It was Tuukka time in Boston tonight! (Credit: Steph Phillips)
Tonight your Boston Bruins took to the ice for the home opener of the 2012-2013 season against the New York Rangers and it was everything you could hope for in a home opener and so much more.
The B’s for the most part stuck to a similar lineup as last season but tonight brought the debut of Boston native/ Ray Bourque’s pride and joy Chris Bourque. Tonight was also the first time that the B’s first round draft pick of 2011 Dougie Hamilton would play in the NHL. Tuukka Rask is now the starting goalie for the Bruins and he faced off against Henrik Lundqvist, a man who doesn’t exactly let up against the Bruins or against any team in general.
Tonight was an exception as the Bruins beat the Rangers 3-1.
Let me break down the game by period for you.
FIRST PERIOD:
19 seconds into the season, Carl Hagelin of the Rangers made his way to the penalty box on a interference call. And with that we got the first glimpse of the hopefully newly improved Bruins power play. And though there wasn’t a goal scored, it was nice to see some shots on net by the B’s, including the first shot of the game by Patrice Bergeron.
Can I just say how happy I am to see Nathan Horton back on the ice? This is his first game since January 22nd of 2012 and it looks like he hasn’t missed a beat.
With 11:56 remaining Adam McQuaid gave the Rangers their first power play opportunity with an interefence penalty. But that didn’t last long because Massachusetts native Brian Boyle decided to get a little too close to Rask and a little too unsportsmanlike with the refs and made a 4 on 4 followed by a 3 minute pp for the B’s. This time around the Bruins power play looks a million times better. They weren’t stationary and they were actually make the Rangers work. The boys were laying the shots on Lundqvist and though they didn’t connect, there were many close calls. They don’t say Lundqvist is a good goalie for nothing!
And then at 5:46 new father Milan Lucic gave the Bruins their first goal of the season, with the assists from David Krejci and Andrew Ference. It was Krejci that had the initial shot on net from the right circle but Looch made the rebound and ultimately the goal.
6 seconds left in the first it’s Ference who makes his way to the penalty box for you guessed it…interference. With the new rule change, it can only be expected that this call be pretty popular with the refs. The Rangers will have a 1:54 power play to start the second period. Shots on goal were Bruins-14, Rangers-7.
SECOND PERIOD:
The Rangers started the second period on the power play and the momentum. Fortunately that momentum didn’t account for any goals. With 15:55 to go, Brandon Segal put the Bruins on the power play once again. But that didn’t go any more successfully then the last attempts.
At 11:40, Daniel Paille made it a 2 goal game followed up by oh captain, my captain Zdeno Chara getting an interference call. So the Rangers were once again on the power play but actually it was okay because I was still reliving that beautiful goal.
With 7:10 left, the Rangers decided to show up and Brad Richards scored to make it a 2-1 game. Shawn Thornton didn’t like that too much and took it to Mike Rupp and by took it to him I mean that Rupp didn’t stand a chance. That was followed up, not even three seconds later, by another fight between fellow Merlot line member Campbell and Stu Bickel and this one was a toss up as to who won. If it wasn’t obvious that this game was physical this should be a clear indication.
Overall the 2nd period was pretty lackluster minus the fights which were great. SOG Bruins-25, Rangers-15.
THIRD PERIOD:
Well this period started off pretty boring. Looch decided to switch it up with a power play for boarding. The Rangers would have two minutes. Chara then decided that Looch was lonely so he went and hooked a player and with that the Rangers had a 5-on-3. The Bruins killed it…literally. Rich Nash went for a hook and the Bruins survived and managed a power play chance of their own.
Krejci makes a shot on the net and it appears that Lundqvist gets the puck after it went in, making it a goal. The play goes under review and it’s no goal. I just really wanted that power play goal.
So once again it was a fail at the power play but it’s all good because Birthday Boy Johnny Boychuk made it a 3-1 game with Bergeron on the assist.
With 5 and a half to go, Looch gets a 10 minute misconduct and it’s off the ice he goes. At least he managed to score before his exit! Even though they lost Looch, the Bruins are quick to get another power play opportunity off a hooking call from Carl Hagelin.
Rangers pull their goalie, get a too many men call, and with that the Boston Bruins win their first game of the 2012-2013 season!
Bruins return to action on Monday in a matinee game against the Winnipeg Jets.
A Cup A Bruin 