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.

Boston Bruins close out historic regular season; await Red Wings in first round

Chad Johnson was on a mission.  Kind of.

Between the pipes for the Boston Bruins' final regular season game on Sunday afternoon, if Johnson could hold the New Jersey Devils scoreless, he would force a tie for the Jennings Trophy, awarded to the goaltender - or tandem of goaltenders on the same team - who allow the least number of goals in the National Hockey League season.

Boston's Eriksson scores on the power play in the opening period

And, why not?  The Bruins had everything locked up that a team could possibly gain from the regular season with perhaps more individual accolades forthcoming - like centerman Patrice Bergeron being in the running for the Selke Trophy, defenseman Zdeno Chara perhaps in contention for the Norris Trophy and primary goaltender Tuukka Rask in good position - as always - for the Vezina Trophy...

...but none of those guys were playing in Newark on the last day of the regular season, as Boston coach Claude Julien - himself possibly in line for the Adam's Award - made good on promised mass substitutions from the regular lineup as a way of giving them another day of rest before the post-season begins, leaving the quest for the Jennings Trophy in the hands of Johnson and many call-ups from AHL Providence.

So, not surprisingly, that dream ended less than eight minutes into the match, courtesy of an all-to-easy wrap-around goal by Marek Zidlicky - then the Devils scored twice in the final frame to hold off the call-up laden, jumbled lineup of the purposely short-handed Bruins by a score of 3-2 in a game that may have been the last for New Jersey goaltender Martin Brodeur in a Devils' sweater.

The Bruins made it pretty easy on Brodeur, putting only 18 shots on net - the winner of 688 career games yielding power play goals to Loui Eriksson in the waning seconds of the opening period, and to Brad Marchand with just 18 seconds left in regulation - while the Devils pelted Johnson with 31 pucks, with Zidlicky potting two and Travis Zajac one as New Jersey sent Brodeur out a winner.

Both first period goals were things of beauty, Zidlicky taking a pass from Zajac at the point and looping around the back of the net, giving Johnson a shoulder fake to move him to his glove side then circling behind the net and jamming the puck into the net before Johnson could recover...

...then Eriksson tied the score just before the teams repaired to the rooms for the first intermission, Marchand at the top of a tight triangle hitting Carl Soderberg's tape in the slot, the big Swede one-timing the pass to Eriksson who beat Brodeur easily to the glove side from point blank for the tic-tac-toe equalizer.

After a second period that was more like an optional skate, the Devils took the lead in the third, Zajac beating Matt Bartkowski to the low slot and tipping in a Jaromir Jagr pass across the crease for a 2-1 lead four minutes in, then Zidlicky took a Damien Brunner pass from the point right in his wheelhouse, his one-timer beating Johnson low for the eventual game winner.

Marchand potted the rebound off a Soderberg point blank offering with just seconds to play to make the score more respectable, but it hardly mattered - Julien accomplishing his goal of getting some of his young prospects a brief taste of a real NHL game while giving his entire top line a day off, plus Chara and Bergeron and suffered no injuries among the rest of his regulars.

For certain, all of the Bruins will be rested and ready when the Detroit Red Wings come-a-calling next week as the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin, Boston assured of home ice advantage against the Red Wings and all throughout the post-season by virtue of posting the best record in the National Hockey League.

Boston Bruins clinch President's Trophy with dominating win over Sabres

So....

The Boston Bruins clinched the President's Trophy on Saturday and the home ice advantage throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs that comes with it, courtesy of a 4-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres, but may have paid a heavier price than they needed to.

With Chris Kelly already out of the lineup with back issues, Daniel Paille joined Patrice Bergeron in leaving the contest early - Paille getting drilled in the head by Jake McCabe and Bergeron perhaps with an aggravation of the undisclosed injury that kept him out of Thursday's shootout loss to Winnipeg.

Bruins' centerman David Krejci scores the first of his two goals

And it could have been a lot worse, what with rouge sticks flying face high and several high-speed near collisions that very well could have resulted in hurt feelings at the very least - not to mention skating fist John Scott trying to goad Milan Lucic and Zdeno Chara into dropping gloves...

...but in the end it was just a hockey game that was dominated from the opening faceoff to the final buzzer by a Bruins' team that seemed determined to end the race for the best record and just get on with the playoffs.

The Sabres gave everything they had - they usually do against Boston - but were reduced to playing catch up hockey for most of the afternoon, the Bruins getting two quick goals late in the first period from Gregory Campbell and David Krejci and Bergeron put the game out of reach halfway through the match, Krejci then potting another in the third for good measure.

Cody Hodgson scored Buffalo's lone goal against Bruins' netminder Tuukka Rask, who stopped the other 24 shots he faced to earn his 36th win of the season - while Sabres' young goaltender Matt Hackett stopped only 20 of 23 Bruins' shots before suffering what appeared to be a broken right leg and being taken off the ice immobilized on a stretcher.

Hackett's replacement, Conner Knapp, fared no better, allowing Krejci's second goal just two minutes into his relief effort.

Campbell's goal at the 16:54 mark of the first was the result of some fine passing from the wings, Shawn Thornton stretching a pass across center ice to Jordan Caron, who set up shop on the left wing and fed the puck to a streaking Campbell's tape, who merely had to open his stick to deflect the shot past Hackett...

...Krejci's just as easy as he took a Zdeno Chara purposely wide of the net pass, the puck bounding off the end boards and Krejci played the carom perfectly, taking the puck on his backhand on the opposite side of the net and easily snapped it behind a sprawling Hackett just 1:41 after Campbell opened the scoring.

Bergeron's goal was a little more on the conventional side, his one timer off of a short Brad Marchand feed near the dot in the right circle beating Hackett between the wickets - Hodgson potting his goal past Rask a few minutes later to make the score 3-1 heading into the rooms for the second intermission - setting up a third period that saw Buffalo's backup goalie knock Krejci's second goal into the net himself.

Krejci released a rocket from the point that screamed past the goal and struck the glass, the puck tumbling to the ice and sliding to the crease on the Knapp's glove side, but the netminder couldn't find the puck that was right on his left skate and knocked it in as he arose from his butterfly.

So with everything sewn up that the Bruins could possibly achieve, Sunday afternoon's match in New Jersey means absolutely nothing to Boston and even less to the Devils, their season over at the final horn - so as one might expect, coach Claude Julien will look to rest as many players as he possibly can.

"After I’m done with you guys I’ve got to sit down with my general manager and look at the situation," Julien told beat writers in the room after the game. "Obviously, our health issues, and also maybe giving some guys some rest."

"I can tell you right now, we’re going to try to bring some guys up." Julien continued, referring to recalling players from AHL Providence. "I don’t know yet who because of what’s happened today. I don’t know who is going to be left behind or who will not play tomorrow, but we’ll have a different lineup."

As for Paille, he was helped from the ice by teammates after the collision with McCabe - and even though it appeared from replays that McCabe meant no malfeasance from the hit, he was still assessed an interference major and a game misconduct penalty, though he should not face any supplementary from the league.

"I mean, I knew right away that it probably didn’t look good, he dropped like that and you hope the guy is okay," said McCabe, "I think he’s got a concussion history in the past, a couple of guys are telling me, so the best wishes for that, but I wasn’t trying to be dirty at all; I was just trying to play hard."

A concussion appears to be the layman's diagnosis, and it's a good bet that Paille will not even board a plane for Newark - but in the strangest sequence that a hockey fan will ever see, Campbell went right after McCabe following the hit, which happened right in front of the Buffalo bench...

...fists clenched, and just as Campbell was about to deliver the roundhouse right, Sabres' goon Scott casually reached out and grabbed Campbell's forearm to prevent the punch being thrown, allowing some sportmanship on the part of Sabres' centerman Tyler Ennis, who grasped onto the visibly shaky Paille as he arose and prevented him from hitting the ice again.

And that is the enduring memory most would like to take from the Sabres / Bruins rivalry for this year - an act of humanity and sportsmanship from a hockey player whose season was just minutes from being over.