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.