Bruins win their season opener 2-1 against the Philadelphia Flyers thanks to a late game-winner by "Mr. Game One" Chris Kelly. What we also learned from the first game of the season, find out here
The team came out flying in the first period, dominating with the puck and firing shot on Steve Mason. First big chance of the game came when Dennis Seidenberg send Daniel Paille on the breakaway, with a nice board pass. Unfortunately for Paille, his shot beat Mason but not the post.
Zac Rinaldo went to the box for roughing midway through the first period, giving the Bruins their first powerplay of the season. The first powerplay unit went to work as Carl Söderberg spinned away from two Flyers at the boards and got the pass behind Raffl to set up Reilly Smith.
Besides taking the foot of the gas a little bit, B's continued to be the better team for the rest of the first, ending the period with 14-7 shots.
Things changed when the second period began and the Flyers forecheck managed to keep the Chara-Hamilton pairing on the ice for more than 2 1/2 minutes. Captain Zdeno Chara even played 3:32 of the first 5:30 to start the period after Seidenberg took a penalty for slashing on Rinaldo.
Brad Marchand had the chance to make it 2-0 on a succesfull Bruins penalty kill.
After Seids penalty, Coach Claude Julien switched up the lines and put Chara with McQuaid and Hamilton with Seidenberg. Bobby Robins got into his first NHL fight, debuting at the age of 31, after a double-hit on Rinaldo by him and Craig Cunningham. Luke Schenn stepped in and cut quite a good figure until Robins got the takedown. Flyers continued their pressure throughout the period, forcing Tuukka Rask to some big saves to make it a 1 goal game after 2 periods.
Going back to their original d-pairings to start the 3rd period, Bruins struggled to get out of their own zone. Jakub Voracek just ignored Chara and Hamilton jamming at him when he centered the puck for Sean Couturier to tie the game after a Söderberg deflection. Momentum was clearly shifting to Philly as they were awarded another powerplay with B's best penalty killer Patrice Bergeron going to the box.
The penalty kill certainly did their moneys worth though, allowing just a single shot by Andrew MacDonald. Steve Mason then denied a great breakaway chance from Reilly Smith, after a Marchand takeaway. A late penalty on Zac Rinaldo might have been the turning point for the Bruins, as they would just allow 1 single shot for the rest of the game.
Carl Söderberg found Adam McQuaid on the blueline with barely 2 minutes to play, releasing a bomb on double screened Steve Mason who's rebound Chris Kelly put home for the game winning goal.
Between the lines
Marchand - Bergeron - Smith
Arguably the B's top line right now when it comes to skill and offensive power. Adding to that, Bergeron had another terrific game defensively, taking Claude Giroux out for the entire game. Bergy won 18 of 23 faceoffs for gameleading 78 %. Besides scoring the season-opening goal, Smith had another big chance in the 3rd only denied by Mason. The 23-year old certainly didn't look like a guy who's missed more than half of training camp. Marchand knew how to impress with an improved defense game and he's still a threat on the PK.
Kelly - Söderberg - Eriksson
Oh boy did they look good last night. Söderberg with assists on all three goals (yeah even assisted the Flyers goal), continuing to show what great playmaker he can be. Kelly with an amazing job on the defensive side and in the right place at the right time for scoring the game winner. Eriksson with the pressure on his shoulders of beeing that 1st RW, improved throughout the game and finished with the 2nd most icetime (18:19) among forwards, only behind Bergeron. The chemistry between the two Swedes is just amazing, I'm sure they could turn out the lights and Söderbergs passes would still find Eriksson. That beeing said, it will tough to figure out whats best if Krejci returns. For now it looks like Eriksson should stay on this line.
Lucic - Spooner - Fraser
Worst line last night. There was no chemistry shown by Spooner and Fraser, neither was Lucic able to let them look good. Julien didn't gave them much of icetime through the first two periods, also switching Lucic to play with Söderberg and Eriksson. Spooner didn't play as good as he has already done on the wing, while Fraser ended the game with the 2nd less icetime on the team (10:16) only ahead of Bobby Robins.
Paille - Cunningham - Robins
Great debut for the 4th line with Daniel Paille in his 500th NHL game. Early shot on the breakaway beat Mason but went off the post. Cunningham got much icetime on the penalty kill, setting up Paille for a shorthanded chance in the 3rd. The natural winger went 6 for 12 (50 %) in the faceoff-dot,
ending the game with 2nd best 4 hits and a takeaway. Robins played just about 7 minutes in which he delivered team leading 5 hits, including that double one with Cunningham which led to his first NHL fight against Luke Schenn. He was benched for most of the 3rd period, but managed to draw a penalty on Rinaldo late in the game.
Chara - Hamilton
Hamilton was probably the worst defender out there last night, which lead Coach Julien to just play him 18:19 (2nd worst among defensemen) besides having the most PP time of all players.
Chara had a decent game and never looked beaten by anyone on the Flyers offense, until Voracek set up Couturier for the game tying goal.
Seidenberg - McQuaid
Seidenberg had a rough start defensively but as the game went on got better and better. Managed 4 shots on goal, which ranked him 2nd on the team. Adam McQuaid with team-leading 21:47 minutes of icetime, proving all his doubters wrong if he could play the top 4. He was promoted to the topline with Chara early in the 2nd after Seids took a penalty. Stepped in after Robins was brought down the ice earlier in the game, had a flawless game at the backend and assisted on the game-winning goal by Chris Kelly. Best game from Quaider in a long time and if he can stay healthy, he's defenitely earned himself a top 4 role.
Krug - Miller
Just like Smith, Torey Krug didn't look like a guy who's missed half of preseason. The former Michigan Spartan had team-leading 5 shots on goal and showed an improved d-game, highlighted by stopping Raffl on the breakaway in the 3rd. Kevan Miller had a rather quite game with the most shorthanded time of all skaters (3:12), killing all 3 of Phillys powerplays.
Tuukka Rask
Stayed calm throughout the game (besides playing the puck behind the net) and showed early demand to earning another Vezina Trophy this season. Had no chance on saving the double-deflection goal by Sean Couturier.
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