Bruins Follow Road Blue Print
BOSTON (CBS) - It wasn't pretty at times, but give the Boston Bruins 100-percent credit for taking a 2-1 lead in their Eastern Conference Finals with a 2-0 win over the Lightning in Tampa Thursday night.
It begins with Tim Thomas, who played like the Vezina Trophy winner he will be as the NHL's top goaltender. You could see Tim's game starting to sharpen up in the 3rd period of Tuesday's wild 6-5 victory at the Garden. He wasn't spectacular, he simply found a way to stop everything that came his way.
And, that sums up how the Bruins win these games. They aren't the best looking wins, but they are exactly what needs to happen when you play on the road.
Boston got a quick strike from David Krejci on a nifty and alert feed from Milan Lucic and that was it. Andrew Ference gave the B's some breathing room midway through the 3rd period.
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Meanwhile, the B's shut down the explosive Tampa attack the way the Lightning did in their series against Washington. Solid neutral zone play and a philosophy of moving the puck as quickly as possible out of their zone. Add some key blocked shots and you've got yourself a series lead.
It was nice to have Patrice Bergeron back. He was his usual all-around force. Tyler Seguin wasn't anywhere near as spectacular as he yeas in Game 2, but it wasn't that type of game.
And, kudos to Shawn Thornton. It had to be a tough night for him to sit one out, but he's the consummate pro and team player.
So, now the B's have a chance to take command of the series Saturday afternoon in Game 4. Will they? It will be tough to win another one down there, but Boston has shown it can do anything in this postseason.
Six wins to a Stanley Cup....
