It will take some time to remember that the Bruins and Red Wings are now in the same division (Atlantic) now, thanks NHL realignment! Boston's first meeting with Detroit went swimmingly as they rolled 4-1 tonight at TD Garden. Give me a game vs. the Red Wings over contests against bum teams like the Lightning, Panthers or Sabres any day of the week. Boston (2-0) scored their first two power play goals of the season and killed two more penalties, making their penalty kill unit 7 for 7.
Lost in the shuffle of four different goal scorers, the power play and penalty kill success plus the third line's emergence was the steady presence of Tuukka Rask. Ho hum, another 25 saves. The one goal he allowed was off a rebound to Henrik Zetterberg at 16:49 of the first period that tied it at one. Other than that, he wasn't tested that much but then again, we expect greatness basically every time that he starts.
The B's scored first as Torey Krug ripped a slap shot past Jimmy Howard (33 saves) with help from Zdeno Chara's enormous screen. Milan Lucic and David Krejci assisted on Krug's first NHL regular season goal. Brad Marchand scored his first goal of the season 36 seconds into the second period and it was a beauty. His wrist shot from the off wing (right side) went off the post and in. Johnny Boychuk had the lone assist on Marchand's goal. Later in that frame he got run over by Justin Abdelkader's cheap shot and retreated to the dressing room. Bruins fans had to be breathing a sigh of relief when Marchand returned, he led the B's in scoring last season.
Nobody would ever call me a founding member of the Jordan Caron fan club but he's starting (repeat starting) to win me over with some solid performances. He got jobbed out of a goal on Opening Night but this time he cashed in off a filthy backhand pass by Reilly Smith at 7:58 of the second period. Adam McQuaid had the second assist on his first goal of the season.
The Red Wings lost their cool in the third with a pair of lazy interference penalties. Boston made them pay as Chara scored a power play goal at 12:17 that you had to see to believe. It started with Krug intercepting the puck in Detroit's end and Lucic also had an assist but the big man did the rest. He beat Howard with an unreal backhander that left the former Maine star with a broken stick (after he smashed it in frustration).
The schedule makers obviously wanted the B's to enjoy a nice fall in New England since they don't return to action until Thursday (7, NESN) when they host the Avalanche (2-0). The Garden has the little booth between benches, where NBCSN's Pierre Maguire hangs out, so it'll be tough for Patrick Roy to really go after Claude Julien after he inevitably does something to set him off.
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