Bruins Head To Lake Placid Confident, But Not Overconfident
BOSTON (CBS) - The Bruins did not celebrate their 4-2 Game three playoff win against the Canadiens in Montreal Monday night.
Instead, they boarded a bus and set off for Lake Placid, New York. They will practice Tuesday and Wednesday at the USA Rink before heading back to Montreal Wednesday night.
"We have a couple of days here before the next game," head coach Claude Julien said after the victory Monday night. "Certainly we've got to work on our game a little bit and we want to do that. Hopefully we get a little bit of rest and sharpen up in those areas that we think we need to sharpen up in and come back here ready for Game four."
Monday night's win got the Bruins back in the series, which Montreal leads 2-1 after taking the first two games in Boston.
"We knew the importance of this game," Captain Zdeno Chara said after returning from and illness that kept him out of Game two. "We approached it that way, and we're happy with the result. We have to get ready for the next one."
Listen: Gresh & Zo: Bruins Get A Must Win
The Bruins were able to jump out to a 2-0 lead, despite facing three power plays in the first 15 minutes. David Krejci scored at the 3:11 mark of the first period, and the Bruins doubled that on Nathan Horton's first career playoff goal at 14:38.
This is Horton's first playoff series in the NHL, and his head coach is hoping the goal will open the floodgates for the scorer.
"What I saw was a guy getting better," Julien said of Horton. "He had more confidence especially after he scored that goal. It certainly took a lot of weight off his shoulders. Hopefully they can build on that, we're certainly going to need more from that line."
Listen: Joe Haggerty On T&R: Should Seguin Replace Ryder?
The Bruins also got great goal-tending from Tim Thomas, who stopped 34 or the 36 shots that came his way. He let a few bunnies beat him to allow the Canadiens back in the game, but made some big saves late in the game as the Bruins held on to a one goal lead. Overall, the Vezina Trophy candidate was happy with what his team was able to accomplish in Game three.
"You're down 2-0 in the series, playing in Montreal is not easy," Thomas said. "It was a gut-check for us and we got the job done."
"We stepped up to the plate and did what we needed to do," he added. "We got ourselves back into the series, now it's up to us to see what we can do with it."
Still, the Bruins know they are in a hole when it comes to winning the series.
"We don't want to get too confident," Krejci said. "We just got one win, they still have two. We're still behind. Come up the next game, try to get a win. Try to get the first goal and control from there, just like we did (Monday)."
"It's only one game," veteran Shawn Thornton said. "So we'll go to Placid, think about it, regroup and get ready for Thursday."
Tune in to 98.5 The Sports Hub's coverage of the Bruins-Canadiens playoff series starting 30 minutes before the puck drops with the Dunkin Donuts Bruins Pregame show.
