Bruins Back in the Series!

By Jim Ingram

Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

The Boston Bruins Game 5 performance was a B's fan dream. The Bruins got a great game from goalie Tim Thomas, strong defense throughout and the return of a physical, aggressive offense. The Bruins finally got back to what they did during the regular season. Tim Thomas played extremely well. The defense was in position to deal with rebounds and not let the Canes get second scoring chances. Phil Kessel and Marc Savard finally played well together during this series, and David Krejci was all over the place creating scoring chances. The most important part of the night was the B's penalty kill. They played much better a man down, and never allowed Carolina to get their power play rolling as they had in game 4. 

Over the weekend several Bruins players mentioned they needed to manufacture aggression and hatred towards the Hurricanes. They successfully did that Sunday night, but by the end of the game, real hatred had been created. First Jussi Jokinen gave Zdeno Chara a vicious slash to his ankle while the referees weren't looking. Down went Chara towards the end of the 2nd period, but luckily he was back for the 3rd. Next came one of the biggest cheap shots I've seen in a long time. While Aaron Ward was engaged with Matt Cullen, Scott Walker entered the fray, grabbed Ward and landed a huge sucker punch that may have fractured his orbital bone. Scott Walker should be suspended for at least the remainder of this series, if not the rest of the playoffs if they should move on. 

If Ward is lost for the playoffs, the Bruins lose half of their first defensive pair and a solid leader with three Stanley Cup rings. They also get even thinner at a position they're already two men down with the loss of Matt Hundwick and Andrew Ferrence. They'll need to call up a rookie defender from Providence with practically no games played in the NHL, much less playoff experience. This does concern me, but believe the Bruins are that much better of a team and one who's extremely motivated to exact their revenge through wins, not violence. That is the key now for winning the series. They need to maintain discipline and play like they did last night. They can't be run by their emotions and blood lust. If they can do that, then the Bruins will win Game 6 on the road and take Game 7 at home.

Stay tuned for Matt's view on last nights' game and the road ahead.