ESPN

BOSTON -- For the past two days, the Boston Bruins insisted their late-season funk was in the rearview mirror. There would be no more blown leads in the third period and no more lackluster starts. The skilled and physical Bruins would return.

Well, the Bruins kept their promises as they overcame an early Toronto Maple Leafs power-play goal and scored the next four goals, dominating the Leafs 4-1 in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.

David Krejci had a goal and two assists, Wade Redden had a goal and an assist and Nathan Horton and Johnny Boychuk both lit the lamp for the Bruins. Tuukka Rask looked solid between the pipes, making 19 saves, with James van Riemsdyk’s power-play goal in the opening period the only shot that beat him.

For the Leafs, James Reimer was under siege all night as the Bruins poured 40 shots on him.

Lucic-Krejci-Horton line clicks again: One of the big question marks heading into this series was whether Milan Lucic, Krejci and Horton could find their magic again. If Game 1 is any indication, the band is back together and the magic is there. In addition to Krejci’s three-point performance and Horton lighting the lamp, Lucic had two helpers and continued to look more like the Lucic who used a combination of grit, size and skating to earn two straight seasons of 20-plus goals. The chemistry was back as Horton and Lucic got to open spaces to benefit from Krejci’s playmaking skills, and Krejci looked a lot like the player who was a candidate for the 2011 Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.

Bruins defense provides offensive boost: Prior to Game 1, coach Claude Julien lauded Redden for his recent play and puck-moving skills. Redden continued to impress with his goal and an assist, but the Bruins' entire defense did a great job of moving the puck and creating offense in Game 1. In addition to Boychuk's goal, Bruins defensemen helped in peppering Reimer and controlling neutral zone play.

Power play looks better: While the Bruins’ power play (1-for-5) can certainly still be better, it did convert once and moved the puck a lot better. The passes were crisp, and there was less hesitation. If that continues, the scoring production will increase.

Suspension coming for Ference? Andrew Ference could very well be sitting out a game or more after elbowing Leafs forward Mikhail Grabovski in the head in the first period. No penalty was called, but the replay clearly shows an elbow to the head.

Bruins have two goals called back: Things could have been even worse for the Leafs if not for two Bruins goals being called back. The referees and replay officials got it right in calling back a Tyler Seguin shot that clearly rang off the post 1:10 into the second period. But Patrice Bergeron’s no-goal was a bit questionable as the referees claimed the whistle was blown before Bergeron pushed it into the net. But even if the refs were wrong, the rule states if they intended to blow it and didn’t do it in time, then it’s still not a goal.

Bad blood boils at end: In addition to Ference’s questionable hit to the head of Grabovski, there was plenty of hard hitting throughout the game. As time wound down in the third period and it was clear the Bruins would win, the Leafs decided to let the Bruins know they were still there, taking plenty of extra hits after the whistle and then stirring things up at the final buzzer. The result was a Chris Kelly-Leo Komarov fight. It should be a physical Game 2.

Hamilton and Peverley sit: Not surprisingly, Julien kept Dougie Hamilton in the press box as a healthy scratch. The defenseman struggled in his last few games of the regular season, and Julien seems to have opted to take the learning-from-up-top route he took with Seguin as a rookie to start the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs. While Rich Peverley might have had an off season, one would think Julien would prefer playoff and Cup experience in the lineup instead of an inexperienced Kaspars Daugavins. But it was Daugavins playing with Kelly and Jaromir Jagr for Game 1.

Here’s what the rest of the lineup looked like:

Forwards
Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Nathan Horton
Brad Marchand-Bergeron-Tyler Seguin
Daugavins-Kelly-Jagr
Daniel Paille-Gregory Campbell-Shawn Thornton

Defensemen
Zdeno Chara-Dennis Seidenberg
Ference-Boychuk
Redden-Adam McQuaid

Goalies
Rask
Anton Khudobin

BOSTON -- He’s known as ‘Dogman’ or ‘Doggie,’ but on Thursday following his first skate with the Bruins, Kaspars Daugavins -- who was picked up by the Bruins on waivers from the Senators last week -- made it clear he is not here to be a dog on the ice. He is here to work hard and fit in with what he views as one of the hardest-working teams in the NHL.

“It’s a good group and hard-working guys so I think it’s going to be fine,” Daugavins said after the Bruins’ game-day skate in advance of their tilt with the Devils at TD garden tonight. “I’m going to try and help this team as much as I can.”

The Bruins have pretty much owned the Senators for the last four seasons, and while he was around for only the six games against Boston last season and three this season, he acknowledged that the Bruins are one of the most frustrating teams to play against.

“Definitely was really hard to play against these guys,” Daugavins said. “Big size; all the D-men are big and all the forwards work hard. So it was always a 60-minute game. They never get tired and they never stop playing. It’s like a good team effort. They never quit and no matter what the score is they all keep going and going.”

It was hard and we knew it was going to be 60-minute game," he added. "It was like two minutes where we kind of fell apart and then they scored and punished us. Every game seemed like it was a shootout or they score in the last few minutes and it was frustrating. But that’s why these guys are so good, because they never quit.”

On Thursday, Bruins head coach Claude Julien had Daugavins on a line with Rich Peverley and Jay Pandolfo. Daugavins likes to play both ends of the ice and can be successful in the offensive zone, as witnessed when the Bruins beat the Senators 2-1 in a shootout on March 21. Daugavins had a goal and four shots on net in that game, which turned out to be his last as a Senator. But the winger knows that on his new team and on his new line, he will be depended on mainly for defense.

“I’m going to play with Rich and ‘Pando’ [Pandolfo], so obviously we’ll try to get some energy going and try to score some goals too,” said Daugavins, who has one goal and two assists in 19 games this season. “Mainly a defensive role probably.”

But in his morning press briefing, Julien also pointed toward Daugavin’s grit and penalty-killing skills that will help the Bruins.

“I think he’s a big, solid individual. He’s strong on his skates, he’s an above-average skater, one of those guys that will give us some grit,” Julien said. “You know, I don’t know if we’re going to see him penalty killing tonight, but he’s a guy that can penalty kill. Right now, our penalty kill is going well, I think we need to allow him an opportunity to look at it and see what guys do. But you may see him there down the road. He can shoot the puck, certainly, like I said, he’s a solid individual, so he’s going to give us the grit that we need.”

Fans might recall that Daugavins made league-wide headlines in that March 21 game when he tried to send the shootout to another round with a unique and fancy shootout attempt but was denied by Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask. Daugavins joked on Thursday that he is still going to try and beat Rask in practice.

“Maybe. Maybe I have some other crazy moves,” he said.

BOSTON -- Newly acquired Boston Bruins forward Kaspars Daugavins remains a non-roster player because he’s still waiting for approval of his U.S. work visa.

The Bruins claimed the 24-year-old forward off waivers from the Ottawa Senators on March 27, but due to Good Friday and Easter, Daugavins could not obtain permission to work in the states. According to Bruins coach Claude Julien, Daugavins is scheduled to arrive in Boston today, but it’s unclear if he would be available to play against his former team tonight at TD Garden.

“I doubt it,” Julien said. “I’m not going to say ‘no’ and if he shows up, and we feel we need him, but I haven’t talked to upper management about that situation, more than right now they’re trying to get his visa status resolved more than worrying about anything else right now.”

In 19 games for the Senators this season, he had one goal (against Boston) and two assists for three points, including a minus-7 rating.

“I don’t know when he’s going to play his first game, but I’m obviously excited to see a new member of the team and I’m looking forward to meet him,” said Bruins forward David Krejci.