BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins rink is 200 feet long by 85 feet wide, just like all the others in the NHL. So much ice. But in the playoff opener with the Detroit Red Wings, so little room to skate. Pavel Datsyuk managed to find enough space in the tight-checking game to score with 3:01 left and give the Red Wings a 1-0 win on Friday night. Now Boston has to create more room in Game 2 on Sunday or it could be looking at a 2-0 deficit with the best-of-seven series shifting to Detroit. "We thought that the game was actually faster than it was," Bruins centre David Krejci said. "We just have to hold on to the puck and make some confident plays." The more physical Bruins are usually the ones crowding opponents. They allowed the second-fewest goals during the regular season. But the speedy Red Wings stepped up their checking and limited the opportunities for the NHLs third-highest scoring team. "We did a fairly good job of boxing out and playing quicker on the defensive side of things," Detroit defenceman Niklas Kronwall said. "In our zone when we got the puck we were able to get it out fairly quick. We were able to get the pucks deep and go after their defence instead." The top-seeded Bruins won the Presidents Cup with the most points in the regular season, 117. The eighth-seeded Red Wings had just 93. But Boston coach Claude Julien knew going into the series that the disparity would not be nearly as great in the playoffs, which usually feature tighter checking and physical play. "I think we were physical enough" in the opener, Julien said Saturday. "We still had a lot of good hits. They do a good job when it comes to our forecheck. They get there, they like to have bodies in front of us on the forecheckers to kind of slow us down and we have to find ways to get through that." Five more things to look for as the Bruins try to gain a split: PAVEL PRODUCES: Datsyuk averaged 23 goals in his first 11 seasons with Detroit and had 17 this year despite playing in just 45 games. He missed 16 games with a knee injury and played just six more regular-season games after returning April 4. But he came through as he has so many times to score the winning goal. "Ive had him for a long time and, obviously, hes a world-class player and hes coming back from an injury, which is obvious when you see him out there," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said, "but he can still do some very good things." STINGY GOALIES: Bostons Tuukka Rask had the better numbers during the regular season with an NHL-leading seven shutouts while Detroits Jimmy Howard had just two. And both were impressive in the opener despite not facing many challenging shots. Rask did make an outstanding pad save on a rebound shot by Darren Helm early in the third period, and Howard knocked aside a deflection by Milan Lucic less than 30 seconds before Datsyuk scored. Expect more of the same stinginess as the series goes on. "Tuukka is a great goalie and we are going to have to keep finding ways to go to the net and get screens in front of his eyes because if he sees it, hes going to stop it," Howard said. POWER PLAY: The Bruins had the NHLs third-best power play, but the Red Wings committed just one penalty. The Red Wings were 0 for 2 on Friday after finishing 18th in power-play production. BRUINS DEPTH: Boston had 10 players with at least 10 goals and has four solid lines. But left wings Chris Kelly on the third line and Daniel Paille on the fourth were sidelined Friday and could miss Sundays game. The Bruins also were without two of their top six defencemen, Matt Bartkowski and Kevan Miller. Julien said he didnt know if Bartkowski and Miller would play Sunday. JUST ONE GAME: The Red Wings arent likely to get overconfident after winning the first game, even if it was on the road. In the second round last season, they led Chicago 3-1, then lost the next three games. The Blackhawks went on to win the Stanley Cup in six games over the Bruins. "You dont win the Presidents Trophy for not being a good team," Detroit forward Drew Miller said. "So weve got to be prepared." Lavoy Allen Jersey . Cellino was ordered by a judge to pay a 600,000 euro ($800,000) fine for evading import taxes on a yacht he purchased in the United States and brought to Italy, the ANSA news agency reported. Trey Burke Jersey . Of course that doesnt mean hes ignoring it. Thats actually rather impossible given the behind-the-scenes access to the Toronto Maple Leafs the network is getting. https://www.cheap76ers.com/576e-marc-iavaroni-jersey-76ers.html . With newly minted president of hockey operations Trevor Linden looking on from above one day after being handed the keys to the franchise, it was more of the same on Thursday night. Dikembe Mutombo Jersey . The above paragraph could be rewritten, verbatim, with Marcus Stromans name in place of Romeros. After both men had disastrous outings in Tuesdays 18-4 mauling at the hands of the Tigers, its clear that neither is the best option to begin the season in Toronto. Joel Embiid Jersey .Cullen scored the go-ahead goal at 13:47 of the third period and Nashville beat the slumping Dallas Stars 3-2 on Thursday in a game that wasnt decided until the last shot of the night.(SportsNetwork.com) - Injuries have most observers scurrying to jump off the Arizona Cardinals bandwagon. The Cards, however, enter Week 15 of the NFL season on the precipice of the postseason, tied for the leagues best record at 10-3 and one-game ahead of the reigning Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks in the ultra-tough NFC West. Arizona will try to keep its critics at bay and inch closer to a playoff berth when the visit the stingy St. Louis Rams on Thursday Night Football. A win by the Cardinals will send Bruce Arians club to the playoffs as long as the Dallas-Philadelphia game set for Sunday night doesnt end in a tie. Arizona can also lock down a postseason berth with a win in St. Louis, coupled by a Detroit loss against Minnesota on Sunday and a Green Bay win or draw in Buffalo. Drew Stanton tossed a go-ahead 26-yard touchdown pass to Jaron Brown late in the third quarter last weekend and Arizonas defense held off Kansas City from there as the Cardinals edged the Chiefs 17-14. This was another typical Cardinal football game, said Arians. We played hard and made a mistake or two, but when it comes to second-half football, this team has shown its resiliency. Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce fumbled the ball at the Arizona 16 with 5:23 remaining and the Cardinals drained the remaining time off the clock by picking up a pair of first downs. Kerwynn Williams, elevated from the practice squad to fill in for Andre Ellington, who was placed on season-ending IR earlier this week with a hip injury, carried the ball 19 times for 100 yards. I didnt know what my role was going to be, said Williams, who had never touched the ball before. I just wanted to be prepared whatever it was. Stanton had lost two of his three prior starts since replacing starting QB Carson Palmer, who was lost for the season with a knee injury during a Week 10 victory over the Rams. Stanton finished 15-of-30 for 239 yards. The injury bug continued to be ever present, though, as cornerback Antonio Cromartie hurt his left ankle during the middle stages of the fourth and had to be carted off the field. The injury was initially believed to be an Achilles so the Cardinals were breathing a sigh of relief. Things can change, but it wasnt on the surface as severe as I thought it looked, general manger Steve Keim said. Cromartie was listed as a limited participant on the injury report Tuesday and is listed as day-to-day but the short week obviously wont help. The Rams, meanwhile, are coming off their second straight shutout, a 24-0 whitewashing of Washington made far worse for the Redskins because St. Louis is the team they gave a kings ransom to in order to get Robert Griffin III in the 2012 NFL Draft. Michael Brockers, Janoris Jenkins, Alec Ogletree and Greg Robinson, who were among the slew of players the Rams received from the blockbuster RG3 trade with Washington, were in St. Louis starting lineup but Griffin was on Washingtons bench due to ineffectiveness, at least for the first 58 minutes. Rams signal caller Shaun Hill tossed a pair of touchdown passes to Jared Cook and after Tavon Austins 78-yard punt return staked the Rams to a 24-0 advantage late in the third quarter, chants of RG3, RG3, RG3, reverberated throughout FedEx Field. Griffin, though, never got the call until two minutes remained after Colt McCoy departed with a neck strain. Hill finished 16-of-22 for 213 yards, while Cook hauled in four passes for 61 yards for St. Louis, which posted back-to-back shutouts for the first time since 1945. The Rams blanked Oakland 52-0 last Sunday. Pretty impressive, Rams coach Jeff Fisher said of the shutouts. I look at this as we can play better. Fishers defense, led by a strong front four featuring star pass rusher Robert Quinn and impact rookie Aaron Donald, recorded seven sacks, two interceptions and eight tackles for loss while holding Washington to 206 total yards in the triumph. The Cardinals, of course, used to call St. Louis home from 1960 until moving to the desert for the 1988 season. The franchise has won two straight over the Rams and holds a slim 35-34-2 advantage in the all-time series between the two teams, including a 31-14 triumph in Arizona on Nov. 9 when Cards cornerback Patrick Peterson picked off two Austin Davis passes and returned one for a 30-yard score. His running mate, Cromartie, added a 14-yard TD off a fumble recovery. The Cards traditionally do very poorly on short weeks, compiling a 7-20-2 all- time mark on Thursdays.dddddddddddd The Rams are better but still underwater at 6-7. WHAT TO WATCH FOR The Cardinals are 7-0 at home this season, the most wins for the franchise as the host in a single season since 1925 when Chicago was its home. Simple math makes them a far more pedestrian 3-3 on the road where they have lost two straight so maybe they will try to pretend that the Gateway to the West is still where their heart is. The problem here is that Arizonas offense has been struggling mightily since Palmer went down in the first matchup with the Rams and St. Louis possesses the hottest defense in the game. We are really focused in well right now and I thought it was huge to get two wins in a row, said Rams linebacker James Laurinaitis. We have to challenge ourselves really hard the next three days in preparation for Arizona on Thursday night. We have to lock it in, and keep this thing going. Theres definitely momentum right now, and we just have to keep fighting and keep stacking wins. The Cardinals have managed just four offensive touchdowns in four games since Palmer tore his ACL trying to avoid a sack by Rams safety Mark Barron in the fourth quarter of Novembers contest. St. Louis stop unit, meanwhile, has allowed only 34 points while going 3-1 since falling to Arizona and will be attempting to become the first team to put up three straight goose eggs since the legendary Steel Curtain with Pittsburgh did so in 1976. Granted the Rams two shutouts didnt come against offensive juggernauts -- the Raiders and Redskins -- but any time you can pile up the zeros in an era where just about everything is skewed toward offense, its impressive. I want to see it again, a selfish Fisher said. We need to keep playing, keep preparing the way we are. In the past two weeks the St. Louis stop unit is allowing just 225 yards per game and it has been doing everything pretty well. For instance the Rams gave up a Cards season-low 28 rushing yards on 22 carries last month and have been giving up under 60 yards a game on the ground over the past six games. The pass rush, fueled by Quinn, has found the QB 13 times over the prior two games. Guys are playing lights-out right now, said Quinn, who now has 10 1/2 sacks on the season. Hopefully, we just keep it going. The biggest test for the Rams D could be Larry Fitzgerald, who generally turns it up a notch in division games. The future Hall of Fame receiver enters this weeks matchup with 358 receptions for 4,697 receiving yards with 38 touchdowns against the NFC West since entering the league in 2004, the most of any player against his own division during that span. Against St. Louis, Fitzgerald has 131 receptions and 16 touchdowns, the most against any opponent in his career. In his past three meetings against the Rams, Fitzgerald has 29 catches for 288 yards and three touchdowns. You have to love the NFL schedule, said Fitzgerald. You want a tough game against a great football team. St. Louis again played a really good game and those guys are rolling right now. Its always tough to play there, but were going to be ready for the occasion. Hill, meanwhile, has at least steadied things on offense for the Rams over the last month since replacing the wet-behind-the-ears Davis. The veteran Hill has completed 62.0 percent of his passes with six TDs and two INTs since Davis was benched for his performance against the Cards. Rookie running back Tre Mason leads all NFC rookies with 628 rushing yards and has 363 scrimmage yards (315 rushing, 48 receiving) and four touchdowns (three rushing, one receiving) in his past three games at home. Hill is sure to be wary of Peterson, who has five career interceptions against the Rams and headlines a powerful unit that is allowing under 17 points a game over the last six weeks. OVERALL ANALYSIS Its hard to imagine either offense putting up big numbers against the opposing defenses here. The X-factor could be Mason, who has been tearing it up recently on the fast track at Edward Jones Dome. Thats enough to give the slight edge to the Rams in what shapes up as a 50-50 game. (The Rams) are playing as good a football as anybody now, Arizona defensive lineman Calais Campbell said. Its a division game. They know us, guys youve played against multiple times. Its going to be a good football game. Sports Network predicted outcome: Rams 14, Cardinals 10 ' ' '