The Pittsburgh Penguins and the Boston Bruins played a hard fought Game 1 to open the Eastern Conference finals at home, while the Chicago Blackhawks took care of business in the first game against the defending champion Los Angeles Kings with a 2-1 win on Saturday night. The Penguins are down 1-0 in the series after losing at home and the Bruins got two goals from David Krejci, who continued his strong play in the postseason.
The Blackhawks entered the game after a fantastic series against the Detroit Red Wings that saw the team come back from a 3-1 deficit to force a Game 7 and after a goal from Brent Seabrook, Chicago advanced to the Western conference finals again after winning the Cup a few years ago. The team took a quick 1-0 series lead against the Kings with a 2-1 win on Saturday and now the Blackhawks will try to hold onto their home ice advantage in the next contest.
The Kings struck first with a goal in the first period of the game from Justin Williams, but that was all they would get the rest of the way as Corey Crawford shut down LA and the Blackhawks added two goals in the second period. Patrick Sharp continued his hot streak in the playoffs with his eighth goal of the postseason while Marian Hossa had his sixth of the playoffs. Jonathan Quick had 34 saves in the game against Crawford's 21 saves and now the team has the early advantage in the series. The Penguins and Bruins took a 1-0 game into the second period after Dave Krejci scored his sixth goal of the playoffs and both games were physical contests.
The Blackhawks continued their dominance at home during the playoffs and improved to 7-1 with the win and despite the loss the Kings aren't worried, as they made it through to the Stanley Cup finals last season while playing as the eighth seed. The Kings may have been tired themselves after playing a Game 7 against the Sharks that they were able to win and the team now will have to rally to win the series and advance to the Stanley Cup finals for the second straight season after winning the championship. The Kings are the fifth seed while the Blackhawks are the first seed and now Hossa is on a hot streak after recording at least one point in four straight games.
Quick made a number of great saves, including one on Duncan Keith's slap shot and despite playing so well in the previous series he couldn't stop the two goals for the Blackhawks. He had plenty of work early in the game after making 17 saves in the first 20 minutes and the Kings were able to strike first with the goal from Williams and the Chicago defense was fantastic during the first period, allowing just two shots on crawford, but he allowed the one goal, but that was all the Kings would get. The teams will pick things back up in Game 2 and the Blackhawks will have the chance to go up 2-0 in the series.
