Devils @ Bruins 3/1/12 Recap

Fists were flying, checks were being finished, and goals were netted last night at the garden in Boston. The defending Cup champs, Boston Bruins, hosted the New Jersey Devils in an Eastern Conference matchup. Both teams in line for a playoff spot, and having no plans of slowing down. The Bruins were going for the season-series sweep on Thursday and the Devils were trying to muster up a win to end their three game skid.

The scoring started early as B's forward David Krejci got a pass from line-mate Tyler Seguin at just 1:13 in the first period. The quick start from the hometown team ignited the crowd. To add onto the noise, the Devils forfeited a second goal to the Bruins' Tyler Seguin who lit the lamp off a pass to the high slot from; power forward, Milan Lucic; and goalie, Tim Thomas. The first period ended with a roaring crowd and all signs were pointing to a Bruins' blowout.


The action in the second period was the opposite of the first, and then some. The Devils two superstars combined for the team's first tally of the game at the 6:17 mark in the period. The goal began with a blind, backhand pass to the mid-top of the Bruins' defensive zone by D-man Joe Corvo. Speedy Ilya Kovalchuk was there to intercept the pass, and just needed to saucer pass the puck to captain, Zach Parise who notched his 24th goal of the season by all-star, American goalie Tim Thomas. The Devils worked for two more goals in the period, scored by Patrik Elias and David Clarkson. The Devils led 3-2 going into the third.


New Jersey has lost many games in the third period, including a few disasters to Boston this year. Their usual play-style with a lead in the third period is to sit back and defend the net. In the past, they have mainly been to no avail. On Thursday, they seemed to be putting as much offensive pressure as they did in the first two periods. That could very well have been because a quarter of the way through the period, Boston's David Krejci scored his second of the game, forcing a tie for the remainder of the period. No goals were put in during the rest of the third, and the game was headed to overtime.


60% through the overtime period, Krejci got his well-deserved hat-trick, winning the game, sweeping the season series, and collecting the two points for his team. Boston is a very physical team, and was missing strong Defenseman Johnny Boychuk, power forward Nathan Horton, and long-time gone scorer Marc Savard all due to concussions. I hate saying this, but the devils have had a very hard time figuring out the Bruins this year. It is a very possible first-round playoff matchup, and Jersey needs to do some preparation for this possible series. The Devils are now on a four game losing streak, and holding a seven seed in the playoff chase. Boston is leading their division, and is working to secure the second seed in the Eastern Conference. Hopefully the Devils can change their ways as of late and the fans and team can enjoy a nice finish the year. GO DEVILS!