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...