Bruins/Lighting Game 1 Recap

“And now, an ode to that game: PFFFFFFFFFT!!! Thank you. You spell that P-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-T. Exclamation points.” –Jack Edwards

The Bruins/Lightning Game 1 did not go to plan at all. At the beginning of the first period, both teams looked sharp and both goalies looked like they came to play. It seemed like we were in store for another exciting game that would come down to the wire. Unfortunately, 10 minutes into the game, things began to tilt the Lightning’s way. The first Lightning goal came during a scramble in front of the net in which the stickless Dennis Seidenberg kicked the puck to Sean Bergenheim who then put it in the wide-open net. Seidenberg tried to clear the puck out, but instead just got an assist for the Bergenheim goal. 19 seconds later, Brett Clark carried the puck all they way up ice and backhanded one towards Thomas who let in the very soft goal. No way that should have went in. Shortly after that, Kaberle had the puck behind the net by himself and gave up an embarrassing turnover in which Teddy Purcell just took the puck away from him and slammed it past the surprised Thomas. Again, no way that one should have went in.

85 seconds, 3 goals.

4 minutes left in the first, Tyler Seguin, in his first playoff game, scored an incredible breakaway goal in which he just toyed with the defense and wristed it past Roloson. Despite the loss, Bruins fans have to be excited as to what this kid is going to bring us in the future. He really stepped up his offensive game to help out with the loss of Bergeron. The Bs were only down 2 now going into the second period, but the deficit proved too large for them to come back.

7 minutes left in the third period, Marc-Andre Bergeron scored a power play goal; a slapshot from almost the blueline that fluttered past Thomas. The score was now 4-1. Simon Gagne added another goal, an open-netter from mid-ice, to solidify the victory. The Bruins, however, added one more ricochet goal from Johnny Boychuck to make the final score 5-2.

The Bruins played absolutely awful for those 85 seconds. However, for the rest of the game the Bruins played pretty well. If not for those mental lapses, the game could have been much closer. On the bright side, things can only get better from here. Bergeron should be back soon (he skated yesterday and today) and I feel the Bruins will be able to regroup. Marchand and Recchi both need to show up for Game 2 because they were practically invisible for Game 1. It is not time to worry yet, it took the Bruins 2 games to figure out the Canadiens. Nonetheless, this series just got a lot more interesting.