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BOSTON BRUINS 3 COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS 2 (OT)- (Boston leads 1-0)
After a sluggish start, Columbus roared back into a game they trailed 1-0, and fired 2 goals past Tuukka Rask in 13 seconds in the 3rd. They couldn’t hang on though, and Boston tied it on Charlie Coyle’s 4th of the playoffs, sending it to OT. And in the final frame Coyle struck again, giving the Bruins the win. That pretty much sums up the game. Now, let’s talk about the way the Bruins got away with that. Wait, what? Yeah, all that talking with refs and the director of officiating, there’s a reason for that. It helps them put up a smoke screen. They’re still the same bunch of bastards they always were, and their (rat) King struck again in OT.
Look, that’s a penalty. They have to see that. If you want to get on your damn soapboxes and bemoan the fact that a call cost Vegas their series against San Jose, then why aren’t you furious over this? Columbus should have gotten a power play over this. We all want the officiating to be better in this sport. It’s not something where we disagree. But this didn’t happen on a lightning fast play where they have to make a judgement call. It’s a faceoff, where the eyes of the officials are trained on the players involved to watch for things like this. So either they missed it because they weren’t paying attention, or they chose to ignore it. Neither answer is acceptable. And I am not naive. I know every team tries their hardest to exploit the rules. But when a guy known for bullshit does something in a very non-discrete way, you have to believe the league is gonna call him on it. When you see stuff like this (and the Chara sucker punch on John Tavares in Game 7) it’s no wonder some fans feel like the fix is in. The NHL allowing this stuff creates the air of favoritism and that kills it for some people.
ST LOUIS BLUES 3 DALLAS STARS 2- (St Louis leads 1-0)
A 2 goal night from Vladimir Tarasenko was the difference as the Blues survived a late push from the Stars and hung on for a 3-2 victory in Game 1 of their series. Jordan Binnington came up big again for St Louis, stopping 27 of 29 Dallas shots, including 16 saves in the 3rd period. Game 2 goes Saturday afternoon in St Louis.