The Boston Bruins looked to clinch their first round series against the Red Wings up 3-1 and succeeded after a gritty performance from both sides. The Bruins pulled out the 4-2 victory with a complete team effort and characteristic solid defense. The intensity of the game could be seen in the hits (53 total) and penalties (13 total).
The Bruins opened the scoring in the first period off of a great play by youngster Dougie Hamilton. The defenseman took the puck from the Bruins end all the way to the opposing net weaving in and out of traffic before delivering a puck to the front of the net. That pass would eventually be backhanded home by Louis Eriksson.
Hamilton has been a bit of a revelation this series, especially in the past two games. In addition to the opening goal of game 5, Hamilton played an integral part of the game 4 winner. At only 20 years of age, the Bruins have to be happy watching the youngster bloom in the limelight.
The second period proved wild with 5 penalties leading to two power play goals. The first goal temporarily knotted the game at one a piece. After a high sticking call on Bruins Milan Lucic, Pavel Datsyuk was able to score late in the second on a snap shot with an assist from Johan Franzen.
However, the lead would be short lived as the Bruins scored on a power play of their own with under five seconds to go in the second. The sequence started after the Red Wings were called for two penalties in the final two minutes. The Bruins had a four on three power play and were able to capitalize on the open ice as Zdeno Chara scored a one timer to the top right corner. The Bruins took a 2-1 lead into the second intermission.
The Bruins looked to put the game out of reach early in the third with a goal from Milan Lucic. Lucic forced his way into the front of the net after receiving a great pass from Krug and was able to stuff it through the right pad of Gustavsson. With the score 3-1 the Bruins looked set to go through to the second round but the Red Wings had other ideas.
Detroit fought back cutting the lead to one on a Henrik Zetterberg goal with just under four minutes to go in regulation. After a marvelous save by Rask with his right blocker the puck fell to Zetterberg who wristed a shot top corner as Chara collided with Rask attempting to block the shot.
The Red Wings looked poised to make this a difficult finish but were derailed by a too many men on the ice penalty with three minutes to go. Jerome Iginla added an empty net goal with under 30 seconds remaining reach the final score of 4-2.
Rask was brilliant again in game 5 as he was throughout the series. He stopped 31 of 33 shots including some truly fantastic reaction saves. Gustavsson for the Red Wings performed admirably saving 29 of 32 but the one seed Bruins proved too much for the Red Wings in round one.
The Bruins move on to play the long time rival Montreal in round two in what should be an exciting series. Montreal swept the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round.