B’s Take Game 4 Thriller In OT
Friday, April 25, 2014
The Boston Bruins knew that they were going to get Detroit's best shot Thursday night. And, for the first 25 minutes of the game, they did.
Boston trailed 2-0 to the Red Wings less than 5 minutes into the second period at Joe Louis Arena, but the B's never lost their composure.
Backboned by another stellar performance from goaltender Tuukka Rask who kept Boston in the game in the first period, the B's played the role of the tortoise while the Red Wings were the hare. Once again, slow and steady won the race.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe quick, aggressive defenseman Torey Krug put the B's on the board midway through the second on the power play on a shot from the point that deflected off of a Red Wing's stick to cut the deficit to 2-1. That would remain the score heading into the third period.
Just over a minute into the third, Swedish sensation Carl Soderberg made a beautiful one-handed stick pass from behind the net to Milan Lucic who beat Detroit's Jonas Gustavsson to tie the game a two. Gustavsson was pressed into service when starter Jimmy Howard couldn't go due to flu-like symptoms. All-in-all, Gustavsson played well.
The problem for Detroit was, that after the game's first 25 minutes, the Rask and the Bruins played much better.
The B's had a golden opportunity to win the game in regulation when Brad Marchand missed a wide open net when Torey Krug set him up with a beautiful pass. Marchand was at the top of the crease toward the right side of the net and just rifled it left and high of the left post.
That was after he also missed an open net in the first off of a feed from Kevan Miller.
Not to worry.
Tied at two heading into the series' first overtime game, Boston continued to carry the play for the first half of overtime.
With 6:28 left in overtime, veteran Jerome Iginla redirected a shot from Dougie Hamilton to give the B's the win putting them on the brink of advancing to the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
After it was over, Marchand said of Iginla, "“I think I gave him a huge kiss there. It was great to have him score that goal and I’ll be able to sleep good tonight.”
Boston can close out Detroit at the TD Garden Saturday afternoon in game 5. They'll drop the puck just after 3pm.
