NHL Playoffs: Bruins win a testy Game 1

We learned a lot of things about the NHL on Saturday. In case you missed it, the two conference finals began in earnest with a lot of truculence and rule-breaking. They’ve made it this far, so you’d expect these teams to understand hockey. Alas.

The refs reminded him traveling is not cool, and running backs are for football. He took a two-minute minor penalty for closing his hand on the puck.

A one-sided offensive series, for now. Boston’s superb forechecking resulted in three goals, but the Penguins had no answer for Tuukka Rask despite putting 29 shots on net. Does this mean the Penguins have run out of steam? Not at all. Rask simply played well. Expect Pittsburgh to regroup and refocus their attack.

The penalty kill? No. The Pens stopped all four Boston power plays with relative ease. But the Penguins were equally as inefficient on their four power plays.

That “shot” was one of just two by the Kings in the first period, as the Hawks outshot them, 17-2.

Despite Quick shutting the door, the Kings will need more if they’re going to win just their second road victory in these playoffs. That said, the Hawks didn’t force many heroic saves from Quick. They’ll need to create more traffic to beat him.

The officials quickly reminded him that traveling is illegal in hockey, too. It’s too bad though, because Brad Richardson ran a great block on Nick Leddy to help set Clifford free.

Officially, the call was two minutes for “Closing Hand On Puck.”

Despite what one can only assume to be a bit of lopsided attention on a national scale, these two series will also likely continue the debate over what constitutes “exciting hockey.” The disparity in playing styles and team structure between the East and West has never been more evident than during the 2013 postseason, and luckily we now have the top two teams in each conference facing off in what could be the ultimate test in just what people determine to be the more entertaining of the two.

Consider the disparities in goal scoring and defense so far in the playoffs between the four remaining teams:

Even with stumbles along the way in the regular season (for Boston) and injury troubles (for Pittsburgh), most people agreed that these would probably be the teams to meet in the Eastern Conference Final. Now, after no fewer than seven days off (thanks, schedule-makers!) the two teams will meet up and play for the Prince of Wales Trophy and a chance to win a second Stanley Cup in recent memory. This figures to be a very interesting series.

You know how the story goes for the Bruins. They were minutes away from being embarrassed in their own building by the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal. An absurd comeback, led by Patrice Bergeron, won that game in overtime. They had a much easier time in the second round, where they dispatched the New York Rangers in five games, all but one of which were close. They have had six days between games.

Despite their early-season struggles, the Los Angeles Kings were selected by a lot of people to be here. Early dominance had everyone assuming the Chicago Blackhawks would be here. Neither team had the second round they probably would have liked, as both were forced to seven games by lower seeds. They are both here, however, in the 2013 Western Conference Final, which begins on Saturday evening in Chicago.

The Blackhawks had an easy first round. An overtime victory was all they gave up in a five-game sendoff of the Minnesota Wild. They probably didn’t even have everything in first gear. However, they needed to step it up in the semifinals, as the Detroit Red Wings pushed them to the brink after taking a 3-1 series lead. Chicago came back, won three straight and dispatched their rivals in overtime in Game 7. Brent Seabrook was the hero as the Blackhawks got back to the conference final for the first time since their Stanley Cup-winning 2009-10 season.