Daniel Paille scored the first goal of the game Monday night (Bridgetds@Flickr)

Heading into this series, questions arose as to who the hero was going to be for both teams. The possibilities were endless.

Marian Hossa. Patrick Kane. Jonathan Toews. Patrice Bergeron. Jaromir Jagr. Milan Lucic.

Hold it… Danny Paille? That’s right, the checking line winger has scored the two Bruins game-winning goals in this series, including the first goal of Game 3 after he lifted Blackhawks forward Dave Bolland’s stick and fired a wrist shot over Corey Crawford to stun the Blackhawks. Tuukka Rask stayed sharp with 23 saves in the shutout and Paille was awarded his third game-winning goal of the playoffs.

This is particularly impressive since Paille has scored just one playoff goal that was not a game-winning goal.

Some of the credit goes to Bruins Head Coach Claude Julien, who shuffled the lines after a disastrous first period in Game 2. Julien took Shawn Thornton off the third line and moved crafty forward Tyler Seguin to Paille’s line. The newly formed third line scored both goals in Game 2 as well as the all-important first goal in Game 3.

After the success in Game 2, Julien called it “a hunch from a coach.”

That hunch has gone a long way as the Bruins hold a 2-1 series lead with Game 4 in Boston Wednesday night.

2 Minutes of Thrills

Was there a more exciting two minutes of hockey than the two minutes that the Bruins had to kill off Shawn Thornton’s roughing penalty at 14:15 of the first period? Let’s recap some of the plays that occurred in this time:

• 16 seconds in: Brad Marchand attempts to carry the puck out and Michal Rozsival’s shoulder finds him in a crushing blow that sends Marchand to the rink as the puck stays in the Blackhawks offensive zone.
• 20 seconds in: Patrick Kane gets the puck behind the net and sends it in front to Duncan Keith, who skates in all alone. Instead of shooting, Keith comes in as close as possible to Rask but then decides to pass to a cluster of players. No one can get a stick on it, yielding the question as to why Keith didn’t just fire it. Still, every person viewing the game was on the edge of their seat on the play.
• 1 minute in: Kelly brings the puck out on the penalty-kill and hangs back in the neutral zone. He softly dumps the puck to the corner while Keith goes off for a line change. This creates a mix-up at the blue line as Bruins center Rich Peverley is left all alone and comes in on Crawford with Rozsival closing in. Peverley drags it to his forehand and the Blackhawks goaltender comes up with a huge leg save.

• 1 minute, 45 seconds in: Bruins Captain Zdeno Chara gets the puck behind his net and fires the puck down the ice to a waiting Marchand, who had a clear path to the net with defenseman Nick Leddy about two steps behind. Blackhawk fans were thrilled to see the puck roll off Marchand’s stick as he went to shoot on Crawford.

Patrice Bergeron has scored both power-play goals in this series (Bridgetds@Flickr)

First Power-Play Goal

If you watched or listened to the broadcast last night, you learned that Patrice Bergeron’s power-play goal was just the second for both teams in this series. What you may not realize is that the power-play struggles predate the Stanley Cup Final.

Before Bergeron scored with the extra man in Game 1, the Bruins hadn’t scored a power-play goal since Torey Krug did on May 26 in Game 5 of the Eastern Semifinal against the New York Rangers. His goal tied the game at 1-1 early in the second period to start a three-goal Bruin onslaught to eliminate the Rangers from the playoffs.

The last goal for the Blackhawks occurred on Sunday, June 2 when Bryan Bickell scored in the second period of Game 2 of the Western Final to give the Blackhawks a 3-0 lead over the Los Angeles Kings.

Power-plays are an important aspect of all NHL games, but it seems that teams can remain successful as long as they have solid five-on-five play.

Chris Stewart and Patrik Berglund are RFAs this summer (Bridgetds@Flickr)

Last week, St. Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong revealed his most important plans for the summer.  He all but promises to lock up restricted free-agents Alex Pietrangelo, Kevin Shattenkirk, Patrik Berglund and Chris Stewart.

“We’re going to want it the way we think is proper for the St. Louis Blues,” he told Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post Dispatch. “If there’s an offer sheet there, we’re very content with where we are with the NHL salary cap, we’re going to be able to match any offer and we will.

“These are core players that we’re not going to let go.”

Pietrangelo and Shattenkirk, numbers 1 and 2 in terms of ice-time per game (with the exception of Jay Bouwmeester’s 14 games), have been a vital part to the Blues’ core of young, puck-moving defensemen.  After Shattenkirk was acquired from the Colorado Avalanche in February 2011, it became clear that the team was focused on having a steady, although young, back end.

Berglund has been one of the faces behind the Blues’ rebuild from the ground up.  Drafted with the 25^th overall pick in 2006, Berglund stepped into the spotlight with friend T.J. Oshie in 2008-09 and has filled the second or third line center role nicely.

Then, we have Stewart.

Somewhat of an enigma for the Blues, Stewart was the Blues’ leading scorer during the 2012-13 season (18G-18A—36P).  His production tailed off during the playoffs as he only tallied one assist in the Blues 4-2 series loss to the Los Angeles Kings.

Read the rest at TheHockeyWriters.com.

As I mentioned in Episode 29, I am combining my two podcasts for the summer.  You can find all podcasts for Storm The Crease here.

Listen here or find us on iTunes, Miri, Blackberry Podcast Directory, Google Play and all podcast outlets.

To listen to a cut of this episode to hear what you are missing, click the audio box below.

Episode 34 Cut

Zdeno Chara and the Boston Bruins tied the series at 1 Saturday night (Bridgetds@Flickr)

From the NHL media to the kids playing with wood sticks in the streets of Chicago or Boston, the consensus was that this was going to be a great series from start to finish.  No one could have predicted this high level of intensity, though.

Through the first two games of the series, we have already seen four periods of overtime.  We’ve also already witnessed 179 shots on goal with just 10 goals scored.

Game 2 was missing some of the draw that was in Game 1, but that could be contributed to two very tired teams entering the United Center Saturday night.  Even with an extra day of rest, a three overtime game will do that to any man.  Both teams came out of the gate determined, yet sloppy.  Neutral zone turnovers and wide shots dictated the early stages, but Chicago found a way to dominate early.  After the first period, the Blackhawks had a commanding 19-4 lead in shots with a more important 1-0 lead on the scoreboard.

But Boston found their game after that.

After the first period, the Bruins took control of the shot totals.  They outshot Chicago by a 24-15 margin while also commanding puck possession for long stretches of each period, including overtime.

Lucic (17) registered 10 hits in the first 2 periods Saturday night (Bridgetds@Flickr)

Shots aren’t the only name of the game, though.  Boston also outhit the Blackhawks, throwing a total of 50 hits at the home team (Chicago had just 34).  In fact, the Bruins threw most of their hits in the first two periods as they had 39 hits to Chicago’s 13.  This possibly wore down the Blackhawk offense which could have been an indicator as to why Boston was able to control the play a little better later in the game.

Milan Lucic alone had 10 hits in the first two periods of play.

Referees Did the Right Thing

Right around the 8:00 mark of overtime, Blackhawks defenseman Nick Leddy attempted to shoot the puck around the boards from behind his net.  Bruins forward Daniel Paille (the eventual hero) put his stick on the puck just in time to deflect the puck out of play.  Referee Dan O’Halloran was behind the net and watched the puck sail over the glass.  Instead of calling what he may have thought he saw (possibly that Leddy shot the puck out on his own accord), O’Halloran converged with his fellow officials and they talked the play over.  It was deemed that the Bruin did interfere and the faceoff came out of the zone with no penalty on the play.  Why do I bring this up?

How many times do we see officials make the wrong call, even on black-and-white penalties like the delay of game?  This is the type of action I would like to see more often from the NHL officials; if you aren’t sure on the call, don’t make it yourself.  Talk it over with your peers and make sure that the correct call is made.

Memories of Jonathan Quick

Both goaltenders in this series have been marvelous in every facet of their game.  The saves have been timely and playing the puck has usually come without alarm.  But I can’t help but remember what happened to former Conn Smythe winner Jonathan Quick earlier this playoff year.  In Game 1 against the St. Louis Blues, Quick misplayed the puck behind his net in overtime, leading to an Alex Steen goal to give the Blues the 1-0 series lead.

I’m not saying that these two goaltenders have ever given me a reason to think that there could be a gaff like this in the future.  But Quick had rarely given me reasons to think that, either.  In overtime, these goalies have to be 100% confident that playing the puck behind their net is the correct play.

Memorable Night

The Bruins tied up the series on Saturday, June 15.  That isn’t the only memorable moment on that date for people involved in this series, though.  As pointed out by Mike Emrick of NBC Sports, some other memorable moments have occurred on June 15:

• 2 years ago: The Boston Bruins defeat the Vancouver Canucks in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.
• 13 years ago: Joel Quenneville wins the Jack Adams Trophy (Coach of the Year) with the St. Louis Blues.
• 35 years ago:  Quenneville was drafted 21^st overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Paille’s Finish

After doing it in my last post, I may as well do it again.  After a miscue along the boards by Blackhawks tough-guy Brandon Bollig, Daniel Paille received a pass and nailed a hard wrist shot at the net.  It beat Corey Crawford high and celebration ensued.  Here is the parting shot from the goal-scorer as his teammates swarmed him:

(Courtesy NHL Video)

Andrew Shaw scored the game-winning goal in 3OT (Bridgetds@Flickr)

What a game.  If you are in the minority of hockey fans who wait for games three or four to start paying attention to the Stanley Cup Final, you missed a doozy last night.  The game was the fifth longest in Stanley Cup Final history, totaling 112:08 of playing time.  Andrew Shaw was the hero at 12:08 of the third overtime, after defenseman Michal Rozsival took a point shot that deflected off Dave Bolland then off Shaw’s leg to beat Boston goaltender Tuukka Rask on Chicago’s 63^rd shot of the game.  The Madhouse on Madison lived up to its name after that as the many who stayed past midnight celebrated as loud and for as long as possible.

That was not the only exciting play of the game, though.  Boston mustered 54 shots on Corey Crawford, who made some of the most dazzling saves of the 2013 playoffs.  None were more important than his save on Daniel Paille at 14:42 of the second overtime.

Despite his team’s loss, Rask was up to the challenge as well.  Early in the second period, Rask made a big save on Marian Hossa in the high slot.  This save proved to be huge as the Bruins took the puck the other way and forward Milan Lucic scored to give the Bruins a commanding 2-0 lead at the time.

As I stated yesterday, the Conn Smythe Trophy looks to be in the hands of either goaltender.  In the 4-3 Blackhawks victory, Crawford made 51 saves in the game while Rask had 59 saves to his credit.  Each goalie was the star of their team and showed no signs of immaturity or fatigue.

There were plenty of other storylines or anecdotes I want to touch on, so let’s get into it.

Olczyk on the Call

Having Eddie Olczyk call the game is always entertaining, but even more so when it includes the Blackhawks.  For those that don’t know, Olczyk is the regular television color analyst for the Blackhawks during Fox Sports broadcasts.  As we saw with Mike “Doc” Emrick calling New Jersey Devils playoff games in the past, having an actual team personality included in the playoff broadcasts adds a certain flavor you can’t get anywhere else.  You can hear the excitement in Olczyk’s voice in every break and even when he chimes in during the play-by-play.  He knows the players on a personal level and understands their tendencies on the ice.

Hjalmarsson was suspect in many plays last night (Bridgetds@Flickr)

Overwhelmed Defensemen

A few players seemed timid on the ice.  Niklas Hjalmarsson, who is a veteran of six NHL seasons, had some questionable plays that indirectly led to Bruins goals.  In the first goal of the series, Hjalmarsson went for a hit on David Krejci behind the net only to miss his man and allow him to get the puck in front, which was the secondary assist to Lucic’s first goal.  The second goal saw a battle in the neutral zone between Lucic and Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane.  Hjalmarsson stepped up on Lucic (the correct play), but instead of taking the body, he went for the long-reaching poke-check (the incorrect play).  Lucic was left all alone on the 3-on-2 break-in and scored on a top-shelf slap shot from the slot.

Hjalmarsson also was suspect to side-stepping incoming hits and shying away from physical play at times.  Early in the first period, Krejci went in for a hit on Hjalmarsson but hit the boards as the Swedish defenseman held up and just scooted the puck forward, causing a turnover in the defensive zone.

Hjalmarsson was not the only one who had slightly timid play.  To a lesser extent, Bruins defenseman Torey Krug was not the usual dominating rookie he has been all playoff.  Early in the game, Krug received the puck at the point with a lane open to the net.  He hesitated to shoot, something we have not seen him do all playoff, and it resulted in a blocked shot from Andrew Shaw which sent the play the other way.  Krug, who had four goals and 22 shots in 9 playoff games prior to Game 1, registered just two shots on goal in the game.  His ability to find the open lanes and blast shots from the point has been a large boost to the Bruins’ offense.  He will need to find those offensive instincts again if the Bruins are to receive necessary secondary scoring.

Shaw Says it All

When Andrew Shaw scored in overtime, the arena’s roof was in danger of blowing off.  Nothing displays the excitement better than Shaw’s face.

(Courtesy NHL Video)

Johnny Boychuk registered 8 hits in Game 1 (Bridgetds@Flickr)

Hit Parade

Needless to say, this is going to be a fun series.  The hit count last night was 61-59 in favor of Boston with 34 total hits coming in the first period.  Andrew Ferrence led all players with 10 hits while the Blackhawks had three players register nine total hits (Bickell, Bollig and Shaw).  Both of these teams came out to play and it showed in every statistical category.

Game 2 will be Saturday evening.  You won’t want to miss it.

It’s easy to see why when looking at what each goaltender has done this post-season:

Both of these goaltenders have been impressive through 12 wins.  Crawford was the knight that led the revolt against the pesky Red Wings, who saw a 3-1 series lead over the Blackhawks evaporate.  No save was bigger than this one in the latter stages of the second period of Game 6:

Rask has been the Crawford of the East, offering some big games that include a 53-save performance in Game 3 of the Eastern Final to all but seal the deal for the Bruins.  His save early in the third period of a 1-1 game was vital in the Bruins’ second overtime victory:

Crawford leads the NHL with a 1.74 GAA (Bridgetds@Flickr)

Each team’s defense will be imperative in each goalie’s success as well.  The Blackhawks have remained consistent throughout the playoffs in a steady team defense as they have allowed just 28.0 shots per game, which ranks fourth amongst all 16 playoff teams.  The Bruins rank tenth with 32.9 shots per game, but have also seen one more period of overtime than the Blackhawks (overtime periods do not count extra in per-game statistics).

Both of these teams have won Stanley Cups within the past three years, yet neither goalie was the story in their team’s championship year.  Rask, who officially received the starting job this season, was the backup to Thomas in the Bruins’ 2011 victory.  Crawford sat in the stands as the team’s third goaltender in 2010 while Antti Niemi and Cristobal Huet celebrated on the rink.  Needless to say, hunger is not a problem for either man.

Andy McDonald announced his retirement last Thursday (Flickr-jim.cassady)

Another NHL career has been cut short by the concussion epidemic.

Andy McDonald, the Anaheim Ducks’ eighth all-time leading scorer, called it a career last week after suffering from post-concussion symptoms.  The 35-year old forward spent 12 years in the NHL, splitting time between the Ducks and St. Louis Blues.  He amassed 187 goals, 307 assists and 489 points in 685 games, including an 85-point season in 2005-06 that placed him just five points behind team-leader Teemu Selanne.

All of those numbers were overshadowed by one medical statistic: McDonald suffered five documented concussions in his career.

“The last few years, too much of the focus became worrying about the next hit. I was always thinking about it.” McDonald told Andy Strickland of TrueHockey.com.  “I’m fortunate to get out now. I know I could play two or three more years and I love the game of hockey, but healthwise I know I shouldn’t be playing.”

McDonald battled with concussions throughout most of his entire career.  In February 2003, during his third NHL season, McDonald suffered his first concussion as a member of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.  He missed the rest of the regular season and the entire 2003 Stanley Cup playoffs.  He was forced to watch from the press box as his team went to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in franchise history.

McDonald’s most recent documented concussion was suffered on October 13, 2011 when teammate Nikita Nikitin bumped McDonald from behind and was then accidentally hit in the head by Dallas Stars forward Vernon Fiddler.  He missed 60 games before returning on February 29, 2012.

Read the rest at TheHockeyWriters.com.

As I mentioned in Episode 29, I am combining my two podcasts for the summer.  You can find all podcasts for Storm The Crease here.

Listen here or find us on iTunes, Miri, Blackberry Podcast Directory, Google Play and all podcast outlets.

To listen to a cut of this episode to hear what you are missing, click the audio box below.

Nugent-Hopkins is a former first-round draft selection (Bridgetds@Flickr)

Trade speculation is what fuels NHL fans over the off-season.  Without it, talk of hockey would cease to exist in the summer months… especially in St. Louis.

So let’s begin the speculation, shall we?  For this round of Play the GM, we visit the hockey plentiful market of Edmonton, Alberta.

New Oilers GM Craig MacTavish, appointed earlier this season, will look to do something that former GM Steve Tambellini failed to do in his five years on the job; qualify for the NHL playoffs.  In fact, the Oilers have not participated in the post-season since going to the Stanley Cup Final in 2005-06.

Bruce Garrioch of the Calgary Sun speculates that MacTavish will look to “get help immediately” for the struggling team.  Garrioch suggests that 2012 first overall draftee Nail Yakupov could be moved to bring in some proven NHL talent.

Before we continue, I should mention that this is pure speculation from me.  I do not have any reliable sources on this matter, nor do I have a direct line to MacTavish himself.  The closest thing I have is the ability to attempt trades with the Oilers on NHL 13.

Read the rest at TheHockeyWriters.com.

As I mentioned in Episode 29, I am combining my two podcasts for the summer.  You can find all podcasts for Storm The Crease here.

Listen here or find us on iTunes, Miri, Blackberry Podcast Directory, Google Play and all podcast outlets.

To listen to a cut of this episode to hear what you are missing, click the audio box below.