Bruins Offense Finally Breaks Through Against Roberto Luongo, But Boston Still Needs More Consistent Production

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Jun 5, 2011

Bruins Offense Finally Breaks Through Against Roberto Luongo, But Boston Still Needs More Consistent Production VANCOUVER — Move over Lyndon Byers, you're no longer the last Bruin to score in a Stanley Cup Final.

The Bruins are still searching for their first win of this Cup Final after Saturday's 3-2 overtime loss at Rogers Arena, but at least their offense finally got on the board with a pair of second-period goals.

Milan Lucic was the first to break the ice, banging in a rebound in front after David Krejci sent an indirect pass off the boards to Johnny Boychuk for a one-timer from the point. Roberto Luongo made the stop on Boychuk's initial bid, but Lucic finally got a puck past him on the second chance.

"It was good," Lucic said of the Bruins' first Cup Final goal in over 21 years. "Obviously it sucked that we weren't able to score in the four periods prior, so it was nice to get that one. It was kind of an emotional lift. It felt like we were able to play more confident and play the way we wanted to play after that goal. That second period is the way we need to play in order to win."

The Bruins did pick up their play after that goal. Their continued pressure helped draw a holding penalty on Aaron Rome 1:26 later, and the Bruins' struggling power play finally came through 1:09 after that. Once again the score came as a result of creating traffic in front, as Mark Recchi tipped in a Zdeno Chara shot for Boston's first lead of the series.

"It was better, it was definitely better today than in Game 1," Lucic said of the net-front presence the team was able to get. "We have to keep that up if we want to score some more goals."

It's especially important to get that traffic in front on the power play. The Bruins used Chara's massive frame in front in Game 1. On Saturday, Chara saw a little time there, but mostly returned to the point while Lucic and Recchi were the main guys in front. After going 5-for-67 in the postseason, including 0-for-6 on Wednesday, the Bruins scored once on three power-play chances in Game 2 and created some quality scoring bids on the other opportunities.

"I go back to last game here," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "We had six power plays. I thought we generated some good opportunities. We didn't score. Tonight we got rewarded. I guess that makes it successful, obviously when you score. I thought our guys again tonight did a good job at moving the puck around, getting some opportunities. We had good traffic in front, whether it was Zdeno, the other time it was Lucic, then Recchi timed it well for that goal, tipping it in."

Getting that first goal past Luongo, who put together a 36-save shutout in Game 1, was also important. Finally beating him once gave the Bruins some much needed confidence.

"It did, we finally knew that we could score on that guy [Luongo]," Krejci said. "Right after, I think we got some momentum. We were coming at them. The next shift we had a 2-on-1 and then the next PP [power play] we scored, so I think it built a lot of confidence and momentum, that first goal. From there until the end of the second period we played really well."

Now they just need to put that kind of effort together for all three periods, and get a few more past Luongo to have a chance to get back in this series when it resumes back in Boston with Game 3 on Monday.

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