Last night in Boston, the Bruins started defense of the Stanley Cup.
The opponent in their 1st round match-up are the Washington Capitals who had been one of the highest scoring teams in the NHL up until this season.
While Washington has struggled all year to find their game after starting the year 7-0, Boston has managed to play it's way out a couple slumps this season.
The Bruins came into the playoffs winners in seven of their last ten games. On paper this game looked to be a mismatch and it could have been if not for the play of Braden Holtby.
Holtby, filling in goal because of injuries was spectacular last night for Washington turning away all 29 shots he faced through three periods.
In the 2nd period alone Boston out shot Washington 17-2. Holtby was up to the challenge and made saves on every shot he faced.
Unfortunately for him his counterpart at the other end of the ice, Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas was just as solid turning away all 16 shots he faced through three periods.
That led us to overtime where each team would get one shot on goal. Bruins forward Chris Kelly would make the most of his shot as it just went wide of Hotlby and into the net giving Boston a 1-0 win and a 1-0 lead int he series.
If I'm a Capitals fan I have mixed feelings about this game.
On one hand I'm thrilled with the way Holtby played. With Tomas Vokoun and Michal Neuvirth out of the lineups due to injuries it's essential for Holtby to play well in net if Washington is going to have a chance in this series.
On the other hand the inability to score all year for the Capitals shows up again in game one. What's even worse is the big guns for Washington, Alex Ovechkin and Alexander Semin only had one shot on goal the entire game.
If they aren't shooting the puck the Capitals aren't winning this series. I don't care how good Holtby plays in net.
Minnesota Wild Alumni making an impact in the playoffs.
A pair of former Minnesota Wild forwards had an impact in wins for their respective teams last night.
Marian Gaborik had a goal to give the New York Rangers a 2-0 lead en route to a 4-2 win over the Ottawa Senators. Gaborik had four shots on goal in nearly twenty minutes of ice time.
Meanwhile in St. Louis, Martin Havlat scored two goals including the game winner in double overtime to give the San Jose Sharks a 3-2 win and a 1-0 lead in their best of seven series.
I have to imagine for some Minnesota Wild fans seeing both Gaborik and Havlat scoring goals in the playoffs has to be the equivalent of rubbing salt into open wounds.
Working overtime:
One thing that makes the Stanley Cup Playoffs better that any other post-season tournament is sudden death overtime.
We are only two nights in and we have had four overtime games including three last night, one of which that went to double overtime.
It was the first time since April 18th 2001 that we had three overtime games in one night. Hopefully there is many more to come.
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