Bruins Take Crucial Series Lead with Game 5 Win

For the first time in this postseason, the Boston Bruins have come away leading a series 3-2 after Saturday night’s Game 5 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Watching these two teams, it is clear that they are similar in many ways, and so it shouldn’t be a surprise that even when it appears that one team is tremendously tilting the ice, that is sometimes an illusion. During Game 5, the shots on goal for the Blue Jackets (by period) were 8-15-13 for a total of 36 shots on Tuukka Rask, of which he was able to stop 33. By the same token, the Bruins shots through three periods were 9-12-15 for a total of 36 shots on Sergei Bobrovsky, who in turn denied 32.

Both goaltenders have been stupendous throughout the entire series, but whereas Columbus was able to sweep the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round, it would seem that the similar styles of play for Boston and Columbus are what have made this series a close affair for the most part. Game 1 went to overtime and the Bruins won 3-2. Game 2 required a double overtime before the Blue Jackets got the 3-2 win. As things went to Columbus, the Blue Jackets took Game 3 with a score of 2-1. It wasn’t until the fourth game that there was more than a one-goal difference in the score when the Bruins took the win with a 4-1 final, that included two goals from Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak started their scoring.

Back in Boston tied in the series, the Bruins certainly looked to capitalize on their momentum as well as gaining energy from the crowd. Unlike the previous game, where scoring began in the first period, Game 5 would see nothing scored in the first. David Krejci’s wrist shot 1:39 into the second period put the Black and Gold on the scoresheet first. But that’s where things stalled until Brad Marchand was able to give them a little extra breathing space as he put the Bruins up 2-0 at 4:51 of the third.

Perhaps it was going up that extra goal, but the Bruins did get a bit away from their game, and the aggressive Blue Jackets weren’t going to just idly sit by. Instead they pounced, and at 10:33 of the third Seth Jones cut the Bruins lead in half. There was a question as to whether or not that goal was good, and the review did take considerable time. However, the Bruins did not panic or appear to have a beaten attitude when Columbus was awarded that goal. In fact, 43 seconds later Pastrnak regained the two-goal lead.

“I don’t know, we got right back and scored a goal right away, so I thought it was a good response. I really feel like maybe in a way … but I really think like we got away from attacking and being aggressive and you know playing the way that we are supposed to play and they took it to us for a little bit,” Bergeron said of the delay.

“Well, we had a [Auston] Matthews call, too, in Toronto, didn’t go our way, Game 5, so we had to dig out of that. At the end of the day, I think our guys are very resilient. On the bench, of course you’re upset with the call, but at the end of the day most of the time on those long ones it’s like hey whatever happens here, we have to be ready to go here off of this faceoff, whether it’s at center ice or our end. Most of the time we are. I thought we bounced back well from that call, scored the next goal, seemed to have it under control. Clearly, we didn’t. They made a couple of high-end plays, but that’s our group. We’re resilient. We’ve battled through a lot this year. We came back from an elimination game on the road against a good team. We battled through injuries all year to keep our position in the standings, so our guys are pretty good at that. Credit to the veteran guys in the room, and even the younger guys we talked about, their contributions,” said Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy.

Cassidy’s comment about not apparently having the game under control was in reference to how Ryan Dzingel got Columbus back within one goal just 51 seconds after Pastrnak thought he gave his team some space to relax. And then before anyone knew it, Dean Kukan knotted the score with 6:02 still left on the clock.

The Bruins have found themselves in many tight games at crucial times in the postseason in the last few years. They have come back from what many felt were insurmountable odds—when they managed to come back from their three-goal deficit in Game 7 of the first round against the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2013 to force an overtime in which they won. Having some of their core group experience such a game instills a confidence that if they focus on playing their game, they can get the win.

And while many armchair coaches had been suggesting that Pastrnak should have been a healthy scratch due to his struggles in this series, Pastrnak showed why Coach Cassidy didn’t even consider doing such a thing when he gave the Bruins the lead at 18:32 of the third period. And this time the Bruins would hang on.

In fact, Pastrnak put seven shots on Bobrovsky in Game 5, while his linemate Bergeron got six on goal himself.

The Bruins once again got the win, though it didn’t come without its costs. Joakim Nordstrom had to be tended to at one point, and Charlie McAvoy blocked a ciritical shot with under 30 seconds to play ensuring that the Bruins were able to get the win.

“That was a great block. We kind of turned the puck over a couple of times there. Definitely didn’t want to do that, but he sacrificed and made a great block. He’s one of the best players shooting there one-timer, so who knows what would have happened,” Rask said of McAvoy’s sacrificing his body to keep the puck from getting to the net and thus preventing the Blue Jackets from possibly pushing the game to overtime.

But perhaps McAvoy was just doing what Bruins do, having learned what the standard is from the leadership core.

“I mean, that’s the thing, we have – there’s no doubt in any of our minds they’re going to come through. They always do. They love the big stage, and we needed them big time tonight, and they showed up; they delivered. From the bottom all the way to the top, I think we had everyone contribute tonight in one way or another, and that’s what it’s going to take,” McAvoy said.

In looking at the final sheet from the game, McAvoy was correct—everyone stepped up. Eight players contributed to the score sheet for the Black and Gold, and there were a host of players who, like McAvoy on that blocked shot, contributed in ways that will never show up on the tally.

The teams will head back to Columbus where they will meet at the PNC Arena for a do-or-die situation for the Blue Jackets, who undoubtedly will get a jolt of momentum from playing on home ice. The teams square off on Monday night at 7:00pm Eastern time, with the game airing on NBCSN.