Red Wings beat Bruins in Game 1 thanks to Datsyuk goal

Game one of the Eastern Conference match-up between Original 6 rivals the Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings was a chess match of a hockey game. While many of the other first round games have turned into high scoring affairs, the Bruins and Wings entered the latter stages of the third period tied at zero. Boston is well aware of the speed of the Red Wings and the talent of many of their young players. The team took care not to allow for any missteps defensively and limited any turnovers. Detroit, meanwhile, knows how dangerous Boston is at all facets of the game. They played a conservative dump and chase game and were very disciplined in their own zone. However, an amazing individual effort from Red Wings forward Pavel Datsyuk with roughly three minutes to go in the game ended up being all Detroit needed to clinch Game 1.

Coming up the right wing with the puck, Johan Franzen tosses a backhand pass toward Datsyuk that was well behind him. Datsyuk reached back with one hand, grabbed the puck and dragged it up between his legs to his forehand. He then moved left around two Boston defenseman and ripped a wrist shot past Rask for the tally. Boston pulled their goalie in the waning minutes of the game for the extra skater, but failed to convert.

What’s telling is that even when Datsyuk scored, the celebration on Detroit’s end was minimal. The team knows how dangerous Boston is at any given time, and they weren’t ready to call it a game yet. Detroit was certainly a focused team last night.

To Boston’s credit, the game could have easily been 4-1 or 4-2. They had a ton of quality scoring chances and it’s a surprise that none of them went in. Jimmy Howard stood on his head and definitely had a lot of puck luck last night. Boston is a fantastic hockey team and Detroit knows this is just the beginning. This series is definitely shaping up to be a good one.

Take a look at Datsyuk’s game-winning effort below. Game 2 is tomorrow at 3 p.m.

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