Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Bruins handle Red Wings 4-1, tie series 1-1

Justin Florek, Tomas Tatar

Boston Bruins’ Justin Florek is congratulated at the bench after scoring a goal as Detroit Red Wings’ Tomas Tatar (21) skates to the bench during the first period of Game 2 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series in Boston Sunday, April 20, 2014. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

AP

After losing a tight Game 1 thanks to a nice Pavel Datsyuk 1-0 goal, the Boston Bruins raced out to an early 2-0 lead in Game 2 and cruised to a 4-1 win on Sunday, tying their first-round series 1-1 with the Detroit Red Wings in the process.

The Bruins generated that early lead thanks to firsts as Justin Florek and Reilly Smith scored for Boston. (It was a big Sunday for the Smith family, as Brendan challenged Zdeno Chara to end the first period.)

After the Bruins’ strong start, the Red Wings dominated much of the second period, yet the teams traded goals as Milan Lucic matched Luke Glendening’s efforts. (Those who wanted a Lucic suspension probably bristled.)

A power-play goal from Chara basically locked it up at 4-1 in the third period, giving the Bruins a win that’s relatively easy (at least compared to these early 2014 Stanley Cup playoffs games).

The series now shifts to Detroit tied 1-1. All things considered, the Red Wings are probably glad to split the first two games against the Bruins (who won the Presidents’ Trophy this season). Many believed that this could be a much tougher series than the usual top vs. bottom seed fair, and even with two very different games in mind, that could very well be the case.

Follow James O’Brien @cyclelikesedins