GOLD STAR: Tuukka Rask bounced back nicely from a rough Game 7, and was locked in while making 34 saves in Game 1 against the Tampa Bay Lightning. He even did a great job of not completely getting rattled after the Lightning scored against him with a broken skate blade after he clearly lost a gasket arguing for a whistle. He fired the broken skate blade into the side boards in frustration and then he went right back to stymieing the Tampa Bay attack including a nice low, glove side save on Ondrej Palat at the close of the second period. Clearly, Rask hit the reset button at the end of the Toronto series and he’s in a much more confident place going up against Tampa Bay where he’s had very good numbers throughout his career. That bodes very well for a Bruins team that clearly has more of an even match-up in goal than many gave them credit for to start this series.
BLACK EYE: Brayden Point got an assist, but the youngster also absolutely had his lunch handed to him by the Bruins as he attempted to hang with the Bruins top line. Point finished with the helper, but was also a team-worst minus-5 with no shots on net and a 4-for-12 performance in the face-off circle as he clearly wasn’t up to the task of being a checking line against the Bergeron Line. I’ll give them credit that they seemed to keep the lopsided puck possession away from Boston’s top three forwards, but they still couldn’t keep the puck out of the net as they combined for three goals, 11 points, and a plus-12 during the game. There were many Tampa Bay players that got humbled in Game 1, and Point was certainly near the top of the list.
TURNING POINT: Funny as it is to say, the broken skate blade with the Bruins really seemed to be a turning point for them in the game. After Tuukka Rask took his nutty, the Bruins just calmed down, kept scoring and really once again finished up strong with three goals in the third period to take home the win with authority. They outshot the Lightning by an 11-6 margin in the final period and never looked back after their goalie set the tone by stopping everything in his path the rest of the way. As shakily as things ended for their goalie in Game 7 against Toronto, he really turned things around with a very good effort against Tampa after holding his emotions in check following a good, healthy skate blade toss. Even better it seemed like the whole Bruins team just kept on coming even after a couple of tough breaks between the Marchand goal being taken off the board, and the skate blade incident with the goalie.
HONORABLE MENTION: Patrice Bergeron really looked much more like himself after getting a couple more days removed from the playoff series against the Tampa Bay Lightning. He finished with a pair of goals and three points along with a plus-4 rating, six shot attempts, one hit, two takeaways, a block and 13-of-23 face-off wins in a dominant performance for the Black and Gold. He finished off a couple of great passes with his textbook shot from the slot and face-off circle areas, he played strong defense when out on the ice in his own zone and once again the power play looked like a place where the B’s will do a lot of damage in this series. If Bergeron gets his goal-scoring mojo going against Tampa they are in big, big trouble. The best part of it all, though, was that he looks fully healthy again and like he’s back to peak form after looking like he was sucking it up in the last few games vs. Toronto.
BY THE NUMBERS: 2 – the number of assists for Charlie McAvoy in the win to go along with five hits as the rookie D-man played his best game of the playoffs, and is beginning to again look like himself again after a tough Toronto series.
QUOTE TO NOTE: “Well, at least I didn’t throw it at anybody.” –Tuukka Rask, when asked if he had any second thoughts about chucking the broken skate blade in anger after Tampa’s second goal of the game.
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