The Boston Bruins are currently enjoying rest in a time of large uncertainty. After already securing 100 points in the regular-season standings, the Bruins wait and hope that their magnificent season can continue. There is a Stanley Cup in the sights, something that the Bruins were only one win away from last June. More than 11 months later, the situation has changed dramatically.
In these challenging times, it is quite common to remember all the glorious moments from the past. On May 13, the Bruins remembered the seventh anniversary of their memorable Game 7 comeback victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Almost 11 months later, in April 2014, a special moment happened.
In Game 1 of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Bruins faced the eighth-seeded Red Wings in the Eastern Conference. In a tight contest where Boston had a ton of chances, the magic of Pavel Datsyuk silenced the crowd at TD Garden.
The Red Wings went on to win Game 1 and take a surprising 1-0 series lead after a 1-0 victory. Despite the Bruins reacting properly and winning the next four contests, Datsyuk’s goal is there to be admired even after six years. From his rich career, it was probably his last big playoff moment.
As you hear about terrific players from the past, you will eventually tell generations beyond you about how Datsyuk scored a marvelous solo goal at the TD Garden and made Zdeno Chara fall to the ice. For Chara, it is not unusual that he had great respect for the Russian, off and on the ice.
“Pavel was just a player that played the game the right way,” Chara told The Athletic. Chara made his NHL debut for the New York Islanders at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit in Nov. 1997. The 20-year-old Chara got to face the legendary Red Wings team. Four years later, Datsyuk made his NHL debut, and the two could face each other.
“I can’t say enough about the way he played. He played hard. If he needed to be, he would be very strong. If the team needed, he went to the front of the net. His skill and assets were above 99.9 percent of the players in the league. You can’t really find that many players with so many weapons.”
On April 18, 2014, Datsyuk fully unleashed and destroyed the Bruins’ defense in a key moment that night. Chara just stumbled to the ice, not being able to stop the great move from the Russian. Two years before that, in 2012, Chara lost to Datsyuk’s Russia in the Gold Medal game of the IIHF World Championships.
While Datsyuk left the NHL in 2016, Chara is still chasing the Stanley Cup, even with a broken jaw. One of the most fierce competitors in the game of hockey, Chara revealed his toughest opponent to face, and it was Datsyuk.
