Bruins on to Round 2

The Bruins have officially moved on to the second round after defeating the Maple Leafs 7-4 last night at home in game 7. Wow what a game that was last night. That was truly the embodiment of everything a Stanley Cup playoff game 7 should be. Fast paced, big hits, extracurriculars after the whistle, and some beautiful goals. I had my doubts after the Bs lost the last two that they would be able to pull it together and solve Andersen, but they showed they were not going to give up a 3-1 lead and be knocked out with how they played.

The best part of last night's game was my favorite player through the first round so far: Jake Debrusk. He put together a two-goal performance, including the game winner that came on an unbelievable individual full length effort on his part. I said it in my last post and I will say it again: this kid is the real deal. He put up 5 goals in the first round, and while that may not be jaw-dropping numbers, if you actually watch his play anyone can appreciate the effort he is putting in on every single shift. No lazy line changes, no weak puck battles, and never a soft skate on the back or fore-check. The future is bright for Debrusk and the entire young core the Bruins are developing between Pastrnak, Debrusk, McAvoy, Riley Nash and others, it is clear that the Bruins organization is putting together a team for the future capable evolving with the ever faster pace of the game.

Pastrnak, Marchand, Bergeron, Krejci and Miller all had multi-point games as well for the Bs, in the first game since game 2 that we really showed that we were able to score. Andersen had kept the Leafs in the series and did everything he could for their comeback to force game 7, but he was not able to bail them out this time and the failure of the Leaf's blue-line was ever apparent. Many Leafs fans are even demanding that Jake Gardiner be dealt, as he had the worst +/- on the team with a -5 and one assist in the effort.

While there was a lot of good to be talked about in this contest, there is one thing that I need to vent about that can absolutely not happen in the next round. Marchand was 1-2 strides behind Kapanen on a

short-handed breakaway and instead of taking a couple more strides and trying to play the puck, or even giving the guy a penalty shot, Marchand tried to sell a WEAK nudge from Kapanen and took a dive trying to draw a call. Play some damn defense Marchand, that goal was on you after you missed the pass that passed right under your stick blade and then you gave up playing defense. The only reason Marchand even had a multi-point effort was due to his empty netter. I love Marchand; he is our little ball of hate and I love it, but I think his missed chances got to him through the series and he reverted to that out of frustration. He has the skill to be one of the top scorers in any given matchup, but in the first round he had some bad puck luck. I am looking for that to change in the second round, for the entire first line. The Bruins first line had something like over 30 points between Marchand, Pastrnak and Bergy in winning efforts in the first round and 0 between them in losing efforts. That is a pretty clear-cut figure that in order for us to move on again, they need to be able to produce.