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| David Krejci (left), Patrice Bergeron (37) and the Bruins finally found a way to beat Carey Price Monday night and now trail the Canadiens just 2-1 in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. |
Executing a desperate game-plan to seemingly perfection, the Black and Gold scored multiple early goals and held on in thrilling fashion to defeat the Canadiens 4-2 Monday night before a deafening sell-out crowd of 21,273 at the Bell-Centre. With the incredibly clutch road victory, the Bruins are officially on the board and now trail the hated-Habs 2-1 in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.
The best-of-seven series resumes with Game Four Thursday night at the Bell-Centre.
After entering Montreal down 0-2, it looked bleak for the sputtering Bruins. They had wasted away their home ice advantage and now had to enter incredibly hostile territory with a chance of being swept out of the postseason entirely. There were questions about Tim Thomas' goaltending, Claude Julien's coaching and Zdeno Chara's health.
Instead, for the first time in three postseason games, the Bruins stepped up when it mattered most. They rose to the occasion instead of folding in front of it. They showed the heart. They showed passion. They played the way we all knew they were capable of but for some reason failed to make good on in the first two games of the series.
They played Bruins hockey.
Exhibiting the same recipe for success they've shown all season, the Bruins were led by their stars, mainly goaltender Tim Thomas (34 saves). Yes, he allowed a couple soft ones to incite the Montreal come-back, but he also more than made up for it with unbelievably spectacular saves late when he needed to most.
"He made some big saves," said head coach Claude Julien. "The fact that he was able to do that shows a lot of character. There's no doubt he'd like to have those two goals [back] that went in on him. A goaltender could have just had negative thoughts in his mind and not been sharp at the end. But for him to do what he did meant that he was willing to redeem himself and give us the big saves. He did that. They were huge."
Beyond Thomas, the Bruins were carried by the return of captain Zdeno Chara. The towering defenseman missed Game Two with a virus and dehydration but made an immediate impact Monday night, solidifying the defense and playing a team-high 26 minutes.
Patrice Bergeron pitched in with two spectacular assists, including a beautiful cross-ice feed to David Krejci just over three minutes into the game to give the Bruins an early 1-0 advantage, their first lead of the series.
Supporting players stepped up as well: Nathan Horton and Rich Peverley scored their first first career playoff goals and Chris Kelly added an empty-net goal to seal the victory with 26 seconds left. Dennis Seidenberg played great defense and Andrew Ference showed heart, pummeling Benoit Pouliot after a dirty charge from behind on Johnny Boychuk.
The Bruins will escape the madness of Montreal and now spend the next few days in Lake Placid, practicing on the same rink as the 1980 Miracle game. And while Bruins fans are hoping for a miracle of their own, they hang their hat on the fact that the first win of a multiple-game comeback is always the hardest.
But that's not to say things are going to get easier. They won't. It just means the Bruins have life, which is something that could not be said after the first two games of the series.
And if they continue to play the way they did Monday night, the series could just be getting started.
"It's the playoffs and we all want to win and know they're not going to stop," said Bergeron. "Even though they were down three goals, they kept going and we expected that, and we know Thursday is going to be a tough game."
Keep the faith, Bruins fans.
Living on a prayer in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
This is what it's all about.
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