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NHL Bubble Wrap: Bruins, Golden Knights start Second Round strong

Bruins Golden Knights win Game 1 Lightning Canucks NHL scores PHT bubble wrap Lehner MAF Halak Marchand

  • Marc-Andre Fleury asked his agent to delete that tweet about Peter DeBoer, and indirectly, Robin Lehner.
  • There was plenty of smack-talking between Ryan Reaves and Antoine Roussel. None of that outside drama made much of an impact on the Golden Knights’ dominance of the Canucks in Game 1, though.
  • The Bruins made a 3-0 lead count against the Lightning, even if they didn’t dominate their Game 1 like the Golden Knights did.

NHL Scores: Game 1 of Bruins - Lightning and Golden Knights - Canucks

Game 1: Bruins 3, Lightning 2 (BOS leads series 1-0)

Charlie Coyle showed off his hand-eye coordination once again in Game 1, this time giving Boston a late-first-period lead with a deflection. Despite 18 SOG by the Lightning during the second period, the Bruins scored the lone goal when David Pastrnak buried a nice pass by David Krejci. When Patrice Bergeron created a turnover for Brad Marchand to eventually bury, it seemed like this would be one-sided, at least on the scoreboard. However, Victor Hedman scored two goals (both, strangely, bouncing off of Charlie McAvoy) to give the Lightning a chance. Ultimately, it was too little, too late for the Lightning.

Lightning - Bruins playoff series schedule

Game 1: Bruins 3, Lightning 2
Game 2: Tuesday, Aug. 25, 7 p.m. ET – NBCSN
Game 3: Wednesday, Aug. 26, 8 p.m. ET – NBCSN
Game 4: Friday, Aug. 28, 7:30 p.m. ET – USA Network
*Game 5: Sunday, Aug. 30 – TBD
*Game 6: Tuesday, Sept. 1 – TBD
*Game 7: Wednesday, Sept. 2 – TBD

*if necessary

Game 1: Golden Knights 5, Canucks 0 (VGK leads series 1-0)

Again, basically all of the drama surrounding Game 1 of Golden Knights - Canucks really didn’t have much of an impact on the ice. OK, you could say that Ryan Reaves and Antoine Roussel jawing at each other fired Vegas up. That’s subjective (although, to be fair, Reaves did deliver 10 hits). Also, if there’s any room for people to see Alan Walsh’s side of starting Marc-Andre Fleury (rather than, uh, stabbing MAF in the back?), it will need to happen later in this Second Round series. The Canucks rarely got many chances, and when they did, they were almost all from the perimeter.

Golden Knights - Canucks playoff series schedule

Game 1: Golden Knights 5, Canucks 0
Game 2: Tuesday, Aug. 25, 9:45 p.m. ET – NBCSN
Game 3: Thursday, Aug. 27, 9:45 p.m. ET – NBCSN
Game 4: Saturday, Aug. 29, 8 p.m. ET – NBCSN
*Game 5: Monday, Aug. 31 – TBD
*Game 6: Tuesday, Sept. 1 – TBD
*Game 7: Thursday, Sept. 3 – TBD

*if necessary

[NBC 2020 STANLEY CUP PLAYOFF HUB]

Three Stars from Sunday in the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs

1. Jaroslav Halak, Boston Bruins

If you look at the box scores alone, you’d argue that Robin Lehner deserves a spot on the top three, and maybe Lehner doesn’t deserve to be on it at all. After all, Lehner pitched a 26-save shutout, while Halak allowed two Victor Hedman goals.

But, honestly, those goals were funky, and Lehner didn’t need to do much (relatively speaking, for the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs) to author his first NHL postseason shutout. Halak, meanwhile, was -- in my opinion -- the single person most responsible for either team winning on Sunday. Halak made 35 saves against the Lightning, providing some peace of mind for those who are still concerned about Tuukka Rask’s absence.

2. David Pastrnak/Bruins top line

You might not get a better summary of what makes “The Perfection Line” of Pastrnak, Brad Marchand, and Patrice Bergeron so great than the 3-0 goal that ended up being the game-winner. Marchand created some havoc, then Bergeron stole the puck from Ryan McDonagh. Bergeron and Pastrnak then set up Marchand for a beautiful goal. Pastrnak also scored a big 2-0 power-play goal, one that would be key considering Tampa Bay’s second-period push.

3. Reilly Smith, Vegas Golden Knights

Depth is one of the things that makes the Golden Knights so scary. Again, Lehner pitched that 26-save shutout. Smith, meanwhile, picked up the primary assist and also scored the 2-0 goal in the Golden Knights’ Game 1 pasting of the Canucks. Smith’s two points came earlier than a comparable one-goal, one-assist output from Mark Stone. Interestingly, Smith’s line also faced Elias Pettersson more often at even-strength than Stone’s did, according to Natural Stat Trick. The Golden Knights shut down Pettersson and other Canucks scorers as a unit, so your results may vary. (You may also prefer Alex Tuch, who also went 1G, 1A). I’ll give Smith the very slight edge on this night, though. Stone and Lehner aren’t really hurting for attention, anyway, right?

Game 1 Highlights: Bruins - Lightning; Golden Knights - Canucks

Again, what was a 3-0 goal and ended up being the game-winner was also a very pretty goal, if you need a single thing to latch on in Bruins - Lightning Game 1 highlights

Now that you got to see Bruins - Lightning highlights, here are the top moments from the Golden Knights’ win against the Canucks:

Factoids


  • Robin Lehner earned his first career playoff shutout on Sunday.
  • Via NHL PR, Brad Marchand now has 28 multi-point playoff games to his name. That’s third-most in Bruins playoff history, and just one behind Phil Esposito (29). Catching Ray Bourque won’t be easy, as Bourque managed 46 multi-point playoff games. In case you’re wondering, Patrice Bergeron ranks sixth with 25, while David Krejci’s one behind him in seventh with 24.
  • The Golden Knights are now 9-0-2 against the Canucks all-time, via Sportsnet stats. (Click here for more Golden Knights - Canucks stats.)

Monday’s NHL Schedule

Game 1: Philadelphia Flyers vs. New York Islanders, 7 p.m. ET, NBCSN
Game 2: Colorado Avalanche vs. Dallas Stars, 9:45 p.m. ET, NBCSN

MORE:
Stanley Cup Playoffs Second Round schedule

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MORE STANLEY CUP COVERAGE:
Stanley Cup Playoffs Second Round schedule


James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.