NHL Playoffs 2012: Bruins Must Score First, Lead at Intermission in Game 6

The Boston Bruins have taken only three leads at any point of their first five playoff tilts with the Washington Capitals.

The first of those leads froze the moment it was spawned as Chris Kelly finalized a 1-0 overtime decision in Game 1. The second one lasted a mere 13:58 of clock time in Game 3, but was ultimately recompensed by Zdeno Chara with 1:53 left in regulation for 4-3 victory.

One of the jutting reasons the Bruins now trail the Capitals, three games to two, is that Kelly’s sudden-death strike is the only time they have drawn first blood in the 2012 postseason. They also have yet to lead after the first or second period.

As a consequence, the team that tied Philadelphia for the NHL’s second-highest offensive output in the 2011-12 regular season is depriving itself of some of its biggest boons in the time of the season that matters most.

Apparently, Lent came late for the Bruins, because for the last five games and 10 days, they have consistently abstained from building upon two peerless strengths from the regular season.

Boston has gone 31-5-0 when scoring first for a league-best .861 success rate in that situation. When carrying the upper hand into the third period, the Bruins are the only NHL team with a pristine record at 32-0-0.

Yet the unripe and ostensibly fragile Braden Holtby, pressed into the playoffs by injuries to Caps’ goaltenders Tomas Vokoun and Michal Neuvirth, still has not authorized those scenarios.

Nor have Holtby’s skating mates, who are 13-25-2 when shedding first blood and 7-26-2 when trailing at the second intermission, had to clear the highest hurdles Boston can raise.

And with five games already in the morgue, the matchup is suddenly a breeding ground for self-doubt in Boston’s circles. Holtby is indubitably garnering exponential confidence in his veteran allies and they in him.

Still, the possibility remains that the Bruins can sniff out or create a timely seam and pounce for an early, tangible advantage.

That possibility will have to become a reality on Sunday if they are to win Game 6 and sustain their season. The Caps are riding a rapid wave of momentum back to their domain at the Verizon Center after taking Game 5 only a day earlier at TD Garden.

If that 4-3 falter bears any positive takeaways for Boston, it lies within the 18th minute of the middle frame, when a 2-0 deficit was deleted in a matter of 28 seconds.

That was all the time that elapsed, with no intervening whistles, between Dennis Seidenberg’s homeward bound snap shot from the circle top and Brad Marchand’s burial from a crowded porch.

Marchand’s goal, his long-awaited first point of the series, was used with the remnants of a Johnny Boychuk point blast. (None other than Boychuk later inserted another equalizer on Boston’s first postseason power-play goal in the third period.)

The Bruins will need another segment like that within the first period of Game 6, preferably before the stanza reaches its halfway mark. Even if it does not amount to more than one goal right away, it should at least consist of an icebreaker and a follow-up onslaught off the resultant draw at center ice.

Anything less than that will only permit the Verizon Center masses to continuously percolate their yet-to-be-punctured home team. And that carbonated crush of Capitals confidence will only erode Boston’s odds of survival as 60 precious minutes melt away.