NHL Playoffs 2012: 4 Key Takeaways for the Boston Bruins After Game 6

The Boston Bruins let the Washington Capitals hang around too long to polish off a must-win Game 6 in regulation on Sunday.

But with their eventual 4-3 victory, even after blowing three straight one-goal advantages, it now may be that Tyler Seguin and other Bruins have been allowed to hang around too long for the Caps to take this series.

The Boston sophomore, pointless on a team-leading 20 shots on net through the first five games of the playoffs despite topping the Bruins’ scoring charts in the regular season, posted a multi-point effort in Sunday’s elimination tilt.

His second point, and first goal, was a highlight-reel, homeward-bound wrapper around Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby at 3:17 of the bonus stanza.

With his goal, Seguin joined Rich Peverley, Andrew Ference and fellow late-bloomer David Krejci in grabbing a goal and an assist apiece on the day. Milan Lucic joined the multi-point club with two helpers, including the primary setup on the clincher.

The line of Krejci, Lucic and Seguin had combined for two points entering this do-or-die bout at the Verizon Center. All of a sudden, their cumulative count for playoff production has quadrupled to eight points.

Krejci led the team with five shots on goal, matching his total output in that column from the first five games of the series. Lucic led all Boston forwards with four hits while finding enough energy to channel onto the score sheet. And Seguin reaped rewards by forcing the most productive turnover of the day.

The fact that the young troika perked up with the season at stake ought to do nothing but instill personal and team-wide conviction entering Wednesday night’s seventh game back home.

Four other notable storylines from Boston’s triumph are as follows.

Still No Doubting Thomas

Well, maybe to put it more accurately, there is less doubt in Bruins’ blue-collar backstop Tim Thomas than there could be.

Sure, as the last line of defense, he was at least partially liable for spilling 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 leads on Sunday.

But in 63 minutes and 17 seconds of action in the first elimination game of his 2012 postseason, how many times did Thomas concede a deficit?

Exactly.

Thomas improved to a 9-2 lifetime record when trying to stave off his summer. He helped his own cause by turning away 36 shots, one shy of a series-high.

Although a 2-1 lead at the first intermission devolved into a 2-2 tie after 40 minutes, Thomas was most responsible for the fact that the Caps could not muster more than one goal in that stanza.

Washington usurped control in the middle frame by issuing more hits, more attempted shots and more shots on net—all categories that belonged to the Bruins in the first period. Thomas’ skating mates did him no favors by defaulting on an early four-minute power play that came about as a result of captain-on-captain violence.

For his part, Thomas stopped Washington’s first 14-of-15 shots in the second and ultimately took a hard-earned victory in what would be a best-of-seven starting contest with Holtby.

Center Surplus Pays Off

Rich Peverley, a center-turned-winger since his February 2011 arrival from Atlanta, has once again underscored Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli’s reputation as a masterful deadline dealer.

Pressed into service as a top-sixer by Nathan Horton’s injury, Peverley was forced to assume the pivot position on Sunday when linemate Patrice Bergeron was ruled less than 100 percent, and therefore, given reduced responsibilities.

As it happened, Peverley had the best day at the dot of any Bruin taking more than three faceoffs with 13 wins out of 24 tries. One of those wins amounted to his icebreaker, his first of two points on the day and Bergeron’s own contribution with the secondary assist.

From the Side to the Slot

Two of Boston’s regulation goals were executed in visually fraternal fashion. Krejci granted his team a 2-1 edge late in the first period when he inserted a slippery deflection of a Lucic feed from the near lane.

Upon alertly nabbing the puck from Alexander Semin in his own zone with barely eight minutes left in regulation, Seguin piloted an odd-man rush the other way. Traveling down the same alley as Lucic before him, he thrust a bad-angle shot on net while his linemates and defenseman Andrew Ference crashed after the rebound.

As it happened, Ference converged on the puck and slugged it home for the 3-2 edge.

No Excuses

Even if you do not agree with them, it will be hard to not at least listen to Bruins' buffs who may point to what they would deem some frustrating non-calls in this game.

With the game tied 2-2 at 15:44 of the second period, the Capitals should have nullified one of their power plays when they put seven skaters on the ice during the delayed call. But only Bergeron went to the bin for his high-sticking infraction.

Part of the reason that 2-2 knot came about was because Washington’s Jason Chimera was permitted to beat Thomas on a fleeting end-to-end rush when he probably should have been bound for the box. Earlier on that play, he had collided with Brad Marchand along his own blue line on a play that easily could have been dubbed interference.

None of that mattered to Claude Julien and his pupils, though, nor should it have.

The Bruins killed all four of their penalties and went a respectable 1-of-5 on the power play. Not unlike the individual input of Seguin and Krejci, the recent awakening of the man-advantage brigade could mark a decisive turning point in this series.