By Stefan Kubus (@SKubus) –
Goals by Loui Eriksson, Zdeno Chara, Milan Lucic and Jarome Iginla, along with steady goaltending from Tuukka Rask, proved to be too much for Detroit, as the Bruins ended the Red Wings’ season with a 4-2 win and 4-1 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals series victory. Two of the injured veterans, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg, lit the lamp for Detroit, while Jonas Gustavsson made 29 saves.
Despite giving the B’s all they could handle at some points, Detroit was simply outmatched and outgunned against the league’s Presidents’ Trophy winner.
Game-changing moment
With a 4-on-3 late in the second period, Chara beat Gustavsson with a missile from the top of the right circle on a pass from the left corner to go up 2-1 with just four seconds remaining in the middle frame. A goal in the last minute of any period is a killer, but to concede that one to such a strong Boston team sent Detroit off in a tough spot after 40 minutes.
Mitten watch
Torey Krug (Livonia; Michigan State) helped set up Chara’s goal that put Boston up 2-1 late in the second period, as well as Lucic’s game-winning goal 4:27 into the third period. He jumped in on the offense throughout the game and was easily one of Boston’s best players.
Another former Spartan Justin Abdelkader (Muskegon) assisted on Zetterberg’s goal for his second of the series and also had four hits.
Danny DeKeyser (Macomb) played 20:42, helping to anchor the back-end and was a plus-one with a hit, block and shot.
MVP
Krug earns our MVP honors for his performance. He tallied a pair of assists in the game – including on Lucic’s game-winner – and helped spark Boston’s offense all game long. He easily could’ve had a third assist, too, setting up Lucic for a glorious chance in the second period that he missed.
Between the pipes
Gustavsson was solid in Game 4 and was again Saturday in Game 5. He looked a little fooled on the first goal that Eriksson scored, but all in all gave the Red Wings a great chance to win the game and came up with some big saves at key times; that’s all you can ask for from your goaltender.
Rask, a Vezina Trophy nominee and favorite to win the award, was his usual stellar self, turning away 31 of 33 shots. Having to get past a strong defensive corps and then beat this guy is a tall task for any team, which makes Boston a favorite to make a deep run.
The opposition
Led by Rask’s play in net, the Bruins were able to use their depth and skill to outperform Detroit in a 60-minute effort. The high-octane offense did a number on the Red Wings defense, and its bruising defense left no room for Detroit’s offense to work, especially the kids whose struggles throughout the series were immense and now well-documented.
Detroit’s penalty trouble also gave way to the deadly Bruins power play, which capitalized twice in the game.
For the stats guys
Boston easily has the best power play, operating with a 37.5% success rate (Tampa Bay was second at 28.6%) and is tied for the league lead in goals with the man-advantage (6). As I wrote after Game 1, Detroit’s 1-0 win, the one thing the team couldn’t do was put Boston’s power play on the ice, and that ultimately proved to be a big part of Boston’s success. Additionally, Boston’s penalty kill operated at a 90% success rate throughout the series, good for fourth in the league.
Next up
The Red Wings have an interesting offseason ahead of them. General manager Ken Holland has hard decisions to make on improving the club overall, whether that’s through drafting or through free agency, as well as handling the uncertain future of his pending-UFAs, such as Todd Bertuzzi, Kyle Quincey and Jonas Gustavsson.