Bruins legend John Bucyk scored four goals to help Boston sweep the Dallas Stars to advance to the Quarterfinals. via sportslogos.net

We have here the first sweep of the 3rd Round. Honestly, I was expecting the 20th-seeded ’02-’03 Dallas Stars to put up more of a fight in this series. But, the 4th-seeded ’73-’74 Boston bruins made a statement in this series, saying they’re one of the favorites. Boston’s offense was incredibly balanced in this series. The Bruins did not have a single game in this series where they had a player score more than one goal in a game. Bruins legend John Bucyk led the Bruins with four goals in this series, one in each game of course. Winger Bobby Schmautz was the team’s unlikely leader in assists with four, including two in Game 3. Forwards Wayne Cashman and Derek Sanderson led the Bruins in plus/minus at +6. Goaltender Gilles Gilbert started this series off with a 17-save shutout and posted a 1.25 goals against average and a .952 save percentage.

Up until this series, the Stars’ offense was among the tournament leaders in goals, but they only mustered six goals in Game’s 2-4 after being shutout in Game 1. Like the Bruins, the Stars did not have a player score more than one goal in a game either. Defenseman Derian Hatcher score Dallas’ lone goal in their 5-1 defeat in Game 2. Veterans Mike Modano and Brenden Morrow both co-led the Stars in assists in this series with three. Both Modano and Morrow also co-led the Stars in points with four. Dallas did not have a single player finish above even in plus/minus in the series. In net, Marty Turco posted a dreadful .853 save percentage to go along with his 4.00 goals against average. However, he was having such a good tournament before the 3rd Round that he finished the tournament with a 2.33 goals against average and a .916 save percentage.

Here are this series’ links:

• Game Boxscores/Results
• Team Stats
• Bruins Skater Stats
• Stars Skater Stats
• Bruins Goalie Stats
• Stars Goalie Stats

Three Stars of the Series:

1. BOS – LW – Wayne Cashman – 2 G   3 A   5 P   +6   12 S   5 Star Points
2. BOS – C – Phil Esposito – 3 G   2 A   5 P   +3   12 S   3 Star Points
3. BOS – LW – John Bucyk – 4 G   1 A   5 P   +2   6 S   3 Star Points

GAME 1:

GAME SUMMARY:   BOS – 2   DAL – 0   (1-0 BOS)

1st Period:

• BOS Goal: J. Bucyk (5) assisted by B. Schmautz (4), D. Edestrand (2)

2nd Period:

• BOS Goal: W. Cashman (4) assisted by C. Vadnais (6), B. Orr (5)

3rd Period:

GAME 2:

GAME SUMMARY:   BOS – 5   DAL – 1   (2-0 BOS)

1st Period:

• DAL Goal: D. Hatcher (4) assisted by B. Morrow (11), S. Zubov (10)
• BOS Goal: W. Cashman (5) assisted by T. O’Reilly (3)
• BOS Goal: P. Esposito (4) assisted by D. Edestrand (3), W. Cashman (3)
• BOS Goal: G. Sheppard (2) assisted by B. Orr (6), T. O’Reilly (4)
• BOS PP-Goal: J. Bucyk (6) unassisted

2nd Period:

3rd Period:

• BOS Goal: D. Smith (1) assisted by D. Sanderson (3), W. Cashman (4)

GAME 3:

GAME SUMMARY:   BOS – 4   DAL – 3   (3-0 BOS)

1st Period:

• BOS Goal: B. Orr (4) assisted by J. Bucyk (3), B. Schmautz (5)
• DAL Goal: M. Modano (12) assisted by D. Hatcher (8), B. Morrow (12)
• DAL Goal: S. Zubov (4) assisted by S. Young (1), D. Hatcher (9)

2nd Period:

• DAL Goal: B. Morrow (6) assisted by M. Modano (12), S. Zubov (11)
• BOS Goal: P. Esposito (5) assisted by C. Vadnais (7), B. Orr (7)
• BOS Goal: K. Hodge (1) assisted by C. Vadnais (8)
• BOS Goal: J. Bucyk (7) assisted by B. Schmautz (6)

3rd Period:

GAME 4:

GAME SUMMARY:   BOS – 5   DAL – 2   (4-0 BOS)

1st Period:

• DAL Goal: B. Guerin (3) assisted by M. Modano (13), B. Morrow (13)
• BOS PP-Goal: C. Vadnais (2) assisted by K. Hodge (4), P. Esposito (6)
• DAL Goal: J. Lehtinen (5) assisted by M. Modano (14)
• BOS Goal: J. Bucyk (8) assisted by B. Orr (8), B. Schmautz (7)

2nd Period:

• BOS Goal: K. Hodge (2) assisted by P. Esposito (7)

3rd Period:

• BOS Goal: D. Sanderson (2) assisted by D. Smith (2)
• BOS Goal: P. Esposito (6) assisted by W. Cashman (5), K. Hodge (5)

The Big Bad Bear, the 4th-seeded ’73-’74 Boston Bruins, now move on to the Quarterfinals where they will face the winner between the 5th-seeded ’83-’84 Edmonton Oilers and the 12th-seeded ’95-’96 Colorado Avalanche.

Up next in the 3rd Round is a matchup between the #1-seeded ’76-’77 Montreal Canadiens and the 16th-seeded ’03-’04 Tampa Bay Lightning.