The B-Side: stats and facts from Boston's Game 2 comeback win
On Saturday afternoon, the Bruins made their fans wait juust long enough as they teetered on the line of totally giving up hope while still thinking it feasible to pull something out of nothing.
Four unanswered goals in the final 10 minutes of the third period did the trick.
Boston 5, Montreal 3. Series tied 1-1 heading back to Montreal for Game 3 Tuesday.
Much better than down 0-2, which is needless to say.
And now, the stats and facts from Boston's epic Game 2 comeback victory:
Four unanswered goals in the final 10 minutes of the third period did the trick.
Boston 5, Montreal 3. Series tied 1-1 heading back to Montreal for Game 3 Tuesday.
Much better than down 0-2, which is needless to say.
And now, the stats and facts from Boston's epic Game 2 comeback victory:
- Zdeno Chara was a plus-5 in Game 2, as the B's captain found himself on the ice when every goal was scored for the home team. The plus-5 was a postseason career-best for Chara. Big Z has cracked the mark twice in the regular season, both during his time spent with the Ottawa Senators: 1/24/04 vs the New York Rangers and 2/28/04 vs the Buffalo Sabres.
- The Bruins only had one skater finish at a minus on the day: Johnny Boychuck with a minus-1. The Canadiens had only one player finish as a PLUS skater. 12 Canadiens were a minus on the day, with three players registering a minus-3, the trio of skaters on Montreal's third line: Brian Ginota, Lars Eller and Rene Borque.
- With his goal in the third period, Dougie Hamilton became the first Bruins defenseman aged 20-years or younger to have a five-game point streak in a single playoff year (2 goals, 4 assists)
- Daniel Paille's goal in the first period was his 9th-career postseason strike. All nine have been scored as a member of the Bruins.
- After recording 0 points in the series vs Detroit, Brad Marchand has picked up two assists in both games played vs Montreal. Marchand supplied the primary assists on both Hamilton's goal and Patrice Bergeron's goal.
- Speaking of Bergeron, he was the other Bruin who had himself a multi-point day, as he recorded the secondary assist on Hamilton's goal in addition to his goal. He still leads the B's in scoring for the playoffs, with 8 points (2 goals, 6 assists)
- With his empty-netter at 18:54, Milan Lucic now leads the Bruins with 4 goals. Reilly Smith also added to his total with his game-winner in the third period, and is right behind Lucic at 3 goals.
- Thomas Vanek scored two powerplay goals in the contest. He's scored two goals three other times in his postseason career, with the other three coming as a member of the Buffalo Sabres.
- And we cannot talk about Vanek without giving the weekly update of his career numbers vs the Bruins. Including the postseason, in 60 games played versus Boston, Vanek now has 34 goals and 33 assists for 67 total points vs the Black and Gold.
- In the series, Montreal is 4-9 on the man-advantage. Boston is 0-5.
- The Bruins and Habs have now played three postseason games on May 3rd throughout their 90-year history, and all three have been wins for the Black and Gold: a 4-3 win in overtime in Boston in 1979 and a 6-4 victory in 1992 in Montreal.
- According to ExtraSkater.com, the exact moment before Hamilton scored the Bruins' second goal, the Canadiens' win percentage was a game-high 96.1%. It dipped to 79.6% when the goal was scored.
- People are calling P.K. Subban's ducking out from a hit by Shawn Thornton in the third period, which resulted in Thornton clipping Subban's back with his knee and falling semi-face first into the boards, a cheap and dirty play. I just don't see how you can make the case for it. First, why, if you were Subban, with your back turned to an oncoming rhinoceros charging full speed at you, would you let him hit you square in the numbers? To prove you can 'take the body'? Second, Subban did not low-bridge Thornton like Brad Marchand did to Sammy Salo in the 2011 Final. He was in the process of dumping the puck in the zone and got small in anticipation of a crushing body hit. Third, Subban is known for his ability to evade body-checks and dance out of the way before another skater can land a hit on his frame. Thornton lined him up and was only concerned about planting him into the boards. He forgot for a split second about Subban's evasion ability. In the end, Thornton was fine and both cleared the air over the incident. Moving on.
- After having a rough Game 1, Matt Bartkowski was the healthy scratch in favor of Andrej Meszaros. Meszaros picked up an assist, sat for two by way of a roughing penalty and logged 16:35 TOI.
- Kevan Miller continues to impress with his defensive presence and stability in his own zone. Miller landed four more hits in Game 2, matching his total from Game 1. Where the likes of Matt Bartkowski and Torey Krug have faltered a bit on D, Miller has become the Bruins' best defensive option behind Zdeno Chara and Johnny Boychuck.
- Justin Florek was also pulled from the starting lineup after playing in all six previous games for the Bruins thus far. Daniel Paille took Florek's spot on the third line while Jordan Caron skated in Paille's place on the Merlot line.