Bruins 6, Blackhawks 2 – Recap

By Kevin Schroeder
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Updated: February 22, 2015

For the third straight Sunday, the Hawks had an afternoon game, this one a 2:30 start against the Boston Bruins. The Bruins would get out to a good start in this one, applying pressure before ultimately scoring the game’s first goal three minutes in. Brad Marchand made a great pass to Patrice Bergeron, who put the puck into the net. After this, the Hawks would get a couple nice chances that were kept out of the net on great saves by Tuukka Rask.

We would go to 4-on-4 hockey just over seven-and-a-half minutes into the game after Brad Marchand boarded Michal Roszival and Roszival retaliated with a slash. The Bruins would get the better chances in the 4-on-4, but neither team would score. The Bruins would get the game’s first power play after Marian Hossa was called for a hold on his countryman Zdeno Chara. The Hawks would get a great chance with Kris Versteeg on a breakaway, but Rask made the save. The Bruins would convert toward the end of the man advantage when Torey Krug’s shot was redirected off the inside of the post and into the net by Loui Eriksson. Not long after, things went from bad to worse for the Hawks when Patrick Kane was sent off for hooking. The Hawks would be able to kill off this penalty, though.

Shortly after Kane’s penalty ended, the Hawks would get a power play of their own after an utterly brainless roughing penalty by Brad Marchand, who made his second trip to the penalty box of the game. The Hawks would come up empty on the power play, but would get another one shortly after, this one the result of Tuukka Rask playing the puck in the restricted area and getting called for delay of game. The Hawks converted six seconds later, when Jonathan Toews put one past Rask. After the goal, Rask hit the post with his stick in anger, and in doing so, caught Kris Versteeg with the blade, resulting in another penalty, the vast majority of which would be served in the second period. The Hawks went into the first intermission down 2-1, but with 1:59 of power play time waiting for them to start the second.

The Blackhawks started the second with 1:59 of power play time, using 1:58 of it before answering three stupid penalties by the Bruins with one of their own, a too many men penalty. With the Bruins’ power play winding down, the Bruins extended their lead in the teams’ battle to out-stupid each other, committing a too many men penalty of their own. The Hawks would get a few great chances on the power play, but were denied each time. The game remained 2-1 in favor of Boston, and for the first time in the period, we went to 5-on-5 hockey.

Not long after we returned to 5-on-5 play, the Bruins extended their lead back to two when Milan Lucic got the puck past Corey Crawford. After totally gaining the momentum and getting the Hawks on their heels, the Bruins would extend the lead to 4-1 Gregory Campbell beat Crawford with a shot that a goaltender of Crawford’s pay grade simply has to stop. After the Campbell goal, Antti Raanta entered the game, replacing Crawford. The Bruins held on to the momentum, and would get a power play with just over two-and-a-half to play in the period after Ryan Hartman tripped Zdeno Chara. The Bruins converted almost instantly as Dougie Hamilton beat Raanta with a shot that Raanta probably should have had. With four seconds to play in the period, Reilly Smith beat Raanta high stick side to make it 6-1.

With the game all but over entering the third, the Blackhawks were essentially just playing for pride at this point. For the first 14:18 of the period, the Hawks did just that, keeping the deficit at five. After that, they actually scored when Bryan Bickell redirected a David Rundblad shot off Rask and into the net. So pin a rose on him. That would be the last goal scored in the game, and the Hawks would fall to Boston 6-2. Not that this was the only problem, as this game was a poor effort by everyone, but Johnny Oduya was hurt early on, and it’s not going to be very easy to win games with five defensemen, especially if two of those defensemen are Michal Roszival and David Rundblad. Anyway, whatever, on to the next one.

My picks for 3 stars:

★★★ Tuukka Rask, G, BOS (26 SV, 2 GA)

★★ Reilly Smith, RW, BOS (1 G, 1 A)

★ Patrice Bergeron, C, BOS (1 G, 2 A)

Twitter: @KSchroeder2325

E-mail: schroeder.giig@gmail.com

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