Bruins clamp down, blank Red Wings

DETROIT - When the Boston Bruins are playing the way coach Claude Julien wants, they defend the net like they are protecting family and country.

They demonstrated that last season when they limited the skilled Pittsburgh Penguins to two goals in a four-game sweep in the Eastern Conference finals. They are showing that defensive stinginess again this season as they downed the Detroit Red Wings 3-0 Tuesday to go up 2-1 in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinals.

"We want to play on a high level," Bruins captain Zdeno Chara said. "Every game we want to take the right approach before, during and after the game."

Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask was almost hit by the traditional octopus toss during the national anthem, but the Red Wings were the ones who felt wrapped up by many tentacles. The Bruins seem to be able to extend themselves defensively all over the ice.

The Red Wings have scored twice in the first three games against the Bruins. The only reason they're not down 3-0 in the series is goalie Jimmy Howard posted a 1-0 shutout in Game 1.

"To be good defensively, you have to have commitment, and we had that tonight," Julien said after his team limited the Red Wings to 23 shots.

The Bruins have had that commitment most nights since Julien took over as coach in 2007. He replaced Jacques Lemaire as the league's most celebrated authority on defensive tactics. He's masterful at adjusting his team's game as a series progresses.

"They definitely did a good job of keeping us out of Rask's eyes," Red Wings center Riley Sheahan said.

Looking for a strong start in their first home game, the Red Wings were limited to four shots in the first period. When they were pushing for offense in the third period, they could muster only seven shots. No rebounds were allowed, and no one was allowed in the backdoor or in the kitchen.

"Let's be honest," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "They did a good job. They tracked hard and pushed us outside. I thought we had better entries on our power play that looked like opportunities, but even then I thought they kept us outside."

Boston is playing defensively at a very high level. To net Detroit's game-winning goal in Game 1, Pavel Datsyuk had to pull out a move that seemed more sorcery than anything else.

"Obviously, our defensive system is pretty good when we play to it," said Boston defenseman Dougie Hamilton, who scored his first NHL playoff goal. "We only allow the outside shots and no real scoring chances."

The Red Wings even had a 5-on-3 power-play opportunity for 35 seconds but couldn't find a way to get the puck past Rask, whose calm playing style seems like the perfect fit for the defensive-minded Bruins.

"We have a lot of trust in each other, and the guys aren't afraid to block shots," Julien said.

After losing 4-1 in Game 2, the Red Wings said they were going to concentrate on using their speed effectively in Game 3. The only change in the first period was that they got nowhere in a hurry as the Bruins built a 2-0 lead on goals by Hamilton and Jordan Caron.

Once the Bruins have a lead, they know how to hold it. In the regular season, they won 91.1% of the time when leading after two periods and were the Eastern Conference's top team in goals-against average and 5-on-5 play.

"They do have more skill than we do," Boston's Brad Marchand said. "We play more of a crash and bang, but we really aren't concerned about how we are labeled. It's more about how we play on the ice."

The Bruins reached the Stanley Cup Final last season before losing to the Chicago Blackhawks. With all due respect to the Montreal Canadiens' sweep of the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Bruins seem like the favorite this season.

Nobody has played better over the past few weeks.