Red Sox

Bruins Avoid a Late Game Meltdown to Tie Maple Leafs Series at 2-2

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Before this series started I refused to look past the Maple Leafs and play what if matchups with Tampa Bay (who just got swept) because Toronto is no joke. I had Bruins in 7 before the series and I’m sticking to that now. It seems like the Bruins only want to play hard every other game though. In Game 1 they looked lifeless and got run out of the rink by a quicker and younger Maple Leafs team. In Game 2 the Bruins looked like they were shot out of a cannon led by the soon to be 35-year-old enforcer David Backes laying the wood on guys. Hell even David Pastrnak was teeing off on guys.

Then Game 3 came and the Bruins got their dicks stomped once again with fans starting to openly wonder what the hell had happened to the alleged best line in hockey. Bergeron, Marchand, and Pastrnak had barely contributed through 3 games and if that line ain’t carrying the team then the Bruins are dead on arrival. Welp, since the B’s are only playing hard in even number games apparently, they once again looked like the team we saw all year long in Game 4.

Pastrnak even got back to his old ways netting 2 goals while Marchand added 3 points and was all over the puck all night long.

The definition of first world problems last night though was having the Bruins and Celtics playing important playoff games at the same exact time. Since picture in picture is a bullshit idea that is more distracting than helpful and since I’m not about to drag another TV out to my living room, I had to live with switching back and forth all night. It worked out relatively well with the hockey intermissions and the NBA halftime providing solid chunks of time to watch the other with undivided attention. So the Bruins are up 5-2 and I go to watch the last five minutes of the Celtics game, which naturally took about 25 minutes. I flip back to the Bruins and its 5-4.

The Tuukka haters were served some humble pie, at least in the first two periods, when Tuukka saved the B’s bacon with some seriously clutch saves on a barrage of shots from Toronto. He finished the night with 38 saves and was one of the reasons the B’s were so dominant in the first 2 periods. He did give up 3 in the third though so there’s that. So was Tuukka dominant or was Tuukka giving the game away? Depends who you ask.

“So with the Bruins on the verge of returning to Boston down three games to one, the point was hammered home once again: Rask needed to steal the Bruins a game before it was too late.

…Am I crazy for thinking that Rask finally did exactly that in a 38-save, 6-4 victory in Game 4 at Scotiabank Arena?” – Ty Anderson of 98.5 after Game 4.

Either way, the B’s pulled it out despite some serious hand wringing in the final minutes. I know it wasn’t a “must win” game, but you absolutely cannot go back home down 3-1 and expect to rip off 3 in a row. A 2-2 split is much more manageable and it would have been a goddamn shame to waste great games from Pasta and Tuukka.

All this came just minutes after the C’s pulled out a close one in the playoffs too. Victory Dip for all!

See you Friday boys.

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