Miller shines, Buffalo grabs 1-0 series lead

It was close. It was chippy. It was downright intense. Game one had it all on Thursday night. Unfortunately, the Sabres were able to pull off the win in goaltending battle that lived up to all of the hype.

Miller was downright dominant for Buffalo, while Rask more than held his own in net for the B’s. Though the Bruins walked away from the game down 1-0 in the series, there were certainly some positives:

• Rask- stopped 30 shots in his first career playoff game, even amidst a raucous crowd chanting “Tuukka! Tuukka! Tuukka!” Though he now only has one playoff game under his belt, I have a feeling the kids got ice water in his veins and will respond well on Saturday.
• Recchi- Amazing how the guy still does it.
• Grit- Things were really chippy, which should be an indication of how the rest of this series is going to be played. Chara, Lucic, and Boychuk are three guys who played real scrappy.
• The Bruins offense played better than the scored indicated- The Bruins put 24 shots on net in the second period and pretty much dominated play. When you can dictate the pace of the game like they did, 9 times out of 10 your team is going to come away with the win. The Bruins just need to sustain such a high volume attack for 60 minutes. Of course that is easier said than done.

Game 2 is Saturday in Buffalo at 1 o’clock. I’m not going to say it’s a must win because I really believe a series doesn’t really shift dramatically until the road team picks up a win. Keep in mind though that home ice hasn’t been particularly kind to the Bruins this season.