry. So we expect them to bring their best." Lucic said of the Canadiens, being careful not to upset the precariously placed apple cart of hate between the two rivals before the series even gets started.

Krejci, however, wasn't as diplomatic in his preview.

"They obviously got some little guys, so they like to play with the puck." the Czech centerman panned to NHL.com.  "They play fast and shifty. But I feel like, especially my line, I know we're going to be the line that's playing with the puck a lot,"

"It's going to be up to them to stop us." Krejci continued, lamenting his team's lack of aggression in the Red Wings' series. "We're going to be trying to make something happen and I'm going to try to have the puck on my stick all the time. That's going to be the difference between Detroit and this series."

It would seem that the 27-year-old pivot is suggesting that he was not satisfied with neither his performance in the series with the Red Wings, nor his line's - though the Bruins won the series handily, a point driven home by the remarks of Red Wings' captain Henrik Zetterberg after his team was eliminated from the playoffs on Saturday

"They really stick to their structure, they have been doing that for two to three years now and they know it works. I think experience and patience," Zetterberg said of what makes the Bruins so good, despite Krejci's disappointment. "I think if we look at them, they roll four lines, they do the same things, they get the puck out, they get the puck in. When the other team gives them an opportunity, they take advantage."

Krejci echoed what Zetterberg said, citing consistency and confidence.

"We've just got to trust the system and go out there and do the job." Krejci said. "I think we have a pretty good team here, and if we'll do our homework right then we should be able to get some results."

So between the pissed-off Krejci, the deeply emotional yet brutish Lucic and the ever-smiling, just-happy-to-be-here persona of Iginla, expect the KIL line to pick up their game a notch or two - which, to hear Krejci tell it, sounds like very bad news for the Canadiens.

"It is impressive." Zetterberg continued in his praise of the Bruins, whom he feels taught his young team a valuable lesson. "They are a good team, but they know how to win, they have been there. I think we have to realize how to play in the postseason, and if we do that and we really believe in what we do, we would have gone longer."

Really believing in what you do is why Milan Lucic is in the National Hockey League - and why the Bruins are the favorites to be hoisting the Stanley Cup in just a few short months.

Boston Bruins' Zdeno Chara named finalist for Norris Trophy

Zdeno Chara doesn't need an award to gain respect from his peers, fans or teammates, but prudence dictates that being one of the best defensemen in the National Hockey League is recognized through a nomination for the Norris Trophy...

...which has now occurred six times, the latest nomination announced Monday morning by the league as the voting members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association have honored Chara, Duncan Keith of the Chicago Blackhawks and Shea Weber of the Nashville Predators, naming them finalists for the award that recognizes the "defense player who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position".

Friend and foe alike try to warn Brendan Smith not to tangle with Chara

The James Norris Memorial Trophy has been awarded 59 times to just 25 different players, making it one of the most respected and coveted of individual awards in the world of sports.

The Boston Bruins lead the league in players being selected for receive the award, Bobby Orr winning eight consecutive times, Ray Bourque five times and Chara once - followed by the Montreal Canadiens with 12 winners, the Detroit Red Wings eight (Niklas Lidstrom with seven) and the Chicago Blackhawks with seven, Keith winning it after the 2009-10 season.

The winner of the trophy will be announced and awarded at the NHL Awards on June 24th in Las Vegas.

Chara leads the class of 2013-14 with his sixth nomination (his third nomination in the past four seasons) and Keith is working on his second - both players taking the trophy home once a piece - while Weber has been honored with his third nomination but has yet to win.

The legend of Zdeno Chara is one of intimidating size leading to fear and loathing amongst the opposition, widely regarded as the most feared and toughest player in the league, a reputation that precedes the man-mountain wherever he goes - earned through 64 NHL fights and most of them of the one-punch knockout variety.

Still, there are a select few who challenge the huge Slovakian, but that number has dwindled as his reputation grew, to the point that the few who dare get in his face are usually pulled away with urgency by referees and teammates, lest blood and teeth be lost.

“He’s so hard to play against, he’s a tremendous leader. Obviously he does that by example, but he’s the toughest guy to play against in the league, bar none." said former teammate and frequent opponent Brian Rolston after his retirement in 2012. "If you were to poll the forwards on every team they would say the same thing and coming in on a nightly basis knowing that you have to face him.  It’s a tough task.”

Nashville's Weber leads all finalists in average time on ice and goals scored, Keith in assists and total points, but Chara leads the way with power play time on ice, power play goals and game winners, as well as plus/minus rating, which should translate to his second Norris Trophy and the 15th overall for the Bruins' organization.

Boston Bruins eliminate Red Wings; set sights on hated rival Canadiens

Detroit Red Wings' coach Mike Babcock finally made good on his promise to concentrate on his team's superior speed advantage over the bruising Boston Bruins on Saturday afternoon.

Problem is, he made that same promise before Game 3 and Game 4, but instead ended up getting caught up in the physical, heavy game that favors the Bruins - and the results were predictable.  In fact, for the first four games of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinals series, the Red Wings hit everything in black and gold that moved, initiating a bit of gamesmanship in the clutches...

...but also setting a physical pace that they could not maintain for sixty minutes - but in a matinee performance at TD Garden in North Boston, they eschewed the rough stuff and played Detroit Red Wings' hockey, cranking on the afterburners, skating clean to preserve their energy and at times putting the Bruins' back on their heels.

It still didn't matter.

Eriksson celebrates his early goal...

Tuukka Rask stopped 31 of 33 shots on goal, also recording one assist, to win his fourth straight - Loui Eriksson, Zdeno Chara and Milan Lucic providing all the offense Rask would need and Jarome Iginla added an empty net strike for good measure as the Boston Bruins eliminated the Red Wings in five games, winning the clincher by a score of 4-2.

Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg found twine for Detroit, Datsyuk logging his third of the playoffs - which accounted for exactly half of the Red Wings' offense in the series - and backup goalie Jonas Gustavsson was strong, allowing just one score at even-strength as he dropped his second straight while filling in for flu-sticken starting goaltender Jimmy Howard.

Boston now prepares to meet the hated Montreal Canadiens in the Conference semi-finals, the two Original Six franchises meeting in the post-season for the 34th time.

The speed and the puck-handling prowess of the Red Wings was evident from the opening faceoff, but neither played a part in either of their goals - rather, Bruins' defensemen Johnny Boychuk and Chara made life easy on both of Detroit's veteran snipers - Boychuk getting crossed up on Datsyuk's rebound score and taking out Rask before he had a chance to make the save, same with Chara on Zetterberg's tally as he clipped Rask in an attempt to get between his goalie and the shooter...

...and Iginla and Lucic are psyched over the game winner

...In effect, both assisting in Red Wings' scoring plays by interfering with their own netminder, to take nothing away from Detroit's effort as they managed to keep Boston's defenders busy in the attacking zone, but hurt their cause by failing to muscle their way into the slot for rebounds and by committing a dozen turnovers on the offensive end.

Conversely, the Bruins were - well - the Bruins.  That's usually enough, and Saturday was no exception.

Eriksson gave the Bruins an early lead, taking a Dougie Hamilton feed from deep on the right wing, shoulder-faking the one-timer to draw Gustavsson up into the slot, then dragging the puck to his backhand for the easy flip and a 1-0 lead three and a half minutes into the game, one of two power play goals on the afternoon for Boston.

The other one came with just four seconds left in the second period, just moments after Datsyuk tied things up with a man-advantage score of his own.

After a relatively clean skate for the first 30 minutes, a flurry of penalties marred the last half of the second frame, Datsyuk's tally coming with Lucic in the box for high sticking with a little over five minutes left in the period - then an Eriksson interference penalty coupled with a Johan Franzen holding infraction and a Brendan Smith cross check gave the Bruins a brief four on three man advantage...

...Chara finding a clear shooting lane in the high slot and giving Boston a lead that they would not relinquish - Torey Krug then picking off a Red Wings' clearing attempt on the left wing just over four minutes into the final frame and escorted it down the boards until Lucic was in place in the low slot to Gustavsson's glove side, then firing a centering pass across the crease that Lucic slapped in for the game winner.

Zetterberg's goal gave the Red Wings some late life with just under four minutes remaining, but a too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty on Tomas Tatar stalled any plans for a comeback as the Bruins played keep away for the two minute minor, then held off the Red Wings for the final minute, who had pulled Gustavsson for the extra skater - Lucic taking control of a David Krejci faceoff win in the defensive zone, hitting Iginla at center ice who found the empty net for the dagger.

Special teams played a big part in the Bruins' win - as it had all series - the Red Wings managing just one goal in their seven power play opportunities while Boston converted two of six - and the Bruins also held advantages in most statistical categories including a wide margin in both hits and faceoff wins...

...advantages that Detroit held in the first four games of the series as they tried in vain to match the Bruins' physicality - proof that it really didn't matter which way Detroit played it, they simply couldn't breach the heavy layers of the Bruins' structure, hard as they tried.

Next up, the Montreal Canadiens, who can play the physical game with a hop in their step - and pose a very stout and very real challenge to their longest and most despised rivals in the Bruins.

Boston Bruins can close out Red Wings in Saturday matinee

The Detroit Red Wings gave everything they had on Thursday night against the Boston Bruins, left it all out on the ice and paying such a physical toll that they had nothing left for the overtime period.

The body has rested and the skill is certainly there for the Red Wings to beat the Bruins on Saturday afternoon and send their best of seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal series back to HockeyTown for a Game 6 - but has the psyche been bruised beyond repair?

Boychuk and Bartkowski neutralized Bertuzzi (44) late in Game 4

It was about this time last year when the same questions were being asked about the Toronto Maple Leafs in their first round matchup with the Beantown Brutes - and no one needs to be reminded of how that series played out...

...but we will anyway:  Similar to this series, the Maple Leafs and Bruins split the first two games at TD Garden before Boston won two straight in Toronto - Game 4 in overtime, no less - but the 'Leafs took both Game 5 in Boston and Game 6 in Toronto to force a winner-take-all Game 7, setting up perhaps one of the most astounding and intense elimination matches in NHL history.



Goosebumps, eh?

The final ten minutes of that Game 7 were so compelling and intense, that it encapsulates what the National Hockey League - and the Boston Bruins - are all about.  That said, Bruins' fans don't need a repeat, at least the ones with weak hearts don't.

"We can learn a lot from last year. Obviously, you can look at it whichever way you want. It doesn't mean just because it's happened before it has to be the same thing," Julien said. "There are different situations all the time. We have yet to lose respect for that team we are playing against."

Bruins' Projected Lineup

Forwards

Milan Lucic - David Krejci - Jarome Iginla

Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - Reilly Smith

Justin Florek - Carl Soderberg - Loui Eriksson

Jordan Caron - Gregory Campbell - Shawn Thornton

Defensive pairings

Zdeno Chara -Johnny Boychuk

Matt Bartkowski - Kevan Miller

Torey Krug - Dougie Hamilton

Goaltenders

Tuukka Rask
Chad Johnson

“It’s a veteran group in here, an experienced group." said Merlot line centerman Gregory Campbell after the team's Friday skate. "I don’t think we were extremely happy with the effort that we gave in the first period."

"We wanted to come out a little bit harder, and credit to them - they came out hard and played well - but we knew we had more in the tank." Gregory continued, "So whether we won or lost the game, it was just more about us kind of giving everything that we had, and it was clear that we didn’t in the first period.”

By the same token, Red Wings' coach Mike Babcock is understandably unhappy with the result of Game 4, but he has to be pleased under that tough, I-look-like-I-could-be-Torey-Krug's-Dad exterior in regard to the way his game plan to limit Boston's playmaking ability by targeting their centermen and keeping them out of the middle of the ice has worked...

...unfortunately for him and the Red Wings, the Bruins have more than enough play makers on the wings and in their defensive pairings to pick up the slack.

Through four games, Detroit's structure has limited Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Carl Soderberg and Campbell to six points on one goal and five helpers, Krejci and Soderberg limited to an assist each and Campbell held pointless - but with a combined plus-four rating showing how deep the talent runs in Boston's structure.

Red Wings' Projected Lineup

Forwards

Henrik Zetterberg - Pavel Datsyuk - Justin Abdelkader
Johan Franzen - Darren Helm - Daniel Alfredsson

Tomas Tatar - Riley Sheahan - Gustav Nyquist

Drew Miller - Luke Glendening - David Legwand

Defensive Pairings

Niklas Kronwall - Brendan Smith

Kyle Quincey - Dan DeKeyser

Jakub Kindl - Brian Lashoff

Goaltenders

Jonas Gustavsson
Jimmy Howard

Daniel Alfredsson, Detroit's regular season points leader, returns to the ice for the Red Wings after a two-game absence with lingering back issues - in fact, the same issues that caused him to miss six games in January plus the Red Wings' regular season finale - and although he hasn't recorded a point in the series, he is traditionally a high-volume point producer in the playoffs with 100 in 123 career playoff games.

You know things are tough when you have to count on a 41 year old winger to try and provide an offensive spark, especially for a team that features the stylings of a Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, plus the try-hard efforts of Darren Helm and Justin Abdelkader, but with just four goals in as many games, it's not difficult to imagine why Detroit is down 3-1 in this series.

With Alfredsson returning to the lineup, it appears that the Todd Bertuzzi experiment may be over - the big winger did some nice things for the Red Wings in the first period on Thursday night, but got rag-dolled repeatedly in the final frame and overtime whenever he tried to set up in front of the Boston net, Johnny Boychuk clearing Bertuzzi out more than a few times, and cleaning his clock once or twice for good measure.

Jonas Gustavsson is scheduled to start between the pipes for Detroit, as regular starter Jimmy Howard is still locked in a struggle with a particularly nasty strain of the flu bug and hasn't skated at all since Thursday morning, but will be dressed as an emergency backup to Gustavsson.

Boston Bruins' Rask named finalist for Vezina Trophy

As expected, Boston Bruins' stopper Tuukka Rask has been named a finalist for the Vezina Trophy, the highest and most prestigious award the National Hockey League can bestow upon a goaltender short of the Hart Trophy, which is awarded annually to the league's most valuable player.

Tampa Bay Lightning's Ben Bishop and Semyon Varlamov of the Colorado Avalanche are the other two finalists, adjudged to be among  the best at their position by a vote of the league's 30 General Managers at the end of the season.

Rask led all goaltenders in save percentage and shutouts

The Trophy will be awarded to the best at the position at the NHL's annual awards gala in Las Vegas on June 24th.

Though Varlamov is considered a slight favorite to take the award - what with his consideration for the Hart and his league leading and franchise record-breaking 41 wins, despite facing 150 more shots than any other goalie - a more compelling argument can be made for Rask.

The Finnish Olympian led the league in shutouts with seven, led all qualifiers with a .929 save percentage and ended up fifth in the league in goals against average with a sterling 2.06 - Varlamov was close in save percentage but severely lacking in the other two...

...while Bishop, who was the favorite for the award heading into the New Year, faded with the rest of the Lightning down the stretch but still ended up with a solid 2.23/.924 stat line with five shutouts - but is considered the long shot of the group.

Rask also led his team to the President's Trophy for the best record in the league, while he and backup Chad Johnson finished second to the Los Angeles Kings' trio of netminders for the Jennings Trophy, awarded to the goaltending tandem that allows the fewest goals in a season.  Rask also won a career best 35 games, six behind Varmalov despite playing in six fewer games.

Bruins' Patrice Bergeron was named a finalist for the Selke Trophy on Thursday - awarded to the best defensive forward in the NHL - and it is expected that Zdeno Chara's name will be among the finalists for the Norris Trophy, awarded to the best defenseman in the league, when that announcement is made on Monday.

Iginla pots game winner in OT; Boston Bruins take 3-1 series lead over 'Wings

The Boston Bruins aren't that difficult to figure out.

They are physical.  They are resilient.  They come straight ahead and hammer you for no other reason than to eventually take away your will - and if your best shot isn't enough to put them away, well, Thursday night at Joe Louis Arena happens.

It was about midway through the second period when the Bruins started to take control of their Game 4 matchup with the Detroit Red Wings in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinals series - having already yielded goals to defenseman Niklas Kronwall and centerman Pavel Datsyuk, when the Red Wings started to look spent...

...their high energy, frenetic pace giving way to Boston's heavy-footed, even-keeled puck control game - the pucks that they were having trouble getting to along the boards early in the game starting to find the range, the middle of the ice that Detroit's speed game offered them now closed off, and the backcheck of the Bruins turning into forced turnovers and transition offense.

No, the Boston Bruins are not that hard to figure out.  Trying to stop them is the tough part.

Down 2-0 through half of the match, defenseman Torey Krug ripped a slap shot from the high slot to get the Bruins on the board, Milan Lucic tied the game early in the third and Jarome Iginla ended it 13:32 into overtime, answering the Red Wings' best shot in typical Bruins' fashion, taking both a 3-2 win in Detroit on Thursday night, and a 3-1 series lead headed back to Boston.

The Red Wings gave it everything they had through 60 minutes, going all-in for a game they knew they absolutely had to have, having lost two straight and in danger of being down 3-1, even pulling team captain Henrik Zetterberg down from the press box to provide more offensive fire power and perpetual healthy-scratch Todd Bertuzzi to be a physical presence.

But Zetterberg was clearly less than 100% returning from back surgery and Bertuzzi, while initially making a big-time screen in front of Boston Goalie Tuukka Rask, was eventually neutralized by the physicality of the Bruins, who made sure to punish the 39-year-old Bertuzzi every time he tried to front Rask in the low slot.

Halfway through the opening period and the Bruins down a man after Justin Florek took a high-sticking double minor, the Red Wings scored the game's first goal just four seconds into the power play, Kronwell driving the puck past Rask from above the right circle directly from a Datsyuk faceoff win, Bertuzzi preventing Rask from seeing the puck until it was already past him...

...Kronwell returning the favor just over four minutes into the second period, picking up a puck that Rask had directed behind the net off of a Justin Abdelkader offering, sliding a pass to Datsyuk who had drifted into the low slot and easily beat Rask into the net that he vacated to stone Abdelkader.

With eight minutes gone and Bruins' defenseman Kevan Miller in the poke for retaliating against an Abdelkader hold just 13 seconds earlier, Bertuzzi joined him for interference on Zdeno Chara, the team skated four-on-four until Miller's penalty expired, Krug crushed his shot from the high slot in the waning seconds of the brief Bruins' power play.

That was the beginning of the end for the Red Wings.

Krug's goal had a horrific effect on the crowd and, subsequently, the Red Wings themselves as the Bruins slowly began tilting the ice in their favor - but missing several point-blank chances at Detroit's backup goalie Jonas Gustavsson throughout the rest of the period, though Gustavsson's luck ran out just over a minute into the third...

...Bruins' centerman Carl Soderberg taking a perfect Dougie Hamilton stretch pass and racing down the right wing, escorted wide of the net by Red Wings' defenseman Brian Lashoff - but just before the big Swede passed behind the net he slipped the puck to Lucic, who was point-blank on Gustavsson's glove side, and he jammed it through the five hole for the equalizer.

Shift by shift, the Bruins slowly took control of the pace of the game, spending more and more time in the attacking zone, Marchand missing an opportunity to pot the game winner into a wide open net late in the period - and by the time the game reached overtime, the Red Wings were completely on the defensive, and it was just a matter of time before the Bruins found dirty ice.

That happened with six and a half minutes left in sudden-death, Dougie Hamilton ripping a shot from the penalty box side dashers and Jarome Iginla redirecting it from the right circle, sending it in on Gustavsson, who could do nothing about the puck deflecting off of defenseman Danny DeKeyser's skate for the game winner.

Joe Louis Arena cleared out quickly after Iginla ended the game, perhaps too disappointed to realize that there probably will not be another game in Detroit this season, their Red Wings being down three games to one and headed to Boston for Saturday afternoon's elimination game at TD Garden - but at least they can be consoled in that coach Mike Babcock had the right idea...

...his game plan perfect through half of regulation.  But how hard is it to prepare a game plan for the Bruins?  Babcock knew what was coming and prepared his team the best he could - and it wasn't enough.

No shame in that, though, because these Bruins are so fundamentally sound, so well conditioned and so well coached that it almost seems unfair.  Almost.

Red Wings' to insert Zetterberg, Bertuzzi to try to neutralize physicality of Boston Bruins

Detroit Red Wings' coach Mike Babcock says he wants to go up-tempo on Boston Bruins' goalie Tuukka Rask on Thursday night.

Stop me if you've heard this before...

Going into Tuesday night's Game 3 in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinals match with the Bruins, Babcock insisted that his team's Game 2 performance - where they got knocked around by the physical Bruins to the tune of a 4-1 blowout loss - was an aberration, that all his Red Wings had to do was to come out and skate circles around the plodding bears...

Detroit has found very little room to operate in the slot against Boston

...but instead they came out and tried to match the physicality of the Bruins - delivering 18 hits in the opening frame - an arrogant ploy that left them vulnerable to the relentless aggressiveness of the Bruins, who took advantage as all good teams will and sent them to their room down 2-0 in a game they eventually lost by a score of 3-0.

Obviously, they can't beat the Bruins at their own game - the Red Wings need to use their speed and, most importantly, not skate out of control and give up two easy goals as the result of being overly-physical with the most physical team in the league.

The Bruins are at their best when they turn defense into transition offense, so their approach is always going to be to challenge the entry into the defensive zone, guide the puck handlers to the wing and make sure Rask has a clear view at the shooters...

...because when he has the clear line of sight, very rarely do the pucks get past him, and more often than not he can gently direct the rebound to the side boards where the angles are bad and his forwards are waiting to start the rush.

"He's had light nights against us so far," Babcock said of Rask, who has stopped 80 of 82 shots in the series. "I really thought with the exception of Game 1 they've done an exceptional job of pushing us out of the middle and putting us on the outside. To me, that's not good enough."

But even when the Red Wings get inside for a shot or a second chance, Rask has been square and stoned the offerings because of the layers that Detroit has to go through to get to the front of the net dictates where the shots are coming from - and when Rask makes the save, the Bruins are there defensively in the slot to gather up the puck and head the other way.

It's a structure that can be frustrating to teams like Detroit that just don't have the bulk to muscle their way into the slot.

"You have to be harder, be on the inside, make the goalie work way more." Babcock continued. "We've gotta get on the inside to find out if Rask is doing anything. We haven't got to him."

Bruins' Projected Lineup

Forwards

Milan Lucic - David Krejci - Jarome Iginla

Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - Reilly Smith

Justin Florek - Carl Soderberg - Loui Eriksson

Jordan Caron - Gregory Campbell - Shawn Thornton

Defensive pairings

Zdeno Chara -Johnny Boychuk

Matt Bartkowski - Kevan Miller

Torey Krug - Dougie Hamilton

Goaltenders

Tuukka Rask

Chad Johnson

The only team to beat the Boston Bruins three times in regulation this season, Detroit has found nothing but tough sledding since the playoffs began - even in their Game 1 victory they managed only one goal, a spectacular individual effort from All World puck handler Pavel Datsyuk with 3:00 remaining being the difference in that game.

Since, the Red Wings have generated exactly one more goal in two games, which isn't going to get it done.

"There is a reason why they gave up the least amount of goals all year," 'Wings forward Justin Abdelkader commented. "They play a really well-structured, sound game, well-coached. At the same time we're making it easy on them."

The prevailing attitude with the entire Red Wings' organization is that they are simply giving the Bruins easy opportunities to score, but the fact of the matter is that it takes a disciplined team to take advantage of their foes' errors - and the Bruins' have made them pay more often than not.

Detroit scored an average of over three goals per game against Boston in the regular season, but in three playoff games, that number has dwindled to a microscopic .666, mostly due to the Bruins' defense at the blue line and Rask staying disciplined and square - a direct result of the defense in front of him keeping the lanes and crease clear.

If speed is the answer, they may not have much of a chance, given how big and physical the Bruins are at the blue line and along the boards and how structured they are in the zone - but there are whisperings in the hallways of Joe Louis Arena that team captain Henrik Zetterberg may be on his way back for Game 4 on Thursday night.

Red Wings' Projected Lineup

Forwards

Henrik Zetterberg - Pavel Datsyuk - Justin Abdelkader
Johan Franzen - Darren Helm - Gustav Nyquist

Todd Bertuzzi - Riley Sheahan - Tomas Tatar

Drew Miller - Luke Glendening - David Legwand

Defensive Pairings

Niklas Kronwall - Brendan Smith

Kyle Quincey - Dan DeKeyser

Jakub Kindl - Brian Lashoff

Goaltenders

Jimmy Howard

Jonas Gustavsson

Zetterberg, who hasn't played since before the Olympic break and had surgery on his back two months ago to repair a herniated disc, will apparently be in the lineup for Detroit as he was paired with Datsyuk and Abdelkader at their morning skate - and on the top line in practice for the past two days.

Also in the lineup will be Todd Bertuzzi, who will add needed bulk and size in matching up with the Bruins on the third line - moves that tell of either frustration or desperation - or both - on Babcock's part, as his line-shuffling in Game 3 had little effect on Boston, who just kept plugging along...

...hinting at the possibility of Zetterberg returning the lineup earlier than anticipated by pointing to the youthfulness of his team - he has been calling them "kids" recently - and not being satisfied with the product on the ice, regardless of effort.

"The Stanley Cup Playoffs are for men, each and every year," he said. "That's where you earn the right to be a good player in the League; not in the regular season, in the playoffs.

"When I first arrived here they said Pavel Datsyuk didn't perform in the playoffs. It takes you a while sometimes as a kid in this League to figure it all out and to score," Babcock continued, "but do you want to wait for it, or do you want to just do something about it now?"

It seems Babcock wants to do something about it now - because if he doesn't, there may not be a later.

Boston Bruins' Patrice Bergeron named finalist for Selke

It comes as little surprise that the the best defensive team in the league has started piling up nominations for their stellar back end play.

The National Hockey League announced on Thursday that Boston Bruins' centerman Patrice Bergeron has been named a finalist for the Selke Trophy, a coveted award that is presented to the best defensive forward in the league.

A bigger surprise would have been if his name had been left off the list.

Bergeron garnered his third consecutive Selke nomination on Thursday

Nominated for the third consecutive year, Bergeron won the award at the end of the 2011-2012 season, and is generally considered the top two-way player in the NHL, as his offensive game is just as impressive as his play below his own blue line....

...as evidenced by his plus-38 rating for the season - just one behind team and league leader David Krejci - Bergeron's team-leading 30 goals combined with his 32 assists and league leading 1,015 faceoff wins and being the primary pivot on the Bruis' top 10 penalty kill unit trumped only by his toughness and leadership.

Bergeron joins Chicago Blackhawks' Jonathan Toews and Los Angeles Kings' Anze Kopitar as deserving finalists.

Toews' nomination is his fourth consecutive honor and is the reigning trophy holder - winning the award last season - while Kopitar's nomination is somewhat of a novelty as no Kings' player has ever been nominated as a finalist.

Bergeron is only the first of many Bruins expected to be in contention for post-season awards, Goalie Tuukka Rask among the favorites for the Vezina Trophy as the top stopper in the league while veteran blue line stalwart Zdeno Chara is a perennial favorite for the Norris Trophy, presented to the top defenseman in the game.

The Vezina finalists will be named on Friday and the Norris finalists on Monday, with the winners awarded the trophies at the NHL Awards in Las Vegas on June 24th.

The Bruins have collectively already won the President's cup, and the goaltending combination of Rask and backup Chad Johnson just missed out on the Jennings' Trophy, awarded to the tandem that yields the least number of goals on the season - and now eye both the Prince of Wales Trophy as the champions of the Eastern Conference and the Stanley Cup, the holy grail of all of hockey.

Even Bruins' management figures to get in on the act, with coach Claude Julien a candidate for the Adam's Award for the best bench boss and Peter Chiarelli should be in the discussion for best General Manager in the league.

Bergeron may also hear his name mentioned in respect to the King Clancy Award, that recognizes leadership traits both on and off the ice combined with Humanitarian efforts in the community.

Boston Bruins punish Red Wings to take series lead

The pre-game psyche job that the Detroit Red Wings harangue their opponents with is one of the best in all of sports, what with purple strobes and many incandescent beams illuminating a 50 foot Octopus named "Al" as he's raised from the ice to the Rafters like a styrofoam Stonehenge at a Spinal Tap concert...

...then fans throwing Octopi onto the ice during the National Anthem, which happens again when the Red Wings score their first goal of the game.

The first Cephalopod made it's standard appearance, what appeared to be a twenty-pounder landing with a disgusting splat mere inches from Boston Bruins' goaltender Tuukka Rask just before the end of the Anthem on Tuesday night - which, as it turns out, was closer than any pucks the Red Wings could get to the Bruins' goal - Rask making sure that no other sea creatures hit the ice, turning away 23 shots in a 3-0 Bruins' win that gave Boston a 2-1 lead in the best of seven series.

Bruins' Rask and Chara kept the Red Wings off-balance all night

Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said he wanted his team to come out in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinals series against the Bruins and utilize their speed advantage to establish puck control and offensive zone time.

Could it be that he forgot to tell his players?

Instead, his Red Wings carbon-copied their effort from Game 2 when they played the bodies of the Bruins instead of the puck, delivering hits along the boards - the Bruins playing along and absorbing 18 hits in the first period in order to move the puck to the vacated spaces and moving it into the attacking zone seemingly at will...

...Defenseman Dougie Hamilton ripping an uncontested power play sniper shot past Red Wings' goalie Jimmy Howard to give Boston the early lead, Jordan Caron planting one just moments later as the Bruins white-washed the initially uninspired Red Wings and taking back the home ice advantage that Detroit took from them in Game one.

Patrice Bergeron added a 160 foot empty net goal deep into the final frame to empty The Joe, leaving Babcock looking both lost and dejected on the Detroit bench - his ploy of shifting lines for the final twenty minutes failing to generate many legitimate scoring chances against Rask, who did have to hit his belly a couple of times but absolutely mugged both Gus Nyquist and Justin Abdelkader on point blank offerings to earn his second straight win.

Howard saw ten more shots than his counterpart, surrendering the goals to Hamilton and Caron and has yielded six in two games after earning First Star and the shutout in his game one win, while Detroits' offense has supported him with just two goals in three games.

Hamilton put the raucous crowd in their seats with nine minutes gone in the game, escorting the puck across the neutral zone, the retreating Red Wings defenders giving the blue line unopposed and with plenty of space to work with - the young defenseman reaching the dot in the right circle before Kyle Quincey offered any resistance...

...but Hamilton released one off the chain that zipped by Howard's ear on the glove side to give Boston an easy 1-0 lead.

"That goal can't go in," Babcock said, and confirmed by Howard.

"It's probably one I should have had," he said.

Six minutes later, the Red Wings committed the faux pas of the game as they went for a full line change at defenseman Brendan Smith's dump in attempt, but the slow roller was picked of by Gregory Campbell, connecting with Kevan Miller who found Shawn Thornton all alone streaking to the right of center.

Howard stoned Thornton's shot but Caron was coming up the left wing like he was shot out of a cannon from the bench and scooped up the pad rebound and snapped the puck into the twine for a two goal lead going into the room at the first intermission.

The Red Wings came out for the second period skating fast and with a purpose, but still trying to beat the  Bruins' at their own game with a physical brand, and 20 minutes later they had twice as many hits as shots on goal but were still trailing by two, so Babcock started shuffling his lines in the final frame...

...but it was far too late, and when the Bruins came out for the third they started punishing the tired Red Wings, Babcock eventually pulling Howard with nearly three minutes left in the contest - but Bergeron gathered in Tomas Tatar dump-in attempt along the bench side dashers and finished the scoring into the empty net from his own defensive zone.

The disparity between the Red Wings' hits and shots on goal were telling in the contest, suggesting not only that the Red Wings curiously played right into the Bruins' paws, but also handed them the puck on unforced turnovers several times, putting themselves in the position to play catch up along the boards and contributing to Boston's scoring opportunities.

"We give them two goals." Babcock said afterwards. "Any way you look at it, we gave them two goals,"

"Now, I'm not trying to take anything away from them, because they played well." Babcock continued, "They were better than us all night long, but we gave them two goals."

The Bruins would refute that statement, just as they would if someone had said that Babcock's game plan gave them the game - because Boston made their own fortunes by playing Bruins' hockey, and now have taken back their home ice advantage by doing exactly that.

Boston Bruins on Paper: Red Wings look to speed things up, Bruins looking for someone to hit

Since the beginning of time, the struggle for supremacy in anything has always been about speed vs. power.

Quicker, more finesse entities have always been the underdog against bigger and stronger counterparts, but when the venue is in their natural environment, the advantage goes to the quick - they become more elusive and use their habitat and surroundings to their advantage.

If Detroit wants to beat the Bruins, they have to avoid scenes like this

History is replete with tales of how the underdog, when given the opportunity, are able to get by with guile and speed - David vs. Goliath, cheetah vs. Lion, bear vs. salmon, the quicker of the combatants can and will get the upper hand, paw or fin on occasion, but in the end the fittest always survive...

...so when the Detroit Red Wings talk about wanting to get back to their speedy game that helped them win the first game of their quarterfinal series against the Boston Bruins, one has only to look at how easily the Bruins countered their speed in Sunday's Game Two to understand that the underdog Red Wings have their work cut out for them in Tuesday nights' Game Three.

“I thought they were way better than us in Game two," Red Wings' coach Mike Babcock said on Monday morning after the team's optional skate.  “I didn’t think we were very good. They were engaged. They won the battles. They were quick. We were slow.”

Detroit blue liner Brendan Smith - he who narrowly avoided his own personal David vs. Goliath scenario with Bruins' hulking and physical defenseman Zdeno Chara on Sunday - believes his team can once again gain the advantage in their best of seven series just by playing their style of hockey.  "We need to use our speed, play fast," Smith said. "I don't think they can keep up with us if we do that."

The Bruins' missed Kevan Miller's physical style in Game one

Maybe not, but just like with the food chain in the wild, the plodding carnivore will almost always get what they need to satiate their hunger simply by being patient and attacking at just the precise moment - and that moment evolves from the Bruins' physical and heavy structure, turning defense into offense and bullying the opposition into making mistakes.

"I think we got to stay out of the nonsense 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," Detroit goaltender Jimmy Howard said. "Just skate, play our hockey, don't get into their mode and get into their scraps playing real physical. Just get back to playing our game."

And playing their game should be easier at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, not just because of the comfort and motivation of playing in front of their home fans, but also by having the second change allows them to counter what the Bruins put on the ice, particularly on the defensive end, where Boston's blue liners have had their way with the Red Wings.

Bruins' Projected Lineup

Forwards

Milan Lucic - David Krejci - Jarome Iginla

Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - Reilly Smith

Justin Florek - Carl Soderberg - Loui Eriksson

Jordan Caron - Gregory Campbell - Shawn Thornton

Defensive pairings

Zdeno Chara -Johnny Boychuk

Andrej Mezsaros - Kevan Miller

Torey Krug - Dougie Hamilton

Goaltenders

Tuukka Rask

Chad Johnson

When one looks at the Bruins' lineup, one sees talented skaters centering on all four lines with physical wingers playing the boards and defensive pairings that, when combined with the physicality of the rolling lines, suggest that the only way to truly get the best of them is to stand up to them and trade blow for blow...

...but if the Red Wings try to match the Bruins heavy play - well - Sunday's 4-1 loss to Boston is an example of what will happen more often than not - so they have no choice but to try and speed up the tempo of play.

Red Wings' Projected Lineup

Forwards

Johna Franzen - Pavel Datsyuk - Justin Abdelkader

Gustav Nyquist - Riley Sheahan - Tomas Tatar

Tomas Jurco - Darren Helm - Daniel Alfredsson

Drew Miller - David Legwand - Luke Glendening

Defensive Pairings

Niklas Kronwall - Brendan Smith

Kyle Quincey - Dan DeKeyser

Jakub Kindl - Brian Lashoff

Goaltenders

Jimmy Howard

Jonas Gustavsson

"I just think you've got to decide what you want to do," Babcock said after Sunday's loss. "Do you want to play like them or play like us?"

Game three will go a long way to deciding which of these teams will advance to the Eastern Conference semi-finals. The Bruins have lost four straight at The Joe, so recent history is not on their side - but the law of the jungle is - and that means that the fittest will survive.

"I think we understand what it takes to beat these guys," Bruins' defenseman Torey Krug offered. "and I think if we play like that we will have success this series."

Video: Boston Bruins' Zdeno Chara having a good laugh at the expense of Brendan Smith

If Detroit Red Wings' defenseman Brendan Smith has something to prove to the Boston Bruins, his own teammates or to the world as a whole, he probably shouldn't target the most fearsome hockey player on the planet.

Smith, the 6' 1" older brother of Bruins' forward Reilly, apparently had an episode of Napoleon Syndrome at the end of the first period of Sunday's Eastern Conference quarterfinal match between the Red Wings and Bruins, attempting to square off with the 6' 9" veteran blue liner Zdeno Chara...

...the hulking Slovakian good-naturedly sparring with the elder Smith away from a scuffle that ensued as the alarm sounded for the first intermission - Gregory Campbell coming to the aid of Johnny Boychuk who had taken a mean cross-check along the end boards - Chara still clutching his stick while absorbing several attempted gloved punches, smiling like a Cheshire Cat as Smith tried in vain to connect with his face.



But Chara tired of Smith's act quickly, and when he dropped his stick at Smith's beckoning, his Red Wings' teammates appeared to urge him to back off while Chara started egging him on. Luckily for him, a linesman noticed what was about to happen to Smith and sprinted in, separating the two - Chara laughing all the way down the tunnel.

The whole 30 second episode had the aire of a schoolyard shoving match between a big sixth grader and an upstart fourth grader arguing over milk money.  For his part, Chara declined to discuss the dust up and only wanted to discuss the game, which Boston won by a score of 4-1.

Perhaps Smith was just trying to fire up his teammates by engaging Chara, but the leadership in the Red Wings' locker room probably pulled him aside and told him that while they admire his guts, they question his judgement...

...and maybe even a quick word with his younger brother over dinner, who would probably be more than happy to order a steak for his elder brother instead of the knuckle sandwich that Chara would have served him if the linesman hadn't interfered...

Bruins punk Red Wings; quarterfinal series level at one

Boston forward Reilly Smith celebrates the eventual game winning goal in a 4-1 win over Detroit

In Game one of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals between the Boston Bruins and the Detroit Red Wings, the Wings' clogged the neutral zone and limited the Bruins to just 25 shots - seven below their season average - and the Bruins collectively knew that wasn't going to get the job done.

“I know we have to get more pucks to the net,” Bruins Head Coach Claude Julien quipped, capturing the essence of the obvious on Sunday before the game “I know we need net-front presence - that’s something that always needs to be done."

As usual, Bruins' Brad Marchand was in the middle of many scraps...

The Bruins equaled that entire shot total from Game one by the end of the second period on Sunday, establishing plenty of net-front presence and, predictably, buried the Red Wings with two early goals and cruised to a 4-1 win at TD Garden in North Boston - tying the best of seven series at one apiece.

The series now shifts to Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, where games three and four are scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday nights respectively.

Rookie call-up Justin Florek scored his first NHL goal for Boston, who also got goals from Reilly Smith, Milan Lucic and Zdeno Chara to effectively double-up the combined goal output for Detroit in this series after being held scoreless in Game One.

Florek started the scoring seven-and-a-half minutes into the contest, picking off a rouge outlet pass from Detroit Goalie Jimmy Howard, who had come out from between the pipes to play a slow roller coming down the high slot and couldn't repair back to the crease in time to prevent Florek's quick sniper from finding twine...

...then Loui Eriksson positioned himself in front of the net to play a rebound off a Patrice Bergeron offering, drawing Howard far enough out of the crease to allow Smith an alley behind the besieged netminder - Eriksson relentlessly chopping at the puck and eventually jarring it loose, making it trickle behind Howard where Smith jammed it into the net for a two goal lead that Boston took into the room at the first intermission.

...while Zdeno Chara merely toyed with the spunky Red Wings

But not before tempers flared and several skirmishes broke out on the ice - and although no actual fights ensued, the Bruins announced loudly that they were not going to let the Red Wings control the pace of the game as they had in Game One, Chara and (of course) Brad Marchand right in the middle of the action.

The Red Wings did come out on fire in the second, looking to counter the violent physicality of the Bruins by playing the body more and taking several free shots at the Bruins on open ice, helping to tilt the ice in Detroit's favor, the Red Wings eventually cutting the Boston lead in half with six-and-a-half minutes left in the frame...

...but tempo-setter Lucic stole back the momentum from Detroit with a dagger of a goal late in the period, exploding across the blue line with a pass from Torey Krug and dropping the puck back to a trailing Jarome Iginla, who gave Howard a shoulder feign before returning the puck to Lucic who fired a one timer that Howard got a piece of with his stick, but was only able to cause it to tumble into the net.

With the score 3-1, the Bruins proceeded to punish the upstart Red Wings, scoring once more on Chara's chop job in the crease, Red Wings' defenseman Brian Lashoff unable to move the hulking Bruins' captain from in front of the net - in stark contrast to game one when the 'Wings kept the crease clean all night long.

Boston Netminder Tuukka Rask again was solid in net, allowing only a Luke Glendening gloved-hand redirection and stopping the other 34 Red Wings' shots while Howard got to only 25 of 29 Bruins' shots - and while the 29 shots was still below Boston's season average, 18 of them came in the frenzied first period where the Bruins' took control of the game and the series...

...while the Red Wings took to long range sniper shots at Rask, outshooting the Bruins - who were more interested in punishing the Red Wings than generating offense after taking the two goal lead - by a count of 25-11 in the final 40 minutes.

So the Bruins offense that won the President's Trophy and clinched home ice advantage throughout the playoffs showed up in Game two on Sunday after being conspicuously absent in the series opener, with the opportunity to take back that advantage that Detroit took from them waiting at Joe Louis Arena, where Boston has lost four straight...

Boston Bruins on Paper: More physical play required against Red Wings' "Gauntlet"

From the time a hockey player is in his early teens, the Gauntlet Drill is one of the most intimidating practice rituals in all of the sport.

There are two variations of this drill, the first being when the coaches have the players form two lines parallel to each other in close proximity then have players take turns handling the puck between the lines while the players on either side use their sticks to try and disrupt his rhythm and check the puck away...

Patrice Bergeron and the Bruins have to solve Detroit's Gauntlet

...while a more physical version is created having the players line up about a body's length from the dashers while a player skirts the boards handling the puck, the players in line taking turns trying to body check the puck handler into the boards.

The Detroit Red Wings put the Boston Bruins through a similar drill on Friday night, setting up their own real-time version of the gauntlet in the neutral zone at TD Garden, stick checking and body checking the Bruins with fervor, taking away all forward momentum and at the same time taking away the home ice advantage that Boston had earned throughout the regular season.

Now, if the Bruins want to take back what they've earned, they have to take back control of their home ice on Sunday afternoon - and the only way to do that is to physically take it back by breaking the gauntlet and getting pucks in deep, where the Bruins superior physicality can manifest itself.

In truth, the Red Wings' speed advantage is almost completely negated by the tactic of clogging the neutral zone, but when they can limit the Bruins to just 25 shots and only a handful of actual scoring chances with a gauntlet line, their chances of beating Boston increases incrementally, as frustration infiltrates the Bruins' structure and they start pressing bad position.

It's the perfect game plan against the bigger and stronger Bruins - or at least the only one that really has a chance of working - and now it's coach Claude Julien's lot to deal with it.

"It was a tight checking game, but nonetheless, I think everybody's got to find a way to create more, and that's going to be the challenge in this series with two teams playing really tight," Julien said on Saturday "So it's about everybody working a little harder and then gaining your space and doing what you have to do here."

Bruins' Projected Lineup

Forwards

Milan Lucic - David Krejci - Jarome Iginla

Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - Reilly Smith

Justin Florek - Carl Soderberg - Loui Eriksson

Jordan Caron - Gregory Campbell - Shawn Thornton

Defensive pairings

Zdeno Chara - Dougie Hamilton

Matt Bartkowski - Johnny Boychuk

Torey Krug - Kevan Miller

Goaltenders

Tuukka Rask

Chad Johnson

Defensemen Matt Bartkowski and Kevan Miller have resumed skating and the flu bug that ran a very different gauntlet through the Bruins' locker room has abated and all players are clear of the nasty virus - though the after effects of the bug combined with a long layoff may have been part of the reason why Boston was unable to break the Red Wings' trap...

...but there is still no word on the status of forward Daniel Paille nor Chris Kelly, both of whom have been laid up for over a week now, Paille with an upper-body injury (in lieu of a concussion, which the team claims he does not have) and Kelly with recurring back spasms.

Red Wings' Projected Lineup

Forwards

Johna Franzen - Pavel Datsyuk - Justin Abdelkader

Gustav Nyquist - Riley Sheahan - Tomas Tatar

Tomas Jurco - Darren Helm - Daniel Alfredsson

Drew Miller - David Legwand - Luke Glendening

Defensive Pairings

Niklas Kronwall - Brendan Smith

Kyle Quincey - Dan DeKeyser

Jakub Kindl - Brian Lashoff

Goaltenders

Jimmy Howard

Jonas Gustavsson

As mentioned in an earlier piece, the Red Wings are as healthy as they've been all season and got through Friday night's match relatively unscathed - even defenseman Danny DeKeyser, who was the victim of a Milan Lucic cup check late in the second period, but emerged no worse for wear - at least as far as hockey is concerned.

Lucic was fined $5,000 for his attempt at mixing up DeKeyser's huevos, an expensive little omelet that the freight train has no explanation for.

"I don't want to say it was too much frustration. It was kind of a heat of the moment thing where you're not thinking when you do something like that," Lucic said with a sense of embarrassment. "I've been in the years seven years now, and I think I've only done that three times. I don't know why I did that."

Nobody knows why he did it, other than the frustration that Lucic denies, or maybe even an attempt to fire up his teammates, who were having trouble breaking through the Red Wings' neutral zone gauntlet - regardless, they all collectivly realize what is at stake if they can't solve the riddle.

“It’s just one game. We have to obviously play a lot better." top line center David Krejci lamented after Friday night's 1-0 loss. "We have to look at the video tomorrow, and make some adjustments. The next game is going to be important. It’s a bit different if you go to Detroit going in 1-1, or 0-2. So we have to do everything we can and get a win on Sunday.”

And that means being physical and breaking the Red Wings' trapping gauntlet, then making them pay in the form of getting some pucks past goaltender Jimmy Howard.

Game time is set for 3:00pm EST, at TD Garden in Boston.

Red Wings' ride Howard, Datsyuk to sink Boston Bruins

Datsyuk's spectacular goal leaves a trail of Boston defenders sprawled on the ice

It was clear from the very beginning that the Detroit Red Wings game plan was to put as many shots on Boston Bruins' goaltender Tuukka Rask as they could - which isn't exactly a surprise, except that they didn't seem to have a game plan other than that...

...shot after shot after shot, if they didn't have a shooting lane - well - that was ok, because sooner or later one was bound to get through.

Rask eschewed the blindfold and cigarette, however, and stopped everything - everything except Pavel Datsyuk's snap shot from the high slot that beat him high on the glove side with just over three minutes remaining in regulation as the Red Wings took game one of their best of seven series by a score of 1-0 on Friday night at TD Garden in downtown Boston.

Detroit goaltender Jimmy Howard traded spectacular saves with Rask, stopping all 25 shots that he faced, including several point-blank chances, the best chance the Bruins had at getting one past him coming just before Datsyuk's game winner, when Milan Lucic managed to squeeze one through Howard's pads, but the puck fluttered just wide of the goal mouth...

...a play that started the game winning sequence - the Bruins' getting a change once the Red Wings cleared the zone, but moving the puck back into the attacking zone too quickly for the Patrice Bergeron line to set up a triangle to properly attack the net.

"It was a fortunate save. It was pretty lucky," Howard said of Lucic's near-miss. "I forget who it was that lobbed it in, but he stuck his stick out and got a lot on it, and it just sort of spun my glove, and I was just able to get enough on it. I was pretty lucky."

Rask wasn't so lucky - and it takes plenty of good fortune to keep Datsyuk off the scoreboard.

With just over three minutes to play, Red Wings' forward Johan Franzen picked a loose puck off between Bergeron and winger Brad Marchand and started up the bench-side dashers, drawing all three of the second line Bruins' forwards toward him in an attempt to trap him along the boards, but he managed to trickle the puck into the neutral zone...

...Datsyuk reaching behind him and gathering in the puck without breaking stride and leaving the Bruins' forwards lunging at air - weaving into the attacking zone and crossing behind linemate Justin Abdelkader just as the winger collided with defenseman Dougie Hamilton, effectively removing him from the play and shielding Datsyuk from Rask's vantage point.

"The puck was probably 4 or 5 feet behind him and he was able to pick it up, do things that no one else can do." marvelled Red Wings' defenseman Niklas Kronwall. "We've seen it before, and he did it again. Abdelkader did a great job pushing their far defenseman down, which created some more room - and when he shot the puck, Rask didn't see it much."

Actually, Rask never saw the puck at all - nor did Hamilton, nor did fellow blue-liner Zdeno Chara as the collision toppled both, with Hamilton landing on top of Abdelkader and riding him into the crease like a kid on a snow saucer while the puck danced in the twine.

"He was by himself there, and so I'm just thinking a shot, and he drags it across and releases from his legs," Rask said of Datsyuk. "You just try to get the puck in your eyes, and I couldn't. Usually he tries to make a pass, but I thought he was by himself there."

In a game as tight and evenly matched as this series is going to offer, one defensive breakdown can make all the difference for the opposition - and in the playoffs, the opposition is going have players experienced in taking advantage of such a small window of opportunity.

There's not many better at it than Pavel Datsyuk - and sometimes all it takes is one.

Boston Bruins on Paper: Projected lineups and injury report vs Detroit Red Wings

The Boston Bruins are a bit banged up heading into their first round Stanley Cup Playoff series against the Detroit Red Wings - more banged up than the Wings, in fact - which after battling the injury bug all season long, would be a welcome change for coach Mike Babcock's charges.

Forwards Chris Kelly, Daniel Paille and defenseman Matt Bartkowski appear to still be on the shelf as they have not skated all week, nor did they take the ice in an optional skate this morning at TD Garden - Kelly dealing with back spasms, Paille a possible concussion (though there are reports that he passed the initial concussion protocol testing) and Bartkowski is laid low with a protracted case of the flu.

Tight-lipped Bruins' bench boss Claude Julien typically offered no updates on the status of any of the afflicted, but did offer that Paille skated on his own before Friday's optional skate.

If all three are scratched as expected, rookie Justin Florek would join the Soderberg line and Jordan Caron the Merlot, and trade-deadline acquisition Andrej Meszaros would fill in on the blue line.

Bruins' Projected Lineup

Forwards

Milan Lucic - David Krejci - Jarome Iginla

Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - Reilly Smith

Justin Florek - Carl Soderberg - Loui Eriksson

Jordan Caron - Gregory Campbell - Shawn Thornton

Defensive pairings

Zdeno Chara - Dougie Hamilton

Torey Krug - Johnny Boychuk

Andrej Meszaros - Corey Potter

Goaltenders

Tuukka Rask

Chad Johnson

The Red Wings are, arguably, as healthy as they've been since December, and there are whispers around the Red Wings that team Captain Henrik Zetterberg could possibly make a return from back surgery by the end of their first round series with the Bruins - but that won't be Friday night.

Zetterberg is planning on returning from an injured list that includes Daniel Cleary and Stephen Weiss - neither of whom will be returning - and Jonathan Ericsson, who has started skating this week as part of a plan to return soon from a broken finger.

There is no promise of either Zetterberg or Ericsson to return in time to help the Red Wings in the first round, though the best case would have them back in time for Game 6 in Detroit if the series lasts that long.

Red Wings' Projected Lineup

Forwards

Johna Franzen - Pavel Datsyuk - Justin Abdelkader

Gustav Nyquist - Riley Sheahan - Tomas Tatar

Tomas Jurco - Darren Helm - Daniel Alfredsson

Drew Miller - David Legwand - Luke Glendening

Defensive Pairings

Niklas Kronwall - Brendan Smith

Kyle Quincey - Dan DeKeyser

Jakub Kindl - Brian Lashoff

Goaltenders

Jimmy Howard

Jonas Gustavsson

Boston Bruins not looking past Red Wings, nor their slimy traditions

Hey, look at that big, fat target on the backs of those Boston Bruins' sweaters...

With it being human nature to want to topple the King, it comes as no surprise that the Bruins are expecting their opponents in these Stanley Cup Playoffs to throw everything they have - plus the kitchen sink - at the reigning President's Trophy winner.

Well, maybe not the kitchen sink, but perhaps a freshly slain octopus from Detroit Red Wings fans when the their first round series with the Bruins switches venues to HockeyTown next week - but for now, the worst thing that could happen is a rouge hot dog hitting the ice...



...as happened to Tyler Seguin last season in a game against New Jersey, the offending frank tossed onto the ice just as Seguin approached the goal as the first shooter in a shootout, his goal against Devils' netminder Johan Hedberg disallowed due to fan interference - and while the tossing of expensive TD Garden foot longs will never become a mainstay at any sporting event, the tossing of cephlapods on the ice in Detroit is steeped in tradition, and is actually recognized as such by the league.

Not just a random phenomena, the tradition was started in 1952 by two brothers that owned Detroit's famed Eastern Market who tossed an octopus on the ice at the antiquated "Old Red Barn", Olympia Stadium, the eight tentacles symbolizing how many wins it took to win the Stanley Cup back in the day, when it took just two seven-game series - eight wins - to capture the Cup.

Of course, the team went on to sweep both the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens to win the title, ensuring that the random act of the Cusimano brothers became a superstition and a tradition - and the Red Wings organization adopted the image of a purple octopus named "Al" as their mascot.


Two of the beasts now hang from the rafters at Joe Louis Arena during the playoffs, symbolic of the 16 wins that it takes to win the Stanley Cup in the modern NHL

Sushi vs. pressed and formed reanimated pork, beef and chicken spare-parts-on-a-bun aside, The Bruins seem to be pressing their anxiety buttons when faced with the prospect of dealing with a Red Wings team that presents an issue down the middle of the ice with their speed and puck handling abilities, particularly given that the Bruins have struggled in the opening rounds of the post-season for three consecutive years.

"We've got to be prepared to bring our best, because you talk about the last three years, you know the other team hasn't taken us lightly at all and they've given us their best," Bruins' forward Milan Lucic said on Thursday. "we kind of got ourselves into holes and got into a Game 7 overtime situation the last three years. So hopefully our mindset is where it needs to be in order for us to bring our best."

Lucic (center) and teammates are preparing to "Bring our best"...

Lucic also suggested that perhaps the Bruins have been overlooking opponents, though coach Claude Julien dismisses the thought...

...though he does feel that the pressure that the team has faced from the beginning of the season being defending Eastern Conference Champions has helped his players remain focused amid the aforementioned huge target on their backs.

"You know, I think there was pressure even to start this season, just making the Stanley Cup Finals out of the East two of the last three years." Julien pondered openly. "Obviously I think a lot of the pressure was on us throughout the whole season. And it seems like obviously this year we were able to deal with that pressure real well."

"But going into these playoffs, I don't feel any extra added pressure." Julien added, "And you know you don't want to put too much added pressure on yourself. You just want to remain focused and do what you need to do in order to help your team win."

Like...taking the first two games of the series in Boston, a series which begins on Friday evening and continues with a Sunday afternoon matinee before the series shifts to HockeyTown for games three and four next week...

...and if the Bruins can send the dangerous Red Wings back to Detroit down by those two games, no number of octopi thrown on the ice are going to help them against the rugged and heavy clamp-down defense and the relentless forecheck in the attacking zone that the Bruins employ for a full sixty minutes per game - and, as a result enter this post-season as the team to beat if you want to win the Cup.

The Red Wings get their shot starting on Friday night.