Bruins blank Penguins in brutal series opener

Bruins blank Penguins

in chippy series opener

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

Round 1, make that Game 1, to the Boston Bruins.

David Krejci scored two more goals during his torrid postseason and the Bruins shut down the Penguins, 3-0, in the opening game of the Eastern Conference finals on Saturday night.

Nathan Horton added an insurance goal in the third period and Tuukka Rask stopped 29 shots for the Bruins, who silenced Sidney Crosby and the rest of the NHL’s top-scoring team.

Pittsburgh came in averaging a league-high 4.27 goals in the playoffs but couldn’t solve Rask. The Penguins hit the post six times and seemed a little bit off following an eight-day break between rounds.

The Bruins were coming off a similar layoff but had no such issues. Krejci scored early, and the Bruins handed Pittsburgh its worst loss of the playoffs.

Game 2 is Monday night.

Tomas Vokoun stopped 27 shots but surrendered a soft goal to Krejci, and Pittsburgh’s sizzling power play cooled off. The Penguins came in leading all playoff teams with the man advantage, scoring on 28 percent of their chances, but they went 0 for 4 in the opener.

The buildup to the matchup of two of hockey’s premier franchises certainly gave both teams fresh legs, and the Penguins came out flying.

Crosby hit the post in the opening minutes, and Pittsburgh put the kind of pressure on Rask that Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said would be necessary if they wanted to advance.

Rask, playing this deep in the postseason for the first time, proved equal to the challenge. He stuffed Crosby from point-blank range on the power play, then added an acrobatic save on Evgeni Malkin in the final moments of the period when Malkin attempted to bang home a pass off the end boards.

The stop preserved a 1-0 Boston lead after Krejci beat Vokoun 8:23 into the game. Krejci’s goal was also the first sloppy mistake by Vokoun during his excellent playoff run.

The game’s free-flowing tenor changed abruptly in the second period when Pittsburgh’s Matt Cooke slammed Boston’s Adam McQuaid from behind into the end boards behind the Bruins net.

McQuaid had his back turned when Cooke came in at full speed and raised his left arm just before impact. The collision sent McQuaid crumpling to the ice. Cooke — whose career was pockmarked with suspensions and fines for hits before he made it a point to clean up his play two years ago — was given a major penalty for boarding and was ejected.