Bruins Live Blog: Brad Marchand Scores 15:40 Into OT, Gives B's 1-0 Series Lead
Overtime, 4:20, 3-2 Bruins: Pretty nice time for Marchand to break out of his scoring slump.
After the Rangers failed on a 3-on-2, Bergeron flew up the right wing with the puck and from the goal line fed Marchand in front. He redirected the pass past Lundqvist and the Bruins lead 1-0 in this series.
Overtime, 5:37, 2-2: Lundqvist covers for the first whistle in nearly three and a half minutes. I thought these two teams were supposed to play slow, boring hockey??
Overtime, 9:01, 2-2: The Bruins have dominated possession this OT, as evidenced by their 13-2 advantage in shots. But this is overtime of the playoffs, and everyone knows it only takes one shot, one bounce and one lucky break to determine a winner.
Overtime, 12:09, 2-2: Another post for Boston, this one after Campbell redirected a blast by Boychuk in the high slot. Tough breaks for Johnny tonight.
Overtime, 15:19, 2-2: The Bruins got a ton of rubber on net, and Horton had a chance to stuff in a rebound toward the end of the man advantage, but alas, no goal for Boston.
Overtime, 17:40, 2-2: Bruins are getting a gift of a power play, as Dorsett gets called with interference on Rich Peverley. That would be an iffy call in regulation, but in OT of a playoff game, that's a really bad call. We'll see if the Bruins capitalize on the gift.
Overtime, 18:08, 2-2: Rask sharp early in OT, making a save and batting the puck away out of mid-air, then making a glove save on Derek Dorsett.
Overtime, 2-2: For the 12th time in the last 16 meetings between the B's and Rangers, the game will be determined by one goal. It will be the next one. Overtime is under way.
The Bergeron line is out there against the Stepan line, and after a brief delay for the Zamboni to come back out and fix a bad spot on the ice, we're under way.
End of regulation, 2-2: The Bruins had a pretty thrilling power play, with shots coming from all angles, but none of them ended up in the net. In the final seconds of the period, Johnny Boychuk let loose his patented slap shot, and his blast clanked off the post with 0.1 seconds on the clock. It likely would have counted if it were an inch and a half to the right, but that's hockey for you.
The teams will go and regroup in the locker room after 60 hard-fought minutes. I don't think anyone can say they didn't expect a few overtime games in this series, and the fact that the game will be decided by one goal falls right in line with the way these two teams play each other.
Third period, 2:09, 2-2: Rangers power play negated on an interference call on John Moore. It'll be 4-on-4 for 25 seconds, then the B's will get 1:35 of power play time.
Third period, 3:44, 2-2: Gut check time for both teams, as Patrice Bergeron, one of the Bruins' best penalty killers, gets sent to the box for hooking. The Rangers' power play has been abhorrent this postseason, now at 2-for-30, but this would be a pretty opportune time to break out.
Third period, 5:28, 2-2: The Rangers had sustained possession in the Bruins' end, but the black jerseys packed it in tight around the net to prevent any opportunities for New York.
There's 5:28 left, and the game could go either way. That's the type of hockey both teams play, so I can't say I'm surprised.
Third period, 11:22, 2-2: Things are picking up a bit here in the third, with both teams desperate to get ahead in the third. David Krejci weaved through the slot 5:50 into the period and beat Lundqvist, but his shot clanked off the crossbar. Play then broke the other way, with Rask having to make an outstanding toe save on Brassard just 20 seconds later. Rask was up for the job though, and the score remains tied. The Rangers have a slight 27-26 shot advantage.
Third period, 17:05, 2-2: It was Matt Bartkowski scoring on Monday, and tonight, it's Torey Krug.
The rookie D-man found some space at the top of the left faceoff circle. Dougie Hamilton passed it over to him, and Krug sized up a slap shot through traffic. It beat Lundqvist, and we've got a tie game.
Marchand picks up the secondary assist.
Third period, 18:51, 2-1 Rangers: The Bruins will get a chance to tie this up on a power play, after Steve Eminger gets called for a pretty blatant hold of Peverley.
Third period, 19:46, 2-1 Rangers: Well so much for the lack of scoring. Stepan one-times a pass from the high slot and simply beats Rask five-hole. Nothing fancy about that one. Hagelin gets the assist, and the Bruins are going to have to come from behind in the third period. Have they ever done that before?
Third period, 20:00, 1-1: There are twenty minutes left in this one ... unless of course the lack of scoring keeps up. We shall see, but the third is under way.
Second intermission, 1-1: Bruins have out-hit the Rangers 33-27, while both teams have 14 blocked shots through two periods. Chara and Lucic have a game-high five hits, while Girardi and Boychuk have a game-high three blocked shots.
There's not much to say about this one that hasn't already been said. It's going to take effort to grind out some gritty goals, because opportunities are few and far between. Both teams have cashed in on a little bit of luck to get this one to 1-1 through 40, so that's going to have to be a factor going forward as well.
End of second period, 1-1: The Bruins sustained possession in the New York end of the ice for nearly two full minutes at the end of the period, but after a stoppage in play with 15 seconds left, Rick Nash breaks free up the right wing. Bartkowski played the body and kept Nash from creating a scoring opportunity, but the puck ends up making its way to Ryan McDonagh at the left point. He teed one up in the closing seconds, and the shot had eyes. It found its way through several bodies and beat Rask high to the blocker side.
The goal tied the game and should give the Rangers a ton of momentum heading into the third. Bad goal for the Bruins to give up at a very bad time.
Second period, 3:47, 1-0 Bruins: The B's kill off another penalty, this one an interference call on McQuaid. Claude just used his timeout, so keep that in mind. He had to, because the PK unit was stuck out there for a long time, and Chara just iced the puck, and McQuaid is stuck at forward, so the team needed to regroup a bit.
Second period, 7:37, 1-0 Bruins: And we have ourselves a goal.
Nathan Horton aggressively chipped a puck off the boards in the defensive zone, sending Krejci on a rush. He pulled up at the top of the circle and waited for some reinforcements, and he passed to Zdeno Chara. With the puck on edge, Chara sent a blast toward net, and again it trickled through Lundqvist's pads. The puck was in the crease behind Lundqvist, and with Horton crashing, Henrik knocked it into his own net. The Bruins will take it.
Second period, 9:48, 0-0: And just as I say that, the Bruins get a pretty good opportunity, with Horton redirecting a Chara wrister from the point. Lundqvist was able to adjust and make a pretty nifty glove save.
Second period, 10:21, 0-0: Well, the Bruins killed off the Chara penalty, and we're about midway through this one in a scoreless tie. Shots are all square at 14-14, and we continue.
Where it looks like both teams are going to get their best chance to score is in a big muck of humanity in front of the net. They've already stabbed at some loose pucks and sent them toward nets. Whether the shots went wide, or whether D-men blocked them away, they haven't found the net yet, but that is the likeliest scenario for the tie-breaker in this one.
Second period, 13:49, 0-0: Johnny Boychuk has returned.
Second period, 15:22, 0-0: Big opportunity for the Rangers, who go on the power play after Chara hooks Nash in the neutral zone. Another terrible call, but it makes up for the one on Pyatt.
Second period, 15:34, 0-0: The Bruins' power play gets a couple of one-time slap shots from Krejci and Seguin, but no goals. Shortly after the power play ended, Horton sent a hard wrister on net, but Lundqvist was there to make the save.
Second period, 17:38, 0-0: Johnny Boychuk took a hit from behind by Taylor Pyatt, and Boychuk immediately dropped to the ice. He remained on his stomach for a minute after his head made hard contact with the glass, but he was able to skate to the bench and he did not go down the tunnel. He remained on the bench for 30 seconds, but he then made his way down to the "quiet room." As I mentioned earlier, the Bruins can ill afford to lose any D-men.
Pyatt gets a boarding penalty. It wasn't a malicious hit, as it was more Boychuk's head being in a bad spot, but the result of the hit seemed to draw the penalty.
Second period, 20:00, 0-0: Let's see what the second period brings. Like ... maybe ... a goal? We shall see.
End of first period, 0-0: This game has come as advertised. Both teams are sound defensively, neither is afraid to step in harm's way, and both goalies have looked pretty good.
Both teams got one good scoring opportunity -- the Rangers when Del Zotto hit the crossbar, the Bruins when Lundqvist let a Hamilton shot squeak loose behind him -- but offense has been hard to come by, and goals will have to be earned in this one.
Del Zotto did get hurt at the end of the period, when a Bergeron shot went straight up and caught the D-man directly in his left ear. It looked painful, and he was down on the ice for a bit, before skating off under his own power. It's the playoffs, and he plays for Tortorella, so he'll be back, but, well, ouch.
True to form, the Rangers blocked 10 shots that period, while the Bruins were able to get 11 on net. Brad Marchand created a pretty good chance in the closing seconds. After his wraparound bid was blocked, he threw the puck in front, where Jaromir Jagr was holding his ground, but no Bruin could get a stick on the puck in the frenzy.
So here we are, tied 0-0 after 20 minutes. It's pretty much what everyone expected.
First period, 4:00, 0-0: This time it's Lundqvist who gets lucky, after he lets a Dougie Hamilton shot from the point squirt through his legs and sit behind him for a couple of tantalizing seconds. As soon as Lucic broke for the free puck, though, Lundqvist scattered back to cover up.
First period, 5:11, 0-0: Not much to report, as this one's played out pretty much as we expected. Shots are tied 7-7, and scoring opportunities have been limited. The physical game is starting to pick up, with the Bruins credited with 12 hits and the Rangers credited with 11. Lundvist looks to be in a zone, especially when he ever-so-casually held the post on a Danny Paille wraparound, and this one remains scoreless.
First period, 8:46, 0-0: The Bruins catch the first break of the night, when -- after the third straight Boston icing -- Michael Del Zotto beats Rask, but his shot catches the crossbar square and bounces away. Still scoreless.
First period, 11:39, 0-0: Tyler Seguin slipped the Rangers' defense and was all alone in the left faceoff circle, but Lundqvist was in position to make the save. Good opportunity, but it's tough to beat Henrik with an unobstructed shot like that.
First period, 13:31, 0-0: No score yet. No nothing yet, really, but the Bruins' fourth line has done a good job of not only preventing anything from happening in the defensive zone but also forcing some chances down the other end. If the Bruins can get some scoring out of that line, against this goalie, it'll go a long, long way.
First period, 15:13, 0-0: There was a minor scare for the Bruins on the opening shift, when Johnny Boychuk left the ice early with some apparent pain. He didn't miss a shift though, because he's Johnny Boychuk. Still, it's a reminder of just how tenuous the Bruins' situation is on the blue line, as they really can't afford to lose anyone else, especially early in the game.
First period, 20:00: We are under way in Game 1.
7:36 p.m.: Here are your starting Bruins:
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Jaromir Jagr
Matt Bartkowski-Johnny Boychuk
Tuukka Rask
Rangers will start:
Carl Hagelin-Derek Stepan-Ryan Callahan
Michael Del Zotto-Dan Girardi
Henrik Lundqvist
7:35 p.m.: Torey Krug is indeed in the lineup tonight.
7:30 p.m.: Tonight's honorary banner captain is Adrianne Haslet-Davis, the dancer who was injured in the Boston Marathon bombings. You can read more about her here.
As for the game, we're within 10 minutes of puck drop, so get your popcorn ready.
7:18 p.m.: A pregame thought for ya -- as bad as the Bruins' power play has been in recent years, it's at 15 percent right now through seven postseason games. The Rangers? They're at just 7.1 percent, with two goals on 28 chances. Don't expect a power-play goal bonanza tonight.
The Bruins might not even get many opportunities this whole series. The Rangers were disciplined in the first round, averaging just 6.0 PIMs per game. The Bruins averaged 9.1 PIMs per game in the first round.
7:10 p.m.: Torey Krug looks to be Adam McQuaid's defensive partner for tonight. Here's how the lines looked in pregame warmups:
Lucic-Krejci-Horton
Marchand-Bergeron-Jagr
Peverley-Kelly-Seguin
Paille-Campbell-Thornton
Chara-Hamilton
Bartkowski-Boychuk
Krug-McQuaid
Rask
For the Rangers, it looks like John Tortorella will keep Ryan McDonagh and Dan Girardi separated, as McDonagh was paired with Anton Stralman and Girardi with Michael Del Zotto.
7:05 p.m.: No Seidenberg, no Ference, no Redden on the ice for warmups. They won't be playing tonight.
6:45 p.m.: It's officially time to move on from Game 7.
It was one of the most thrilling games we've ever seen, but it doesn't mean much now, as the New York Rangers are in town for the opening game in the conference semifinals.
It should be a heavy, physical matchup, with every shift of every game being a true grind.
That will be a tough test for the Bruins, who are down three D-men to start the series. Dennis Seidenberg is unlikely to be on the ice tonight, and it's a safe bet to expect Andrew Ference and Wade Redden to be out of the lineup as well. That will require Dougie Hamilton and Matt Bartkowski will have to play a lot older than they are, and Torey Krug may have to as well.
Hamilton and Bartkowski played just fine in Game 7, but this is a whole new series, and John Tortorella's forwards will definitely be looking to attack the young D-men any chance they get.
As for how the lineup shapes up, I'll post an update when the teams take the ice for warmups shortly, and I'll have live updates from the Garden all the way from puck drop to the final horn, so check back throughout the night.
Read more from Michael by clicking here, or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.
