Jun 17, 2013; Boston, MA, USA; A general view after game three of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final between the Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins at TD Garden. The Bruins won 2-0. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

The Blackhawks threw everything they had at us in the first two games. We lost game one to simple mistakes and a few bad bounces. We won game two by just out-performing in the clutch. Game three was a different story. The Bruins continued to bring everything they had. The Blackhawks on the other hand seemed lost. Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville attempted to mimic the magic in Claude Julien’s improvised line strategy in game two.(Three of the Bruins last four goals were delivered by the new ‘third’ line.) Instead of making magic, he made a confused raucous that seemed to only further inhibit the Blackhawks. In the end, Tuukka got his first Stanley Cup Playoff Final shutout in a 2-0 win.

What should we expect to see in Game Four?

The Bruins won 71.4% of their face-offs in game three. The entire Blackhawks team won sixteen face-offs.  Patrice Bergeron won nine by himself. We can expect to see more of that tonight. That has been the biggest weakness of the Chicago Blackhawks so far this series. They are a heavy puck management team. When you win only of a quarter of your face-offs you can not effectively control the puck the way you want to, and that leads to early frustration. That frustration was evident on the faces of the Blackhawks, and it led to sloppy plays and unnecessary penalties. (Dave Bolland’s three penalties later in the game sapped Chicago’s opportunity to gain momentum.)

Power play goals have been at a premium for both teams. In this final however, Boston has found a way to wake-up and start chipping those pucks in with the man advantage. They went 1-for-4 in Game three, and the Bruins finally seem comfortable on the power play. Chicago on the other hand has been abysmal. There was a running joke earlier in the regular season that the Bruins may have wanted to decline certain penalties in order to stick with a more comfortable 5-on-5 paradigm. It seems Chicago is finding themselves in that situation now.

This will likely be another low scoring goalie duel between Corey Crawford and Tuukka Rask. At the beginning of the finals, Corey Crawford was edging out Tuukka Rask in several categories, what a difference a few games make. While Crawford’s stats are impressive (13-7-2, 1SO 1.74 GAA, .936% save percentage), they are starting to be dwarfed by Rask (14-5-2, 3SO, 1.64 GAA, .946% save percentage, .960 save against Chicag0) The Boston’s collapsible defense has out shined Chicago’s defense, allowing Bruins to get in close on Crawford for those second chance opportunities. Last game, Tuukka probably got one of the easiest shutouts in his career. His team was there for him, and they covered any breaches that occurred.

While Marian Hossa is back in the line up for game four, it’s still questionable if he’ll be able to tough the game out. He was listed as ‘day-to-day’ with an upper body injury. It will likely lead the Blackhawks to try and come up with effective combinations to silence players like David Krejci, Nathan Horton, and Patrice Bergeron.  At the moment, the Bruins have found a way to contain Chicago powerhouses Patrick Kane and Jonathon Toews. Chicago will need to find a fifth gear to beat Boston, and I honestly don’t think they’ve got it in them. The ‘fight’ at the end of game three where Zdeno Chara essentially threw Brian Bickell to the ice summed up the Boston/Chicago series. To this point, the Bruins have just out-powered a Chicago team that relies on finesse.

Sure a rapier is a very beautiful weapon, but it can’t hack down a door like a battle axe.

Jun 17, 2013; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara (33) lies on top of Chicago Blackhawks left wing Bryan Bickell (29) during the third period in game three of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final at TD Garden. The Bruins won 2-0. Mandatory Credit: Michael Ivins-USA TODAY Sports

Game Prediction: Hossa will not be effective as Chicago hopes, the improvised ‘Full Meal’ line will find a way to score on Crawford again, and the Blackhawks will still find no effective response to the wall that is Tuukka Rask. Game four will be a 3-1 win for Boston.

I’ll leave the rest of this to Jack Edwards.

He had surgery to repair the damage on his leg five days later. His recovery time is expected to be between six and eight weeks. While this guarantees his inability to remain out of the postseason, he has no regrets about his actions.  He just saw it as part of the play and part of the game.  “I’ve gotten asked that a few times, did you know it was broken? I can’t say with 100 percent certainty that I knew it was broken, but I felt it was a different feeling,” Campbell recalled. “I blocked a few shots before, but this seemed different. Then once I was able to get back on my feet, I was not positive, but fairly sure something was wrong.”

He’s become to the 2013 Cup team what Nathan Horton was in 2011. He was asked if he would bring Boston ice water to Chicago for game five, and Campbell waved off that idea. “I don’t think I will.” said Campbell.  ”If I don’t have the same success as Nathan, it won’t look very good on me.”

It’s clear that Campbell is missed by the fans and his fellow Bruins. Whether it’s a new player to the team or someone who has played as long as Campbell has, the respect and admiration is there for Soupy. “It’s tough to see a guy like him not being able to play in the Stanley Cup Final because he is such a big part of the team and he’s played so well this year and in the playoffs,” said forward Milan Lucic. “We do our best to try to keep him involved and try to keep him a part of it.  He’s a great team guy. He likes that camaraderie that comes in the dressing room. He’s usually chirping at someone about something. It’s give and take. It keeps us close as a team and that’s something that’s a lot of fun as well and we appreciate having him on the team.”

Campbell won’t reflect too much on the past, but instead work hard as he can to see himself ready for next season’s action.

“I’m fully expecting to be 100% at camp. Maybe I won’t be participating fully at camp; I can’t say that right now. But if you look at 6-8 weeks, it puts me in mid July to late July, early August,” Campbell said. “Obviously, my training program is going to change a little bit. That’s a big part of my game, but that’s just something that I have to deal with and I’ll have to work around.”

Regardless of what happens, it’s safe to say that we all saw what true bravery, perseverance and attitude looks like on the ice that night. I’m sure we’ll get to see that again when #11 wears the Black and Gold again.

May 25, 2013; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Bruins forward Gregory Campbell (11) celebrates after scoring a goal against New York Rangers forward Micheal Haley (32) in game five of the second round of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Michael Ivins-USA TODAY Sports

Jun 17, 2013; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Bruins left wing Daniel Paille (20) shoots and scores a goal while defended by Chicago Blackhawks right wing Ben Smith (28) during the second period in game three of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Michael Ivins-USA TODAY Sports

In the last two days, we’ve heard a lot of buzz about the improvised third line. That line was forged out of necessity due to injury. (Merlot Man Gregory Campbell) Bruins coach Claude Julien later claimed the line configuration was based on a ‘hunch’. Call it whatever you want Bruins Nation, that hunch turned out to be a moment of genius for the Black and Gold.  The Bruins have put up three of their last four goals (including the game winner in OT for game two) due to the hard-charging attitude of this new line.

Credit has to be given to the Bruins organization. They had the smarts to bring on Claude Julien back in 2007, and they have been rewarded with a post season appearance every year since. The adaptability of Julien’s system allows any forward or defensemen to interchange with little need for re-acclimation. Any player could have pulled to make that third line, but the three in particular make the line seem that much more inspired.

Tyler Seguin was last year’s scoring leader with sixty seven points (twenty nine goals). During the lockout, Tyler was one of the Bruins that went overseas to play in Europe. He ended up in the Swiss A League playing for EHC Biel-Bienne. He proceeded to dominate over there with help from a certain Blackhawks winger, Patrick Kane. Then he came back home, and just couldn’t seem to put it together for the first half of the season. While he did end up tied for third overall in scoring in the regular season (thirty two points, sixteen goals), a lot of people felt was underperforming.

Chris Kelly has had the unenviable task of being the center for the only one of the Bruins lines that just didn’t seem to click in the regular season. The other three Bruins lines had their identities and a pretty solid configuration. This season however, the third line seemed to be the never ending way station for Bruins players coming in from Providence, or moving up and down as performance dictated.  Some configurations worked in the short term, but overall the third line seemed to get hit with the lions’ share of bad nights on the ice.  Kelly one had nine points (three goals) and a -8 at the end of the regular season.

Daniel Paille has suddenly turned into the breakout star for the Boston Bruins. At the beginning of the season, hearing Jack Edwards scream “and here’s a breakaway by Daniel Paille!” would have made some of us look at the TV sort of funny. He was the left wing of the Merlot Men, and did a good job as a fourth liner. His speed was an excellent asset to the tougher Gregory Campbell and Shawn Thornton, and over the last few years, they were acknowledged by other clubs as being the best fourth line in the NHL. As the injuries started to accumulate in the season, Daniel Paille found himself moving up the lines as needed, where he met or exceeded the coach’s expectations.

I call them the ‘Full Meal’ line. Seguin brings the firepower to this line. He leads the team with sixty seven shots in the post season. He’s not just firing on the net blindly. His shots are usually good chances, it’s just a pity he has only gotten one goal in so far going into game four of the finals. (Since Seguin is popular with the ladies, I’ve dubbed him the ‘meat’ element.) Kelly is an excellent center who (in my opinion) needed to great wingers to make the magic happen for him. He’s steady, has an excellent work ethic and has just been that beast on the penalty kill in the post-season. (He’s the ‘potato’ element.) Paille brings speed to match Seguin, and a great ability to break up counter attacks in the neutral zone. He’s suddenly become the poster boy of the Bruins and it’s totally deserved.

I don’t even want to get started on how much I think Daniel Paille got robbed of this year’s 7th Player Award. No offense meant Dougie Hamilton. You’re a great player, but you didn’t have the season Paizy did.

No guesses on whether or not the third line will remain intact going into the ’13-’14 season.  I hope the Bruins take a serious look at this line, and make a point of trying to keep it together. Maybe Thornton and Campbell can teach Jordan Caron or Kaspers Daugavins how to throw down in the off season.