Playoffs Daily | SCF Game 2 & Game 3 | June 7th, 2011

A very busy weekend kept me from watching Game 2. Usually I manage to catch up eventually, but not this time. But better luck for Game 3! I have seen the result, but I cranked up the DVR and am watching it now. As the intro takes place I will spend a few minutes wrapping up Game 2, but it will be very short.

Game 2
[Bruins-Nucks] 2-3. Nucks lead series 2-0. Well, another close game with amazing goaltending on both sides. The game went into OT, although you could hardly call it an extra period as Burrows scored after just 11 seconds with an admittedly nice wrap-around. I am sure Timmie should have made other choices in how he chose to defend this attack, but I am sure he knew what he was up to despite the bad outcome. And let me quote Thomas himself: "I've got a pretty good idea of how to play goalie. I'm not going to take suggestions or advice at this time." I like it.


Game 3
[Nucks-Bruins] 8-1. Nucks lead series 2-1. That was an awesome way to get back into the round I think. 8-1 is a definite punishment this far ahead in the Playoffs and this large a goal difference does not happen often.

♦ The game started of pretty fine, no early goals and you could see by the intensity of the players that this might be an emotional game. Just when I settled in nicely to watch this game, that late hit by Rome on Horton happened. I had seen footage of the hit earlier today but it still hit me hard. What struck me most was the dazed look on Horty's face and I immediately felt very worried. By now we know that Rome has been suspended for four games. Maybe a bit much, but well Horty is out for the rest of the Playoffs and now so is Rome. These things are always up for debate. Horty should perhaps have kept his head up, but Rome was after him with a purpose and the shoulder was set for a big hit. Horty really flew backwards on impact. And it was a LATE hit. Yeah. I still see that dazed look on Horty's face. Creepy

♦ OK, the game continued with a five minute PP. But the Bruins could not turn it to their advantage. It was not a bad period really. The Nucks had some good shots, but Timmie was not having it. He made some top saves. The Bruins were playing well enough too, but missed a certain sharpness

♦ Second period and just a few seconds into the period Ference scored the first one for the Bruins. Minutes later Recchi scored on the PP, although lets face it, that was a very unfortunate assist/goal by Kesler. What a difference from Game 1 though (and quite possibly from Game 2 as well, but I have not seen it in full so I cannot be sure), the Bruins were not only strong on the defence, but their offence looked very alive as well in this period. Next up to score was Marchand, a marvelous short-handed goal no less. Krejci closed the scoring during this period with a nice wrist-shot. The Nucks played decent enough too, but Timmie was on fire. Of course the period ended with a bit of a skermish. That is how emotional this game was

♦ Third period continued much the same. Some good chances by the Nucks again, but Timmie was just a rock. The game that I thought was physical enough, got grittier in this period and there were a lot of game misconducts and fighting majors, especially after a fight that occured around the 11 minute mark. Lucic, Kesler, Seidenberg and Burrows all vanished into the locker room. And was Lucic trying to feed Burrows his fingers as a little snack during the fight? My word, not very classy, but I found myself giggling a bit anyways. All this fighting fueled the Bruins even more and shortly after the game was resumed Paille scored a short-handed goal making it 5-0. Hansen then scored to make it 5-1, but that was all Timmie was willing to give away. Next three goals - all within a span of two minutes - were by the Bruins (Recchi, Kelly, Ryder), giving them an amazing 8-1 win!

♦ Amusing moment: Timmie not only did his share of saving ;) ... he also got in a hit on Sedin: Hit & Save!




♦ Some stats to finish off ... Bruins had 38 shots on goal, the Nucks had 41. And the Bruins looked more physical on the whole and that reflects in the PIM and hits. PIM was 75 for the Bruins and 70 for the Nucks. The Bruins had 39 hits and the Nuck 31. Very intense!

Looking forward to Game 4. I hope the Bruins bring the same energy!