Interesting, I didn't know this. Still, a hit like that SHOULD be a 5-minute major, however it's legislated in the rulebook. I'm a fan of the Bruins and I don't think McAvoy had any ill intent, but to legislate high/dangerous/head hits out of the game you need to penalize these types of hits more severely.

Their other option was a match penalty. Which means that McAvoy is out of that game and suspended indefinitely until the league determined his fate.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

Good game tonight despite being outplayed for much of the second period. Bruins couldn't get any sustained pressure/zone time until the last minute of the period and then found their legs and owned the third. Defense stepped up without McAvoy and his replacement Steven Kampfer opened the scoring.

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"You can never win or lose if you don't run the race." - Richard Butler

Missed the game, but seemed like a dominant performance. I’ll guess that the Canes change goalies moving forward...

I was surprised that they didn't after the second period yesterday, especially where McIlhenny played well in the Islanders series.

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"You can never win or lose if you don't run the race." - Richard Butler

Rask outstanding tonight

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"You can never win or lose if you don't run the race." - Richard Butler

Was not goalie interference. But I’ll take it. Weathering that 1st period storm was a back breaker. I can’t figure out what the rules are, totally different game than the regular season...

Fun game to watch tonight, Rask playing unbelievable this postseason. Great stat that they showed towards the end where in the three clinching games this postseason, he stopped 90 of 91 shots. They'll get a few days of hard earned rest before the Final.

Non-call on the hand pass in Sharks-Blues game was bullshit.

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"You can never win or lose if you don't run the race." - Richard Butler

Good to see the top line come through and also see just how good McElvoy and Co are.

Pretty quiet here after a dominating sweep by the Bruins. I heard the finals will start on the 26th (if the WCF finishes in 5 maybe they'd bump it up to 5/24 or something?), so the B's will have a pretty long layoff. I think the 'rust' concern is largely overblown, typically teams who sweep one round do well the following round and I don't see a veteran team like the Bruins to lay back while the West battle goes on.

That said, the one concern I have is Rask...he's been on another planet these last few weeks, the easy Conn Smythe favorite right now. Does this layoff effect his game in any way? For his sake I'd rather they keep rolling but that obviously isn't an option. Still, extra rest will be nice, I think Pasta could use a break, he's been better the past few games but generally not been his dominant self since he returned from injury. Chara sat this past game, at his age some extra rest is a good thing. And I'm sure there are bumps and bruises around the locker room that'll heal up in time for the finals.

I'd like to see the Sharks win the West, if only for Thornton to get his shot in the Finals. Even if the B's lose it'd be a tiny consolation that he'd final get a Cup, I've remained a fan of his and he's had a HOF career. That aside, I think the B's should be a pretty heavy favorite going into the finals, from Rask to their top line to their depth, they're the most complete team with the best overall talent remaining. Still, anything can happen, I'm just happy they're through to the Finals!

 

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Remember - It's important to be comfortable in your own skin... because it turns out society frowns on wearing other people's

The Final is set, St. Louis makes their first appearance in 49 years. Should be a good one but too bad that it doesn't start until Monday.

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"You can never win or lose if you don't run the race." - Richard Butler

Looking forward to it. Also bummed it doesn’t start until Monday. Should be a hell of a series.

Bleh. I hate both teams.

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Hmmmm... somebody in the pool picked St. Louis to win the cup.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

 Nice comeback win to start the Final. This one is going to be an ice bag series as both teams with some big hits. Blues got hurt by some bad penalties but are too good of a team to write off.

Waiting for word on Chara, closeup of his forearm as he was going off the ice did not look good.

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"You can never win or lose if you don't run the race." - Richard Butler

Not this time, that was a series we could have and should have won, no one is happy about it at all.

Bruins started a bit slow but man did they come on strong out shooting the Blues 38/20, that there is a thorough thumping, gonna be tough for St. Luis. Bruins in 6

18 - 3 shot advantage in the second period alone. They got their legs moving after Pastrnak's gaffe (once again carelessness with the puck in his own end or the neutral zone), and that combined with the Blues taking bad penalties made the difference.

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"You can never win or lose if you don't run the race." - Richard Butler

I consider myself a reasonably well adjusted person, really don’t use the word hate very much. But I really hate Marchand, there is something about him that triggers me in a very unhealthy way!

Having said that I don’t hate the Bruins anymore (canucks fan) if they take this one in (I think in 5-6) then, as a team they really do deserve it, very good play last night.

Maurice

Because he is dirty pos hack, I get agitaters, I get a little rough stuff in the corners Gordy Howe was one of the best at it, in the corner he'd give you the butt end of his stick in the ribs, back of the legs etc. but he would never look around for the refs so he could sucker punch a player who was on his knees in the head, how Marchand was not suspended is beyond me, like you I can't stand the scum bag. Low life POS!!

Saw a stat today, the Bruins limited the Blues to just 3 shots in a 27 minute stretch - 2 were from the blue line and the third was a tough angle shot that was going wide of the net if Rask didn't glove it - i.e. almost zero real challenges on net for half the game.

Penalties take their toll on a team - if you're shorthanded you're expending more energy and stuck in your zone typically, plus the more talented players are typically on PK duty meaning less 5v5 time for them. And a couple of the penalties were questionable, refs being refs which is unfortunate. BUT that doesn't explain how thoroughly the B's dominated the second half of the game, Rask could almost have been off the ice from that second goal onward and the B's still would've won.

Some serious adjustments coming from the Blues - they need a tighter check on zone entries, Bruins were gaining zone time with ease the whole night. And they need to figure out their own breakout and forecheck, they were getting manhandled in the neutral zone all night.

The series is far from over. I do like the B's top to bottom - I think they have the single best line, better depth, better PP, better goalie, only defense is a plus for St. Louis and it's not much of an advantage the way Clifton has stepped up lately. But the Blues will adjust, I still think this goes at least 6, but I do feel better about the B's chances after last night.

1-1. Blues adjusted, overcame more stupid penalties and fairly dominated the puck for most of the game. Appropriate for Gunnarson to score the winner after ringing the post in the 3rd. Best of 5 now blues with home ice.

Blues definitely stepped up and carried the play from the second period on. Bruins first two lines didn't play well and tried moving Pastrnak down with Krejci to get him going, but he still passed on shooting opportunities to try to make one pass too many. Third and fourth line (especially Nordstrom) played well. Blues making it a series now.

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"You can never win or lose if you don't run the race." - Richard Butler

Yup the Blues picked it up and played very well indeed, if they keep it up we should have a great series.