Everyone in the NHL world knows that the Bruins' top line of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, and David Pastrnak was the best in the league this season.
Bergeron is Captain Faceoff and the epitome of cool. Marchand brings the nasty with uncanny precision with his wrist shot. The kid, Pastrnak, adds a dash of flash, speed and finish.
In most series, that line by itself gives the Bruins such an advantage that the team can ride it to the next round. Against Toronto, their overwhelming performance in the first two games knocked the Maple Leafs silly until Game 5.
But entering this second-round tussle against the Lightning, conventional wisdom said the Bruins' advantage would be muted by an almost-as-talented top Tampa Bay line that's every bit as imposing at it sounds.
Stamkos. Kucherov. Miller.
Well, after Game 1, conventional wisdom can go take a leap off the Courtney Campbell Causeway.
It was no contest.
Bergeron's line was a wagon, putting up three goals and eight assists for an amazing 11 points and a collective plus-12 in the Bruins' 6-2 win in Game 1.
In the Toronto series, when the line had a Wayne Gretzky-Jari Kurri-esque 20 points through the first two games, the scorin' Bergerons had six points in the first game.
In other words — look out.
Their Tampa counterparts? Apparently, they were still enjoying all that rest and relaxation after finishing off the Devils in five games. They put goose eggs — zero goals or assists — and were a minus-4.
"It's good for us, right?" said a pleased Bruce Cassidy. "We're no different than anybody else. I'm sure if Stamkos and Kucherov had lit it up, they'd be pleased about their guys.
"That's what you need. You need your best players and clearly that happened for us. That line, (Stamkos), is gonna get its chances. I thought they did a real good job keeping them in check. And our guys finished. But we know that over seven games, we're not always going to have the edge."
Look at Butch, playing it all cool. You know privately he was saying, How you like us now?
Well, judging from the reaction the Bolts' locker room, they were impressed and fairly shell-shocked.
"Obviously, that top line was as advertised tonight and took it to us and was the difference, for sure," said defenseman Ryan McDonagh, who was a deadline addition with Miller from the Rangers. "I hope it's a little bit of a wakeup call. We had a long layoff and they were coming off an emotional win and you could see it, for sure. They're a top line for a reason and obviously have a lot of confidence, so we’ve got to play them stiffer all over the ice."
Even Stamkos was a bit in awe.
"Whoever's out there against them, you can't stress enough how aware you have to be of each and every member of that line and just be smarter with your decisions with the puck and compete extremely hard," he said. "Obviously those guys are obviously very skilled but their competitive level is very high as well .... They're a very good line."
The group that was tasked with Bergeron and Co. was Brayden Point's line, that included Ondrej Palat and Tyler Johnson. They were a collective minus-12 with Point tallying a minus-5 all by himself.
“They're good," said Lightning coach Jon Cooper. "They've played together for a while, and they know where to find each other. They played both ends of the rink. They've played on Olympic teams, World Cup teams and every time you look up and Canada's winning, usually Marchand and Bergeron have had something to do with it. So they've done it for a long time, good players."
The trio's first goal was probably the best of the bunch was reminiscent of a goal in Game 5 against Toronto, which Pastrnak made a no-look feed to Marchand and gave him a wide-open net. This time, it was Bergeron on the receiving end.
PATRICE BERGERON DOUBLES THE BRUINS LEAD! WHAT A PASS BY PASTRNAK!#NHLBruins 2 - 0 #GoBolts pic.twitter.com/xGGXrtARIf
— NHL Daily 365 (@NHLDaily365) April 28, 2018
BRAD MARCHAND NETS THE DEFLECTION OFF THE BACKHAND!#NHLBruins 4 - 2 #GoBolts pic.twitter.com/hWbGadzxA2
— NHL Daily 365 (@NHLDaily365) April 28, 2018
PATRICE BERGERON AGAIN! BRUINS RUNNING AWAY WITH GAME 1 HERE!#NHLBruins 5 - 2 #GoBolts pic.twitter.com/QJinxhBY35
— NHL Daily 365 (@NHLDaily365) April 28, 2018