A floor full of partygoers who have turned captives is shocked to see the crazy, gun-wielding thug emerge from the Nakatomi Tower elevator mid-tantrum in this iconic scene from a late 1980s film, but Holly Gennaro’s eyes brighten with hope.
She murmurs, “Only John can drive somebody that crazy.”
Brad Marchand produced one of his best performances of the season in the third period of Saturday night’s 7-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning at TD Garden. If he is going to win anything this season, let it be a sweaty, blood-stained, torn-up, sleeveless t-shirt.
Fighting for the puck at the proper position near the end of the Boston bench against the legendary Nikita Kucherov, each cunning fighter dug deep into his file cabinet for the ideal move to upset, disrupt, and neutralize, if not outright fool, his opponent. Marchand managed to get the puck out of the defensive zone somehow. When he did, he was sitting on one of his skates.
With his shift coming to an end and his own hold on the game beginning to loosen, Kucherov slid back across the center and used his right hand to smack his stick into the boards with the force of a whip. The dasher and the contact point were just inches apart. The “boom” echoed around TD Garden, causing the players on the bench to stand.
Imagine having enough skill in a particular sport to push a player of that caliber over the edge.
Someone can only be so insanely driven by Brad.
Speaking of Die Hard, the Boston Bruins locate a better version of themselves and get the car back on the tracks just when it looked like they were regressing to the pack.
It was amazing how the Bruins were able to control the game after Kucherov broke up a system play and set up Brayden Point just 21 seconds in. Furthermore, Linus Ullmark’s timely saves kept the game within reach before the Bruins tightened up in the third period to take the lead. The Bruins, for whatever reason, found themselves on the defense even as Tampa Bay pressed forward.
Charlie Coyle remarked afterward, “The mindset of just doing the right things the next shift—that’s what we always say in here is it’s all about that next play, that next shift, no matter what happens.” In the event that we or they score, we depend on the subsequent shift to put the puck behind them, get to work, and either regain the momentum or begin to build it up again.
“What matters most is the next play; the previous instance actually doesn’t matter. That’s how we kind of think. We play and think in that manner.
The Lightning (out of the final eight tonight) needed the game and faced the greatest Bruins squad in the pivotal third period of what appeared to be a rout. It wasn’t just Kucherov and Point, one of hockey’s most dynamic duos. The game was intense and had a playoff feel to it, but it didn’t play out the way games did for the heavier Bruins 10 years ago.
If ever there was evidence that defense was the cornerstone of the Lightning’s incredible 2021–19 record, 2021 Cup, and 2022 final, it is this one.