Beer and a Breakdown: Quieting Madison Square

Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports

Beer:  Peak Organic, Summer Session – Portland, ME.  Not your typical summer beer, this one’s got that rye, almost bitterly sweet taste to it.  The right choice for an IPA drinker looking to go “light”.

Breakdown:  The B’s look strong, taking a 3-0 series lead against New York.  Organic seems to be the trend for them as they’ve stopped trying to force things like they were against Toronto.  Instead, they’re playing an aggressive, confident team game, determined to let their opportunities come to them and take advantage.  Case in point? The Merlot line was on the ice for both of Boston’s goals tonight.  While the Rangers defense was busy tracking the top three lines all night, it allowed these muckers to slide right in and help grind out a couple of timely scores.  Without the Bruins commitment to play a team game, a strategy where they just put the pedal to the medal and wait for the wear down, this series would have a very different tone.

The Bruins have gained a wealth of confidence since turning it on against the Leafs during desperate times.  It’s really starting to show against these Rangers.  While New York has the ability to turn it on and score some skilled goals at any point, the Bruins are taking them out of their element by controlling the play in the offensive and neutral zones.  Right before they scored in the second period, the Rangers were playing a desperate (in a bad way) style of hockey, with guys trying to overpower their way through 3 or 4 Bruins at a time.  As NBC analysts pointed out, that’s not the way for anyone to win a hockey game.

Tuukka Rask had a light night, facing just 24 shots.  Still, he made a few key saves earlier in the game which allowed Boston’s forwards to keep patient and continue plugging away.  Meanwhile, Henrik Lundqvist continues to play out of this world, making un-godly saves against some prime Bruins opportunities.  It looked for a while like he might steal one tonight, but the Rangers inability to crack the B’s defense… plus a funny bounce, proved to be the difference.  King Henrik will need to shut Boston out for New York to have any chance in Game 4.  The Bruins are starting to look allot like they did in 2011.