Special Teams A Force in B's Game 1 Victory

The 2018 Boston Bruins Playoffs are presented by Jet Blue.
BOSTON - The Bruins' success on special teams has been well documented.
Boston ranked fourth on the power play and third on the penalty kill during the regular season, providing a valuable balance to go along with their consistently stout work during five-on-five play.
On Thursday night, that special teams prowess was put on full display. The Black & Gold potted three power-play goals and went a perfect 3-for-3 on the penalty kill en route to a 5-1 thrashing of the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 1 of their first-round series at TD Garden.

"Ultimately it was the difference," said Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy.
That it was. The Bruins built a 2-1 lead early in the second period with both goals coming via the man advantage (one each from Brad Marchand and David Backes), before delivering the final dagger on David Krejci's power-play marker midway through the third.
"The power play was huge for us," said David Pastrnak, who notched a goal and two assists, including a helper on Marchand's tally in the first. "The first goal in the first game is always the hardest. We were able to get one in the PP and it was huge for us. Great play by Torey [Krug] and Marchy. It was huge. Overall, special teams was good for us tonight. And that played a big part in us winning the game."

Not to be outdone was the B's penalty kill, which stymied two Toronto power plays (on penalties to Zdeno Chara and Danton Heinen) in the first seven minutes of the second period with the game still tied 1-1 - no easy task given the Leafs clicked at 25% during the regular season, ranking second in the NHL behind Pittsburgh.
"I know Adam McQuaid saved one and a couple of good sticks there, and Tuukka [Rask] made some big saves," said Cassidy. "So, we got through it. Then our power play, we had a good entry and Marchy made a good play. We had a lot of speed on the entry and that's what you need against this kill. Then Krech made a good low play and we finished around the net. That can be a little bit of a difference; we finished one, they didn't."
Following Boston's torrid start, which included Marchand's beautiful backhanded power-play goal just 5:28 into the series, Toronto pushed back and was carrying the play through the early stages of the second period. But the two crucial kills provided the Bruins - and the building - a much-needed jolt.
"Lots of credit to the staff who got our PK guys ready," said Krejci. "I thought they did a really good job…they have two really good units, they have so many skilled players that can make plays, that's was huge…momentum can switch with every shift."

Boston made sure to take advantage of its momentum after Maple Leafs forward Patrick Marleau went the box for hooking at 13:59 of the second. Matt Grzelcyk had the most important play of the sequence, barely keeping a Maple Leafs' clearing attempt from tumbling over the blue line. The puck eventually ended up in the hands of Krejci (goal, assist) in the corner and the pivot went to work, zipping a pass to Backes, who was parked at the top of the crease.
Backes collected the feed by kicking the puck to his stick with his left skate and proceeded to flip it over Frederik Andersen for a 2-1 Bruins lead and the first of four unanswered goals.
"[We] ended up forcing them to take a few penalties where we get on the power play - and the power play didn't disappoint," said Backes. "And that's a good asset to have because either they're going to take penalties and you have that potent power play or they're not going to take penalties and you get in a little more clean in the offensive zone."

Boston picked up its final power-play tally in the third period when Nazem Kadri was assessed a five-minute major for boarding Tommy Wingels. Minutes after slamming Wingels into the end boards behind the Toronto net - which earned him a two-minute minor - Kadri delivered another heavy blow to Wingels, who was on his knees facing the wall to the left of Rask.
Kadri was ejected from the game for the hit. Wingels left with assistance from trainer Don DelNegro and did not return. He was still being evaluated after the game.
"Don't have any further update there," said Cassidy. "I thought it was the appropriate call. I thought it was a five-minute major. Where it goes from there, out of my hands."
The Bruins made sure to cash in on the lengthy advantage, with Krejci banking one in off of Andersen from behind the net to extend Boston's lead to 5-1 with 8:31 to play.
"To be honest, we had a good last couple days, especially [Wednesday], we were working in practice and we had video about their PK and what to expect," said Krejci, who notched his 20th career multi-point playoff game. "We ran some plays yesterday and we tried it today and it worked. We'll get back to it tomorrow and look at more video, more and more stuff that we can do and hopefully we can keep it going on Saturday."