Young Season Marred by Inconsistent Play

Thus far in what is still a very young NHL season, the Bruins play has been mediocre, stunning exciting when at its best and nauseatingly disappointing when at its worst. After 9 games, and with 2 more to go to close out October, the B's have a 4-2-3 record, good for 11 points and a tie with
Montreal (5-1-1) for second place in the Northeast Division. The 11 points puts the Black and Gold in a tie three way tie for fifth place in the Eastern Conference with Montreal and the New Jersey Devils (5-2-1). Granted it's a little early in the season to start watching the standings, but it never hurts to check in.

Last night was one of the Bruins' best games of the season so far, an immensely satisfying 1-0 win over the Edmonton Oilers in overtime. The B's played hard in this game, and deserved the two points. Tim Thomas was excellent in goal, stopping all 27 shots the Oilers fired his way, including some sparkling saves down the stretch. When Dennis Wideman fired a wrister past Dwayne Roloson (who was equally dazzling in goal for the Oilers), it gave the B's the win and started off what is really a crucial western Canada road swing on the right foot. This road trip gives Claude Julien and the rest of the Bruins' staff to see what this team is made of. All three teams on this trip are expected to contend for playoff spots come spring, and all three are decent if not above average squads. The Bruins have played inconsistently all season, and need to start getting things together before they fall too far behind.

Early indications from today's Boston Globe's game story show that Thomas may get another start tonight, which I would be in favor of. Julien has given each goalie a chance to show his stuff so far, neither has had the type of performance that would indicate he has the upper hand. With last night's showing, Thomas may have solidified his grip on the number one spot, something that he has undoubtedly earned. Also, perhaps giving Thomas two straight starts will light a fire in Fernandez, in that he may see he's falling behind and get his competitive juices flowing again. A competitive goalie tandem is rarely an issue for a team; more often than not, it's a benefit.

Since my last post, the Bruins results are as follows: 4-2 win at Ottawa, 2-1 SO loss vs. Pittsburgh, 3-2 SO loss at Buffalo, 4-2 loss vs. Toronto, 5-4 win vs. Atlanta, and 1-0 win at Edmonton. Let's take a look at the good, bad and ugly from two weeks' worth of Bruins hockey.

THE GOOD

• Patrice Bergeron appears to show no signs of post-concussion problems. He has been, for the majority of the time, the best player on the ice for the Bruins. He hasn't been skittish going into the corners, and appears more than willing to take the body. His passes have been crisp, and he has been making plays all over the ice. He appeared to be struck with bad luck earlier in the year, missing on a couple of breakaways, so it figures he finally got a goal on a somewhat fluky tip-in that found its way between the Leafs' Vesa Toskala's arm and body. Bergeron seems like he is in fine form, and seeing his play this season really makes one wonder "what could have been last season?" even more than before. Imagine last year's scrappy bunch with a healthy Bergeron...something tells me a second-round playoff appearance wouldn't have been out of the question. But that's the past, and the present looks good for Bergeron and the B's. Hopefully he can stay healthy (knock on wood), and continue to produce.
• Phil Kessel is turning into a dynamic all around player. Kessel, who responded strongly after being benched early in the playoffs last season, has continued on his upward trend. He is tied for second on the team in scoring with 7 points (6 goals and 1 assist). Though he has slowed in the last two or three games, he has shown a great willingness to shoot the puck this season, whereas last year he relied more on his stickhandling and often just lost the puck to a defender. Kessel should only become more dangerous as the year progresses.
• Marc Savard has continued to make plays. He is still a wizard with the puck, and has been laying tape to tape passes on the sticks of his teammates all year already. Look for Savard to continue to improve, and emerge as a bonafide scorer (or, more specifically, assist-man) in the NHL.
• Milan Lucic's performance this past week. Any time your week consists of this: AND this: it's safe to say that you've had yourself a decent couple of games.

THE BAD

• The Bruins' for the home hockey season have been "interesting" to say the least. First, on opening night, the Bruins introduced each player on the roster one by one. Each got a nice cheer, followed by a rousing ovation at the end. One problem: they forgot to announce Mark Stuart's name, leaving him to come out of the tunnel by himself as the PA announcer said "Ladies and gentleman, your 2008-2009 Boston Bruins!". Stuart appeared to take it in stride, hamming it up for the crowd by raising his stick as he came out. Later that week, the Bruins were forced to change the game format against the Thrashers, with the teams switching ends at the 10 minute mark of the third period because one zone's faceoff dots had been incorrectly painted. Yikes.
• The Bruins' defense has given up 24 goals in 9 games (27 if the shootout winners are included, which they aren't in official stats as no player gets credit for the goal). That puts them at 16th in the league, with a 2.67 goals per game average. Surprisingly enough, they are on pace to allow 216, which is only one less than last year. However, this year's defense has shown little sign of being the same-lock down unit last year's was, as made clear by the team's first regulation loss after holding a two goal lead under Julien against the Leafs last week. Last year's group would have simply locked down defensively, clogging the neutral zone and playing strong in their own zone. This year's unit took silly penalties and allowed the Leafs way too much time in the attacking zone en route to allowing four straight goals against a team that simply outworked them. This is not the type of team Julien likes to put on the ice, and judging from his reactions to the Toronto game, he'll take steps to make sure his team never plays like that again.

THE UGLY:

• I really don't have all that much to complain about here, but there is one thing that has been atrocious: the penalty kill. This has been an Achilles Heel for the team for two years. Last year's group ranked 28th in the NHL, with a measly 78.6% kill-rate (for the sake of comparison, the number one team, the San Jose Sharks, killed 85.8% of their penalties). So far this season, the B's sit at 29th in the league, killing a putrid 71% of their penalties, a mere 0.4% more than last-place Edmonton. This is something that the Bruins HAVE to improve on. A team can't go far allowing a power-play goal every game of the season. The B's have one of the best defensemen in the league in Zdeno Chara, and one of the best defensive forwards in the game in PJ Axelsson. One can only hope that the B's penalty killing woes are from trying to work out the kinks, and that they will be a penalty killing machine come December. If not, the B's are going to find themselves in more and more offensive shootouts, a style of game that doesn't really fit this team.

That's about it for now. I'll probably make another post after the Calgary game on Thursday, kind of a look back at the opening month of the season. Until then, go B's.

Different Season, Same Result

The Bruins rolled into the Bell Centre last night for the first time since their season ended there last year, looking to start off the season series against the Canadiens on a positive note. The B's had a lot going against them last night: Montreal had yet to lose in regulation, it was their home opener so the "Ole!" chants were going to be extra loud, and it marked the beginning of the Habs "Centennial Season" celebration, complete with old Canadiens legends coming back out onto the ice.

As I said in the previous post, if the Bruins could weather the storm early, they'd be in good shape. Well, they did that, and were actually able to control the flow of the game for a bit in the first period, giving the Montreal crowd little to cheer about.

Shawn Thornton welcomed Georges Laraque to the Northeast Division in this early-first period bout:



Tough to say who won this one. Thornton scored an early takedown when he caught BGL off balance, but allowed him to get up and continue the fight. BGL got some good "clubs" off of the back of Thornton's head, but neither really landed any good shots. I'd have to say that this one goes in the books as a draw, or maybe the tiniest of edges to Laraque, simply because he landed more punches.

After the usual hijinks were out of the way, it was back to the regular game. The Bruins had done a good job staying out of trouble and away from the penalty box, a place one never wants to find himself against Montreal. However, Dennis Wideman finally lost his cool, getting called for cross-checking one of the Kostitsyn sisters after a mild dust-up. Sister Kostitsyn actually leglocked Wideman and tripped him before Wideman hit him back, but the ref, as is usually the case, only saw the retaliation.

16 seconds after Wideman went into the box, Alex Kovalev scored a power-play goal to give the Habs the lead, bring the building to life, and put the Bruins behind the eight ball early. However, that wasn't big enough of a hole for the B's who gave up another goal to Saku Koivu a little over a minute later, then decided "What the hell, we're already down two, may as well get lazy on the power play", and gave up a shorthanded goal to Maxim Lapierre. Ouch. 3 goals in a little over 3 minutes. Lights out, right?

Well, seemingly, yes. But this Bruins group showed no signs of fear or intimidation at the hands of Montreal, despite the playoff exit and last season's numerous embarassments. Instead, the Bruins came out charging in the second, again controlling the play, and finally got one on the board when David Krecji beat Carey Price with a slap shot moments after a Bruins power play expired.

The B's would keep up the pressure into the third, when Marc Savard fired one past Price to bring the Bruins within a goal. After that, the B's pressed on, desperate to tie the game. With just under a minute left, Tim Thomas began to head to the bench for an extra attacker. The puck was fired into the Montreal zone, intended as a dump-in to try and get possession of the puck, and Price went around behind his net to try to stop the puck. However, the puck took a funny bounce off of the boards and ended up squirting right out into the crease of an empty net. A streaking Savard seized the opportunity and banged the puck into the net, tying the game with 48 seconds left.

The Bruins trailed gave up three goals in three minutes, on the road against the Canadiens, and then came back to tie the game with seconds to go. This is the kind of performance that builds teams, and shows that this team will not be a pushover, no matter what obstacle it's facing. It wouldn't have been surprising, or even hard to fault the B's had they disappeared after those horrendous three minutes in the first period, but they fought back and tied the game, standing up to Montreal and giving hope to fans as well.

As overtime came to a close without any real scoring chances from either team, save for a breakaway with moments left by Kovalev that may not have even counted even if Thomas didn't save it, it was time for a shootout. Phil Kessel shot first for the B's, and had Price beat but the puck didn't lay flat for him and he lost the handle, the puck sliding harmlessly into Price's pads. Thomas then stopped Andrei Markov, and Patrice Bergeron, who did the same "5-hole" move he does everytime he's in a shootout, was stopped by Price. Alex Tanguay, an offseason acquisition by the Habs, beat Thomas with a wicked wrister, leaving the game on the stick of the third Boston shooter, none other than...Michael Ryder.

The former Hab was jeered all night by his former fans, and could have really shut them up by tying the shootout. However, it was not meant to be last night, as Price slammed the door on Ryder and gave the Habs the win.

Despite ultimately coming up short, the fact that the B's got a point out of a game they trailed 3-0 before the game was 10 minutes old is encouraging. The Canadiens are, by all "expert" accounts, the class of the Eastern Conference, and the Bruins showed that not only can they play with them, but they can control the play as well. Sure, the B's didn't get the win, and still haven't beaten the Habs in a regular season game in over a season. But a point is a point, and the B's can take note of the fact that if not for those three wretched minutes in the first, they may have left Montreal with a 3-0 victory.

Early Thoughts on a Young Season

This is my first post since the regular season started, and unfortunately it's going to start off on a sad note. Yesterday, 19 year-old Alexei Cherepanov, a highly-touted New York Rangers prospect playing in Russia's KHL, died unexpectedly after collapsing on the bench near the end of a game. There were media reports swirling about shortly after this happened, some saying he collided with the elbow of teammate Jaromir Jagr, others saying that he simply collapsed. However, the official word seems to be that he collapsed on the bench due to apparent heart failure or a heart attack, seemingly the same ailment that felled fellow young hockey player Mickey Renaud back in February. It appears that a criminal investigation is underway, as some officials are saying negligence on the part of paramedics and the lack of a defibrilator may have led to the young player's death. Either way, a young kid is gone, and may he rest in peace.

Despite this tragedy, hockey goes on, and the Bruins are 1-1-0 on the young season, beating Colorado 5-4 in a wild season opener, before falling to the Minnesota Wild, 4-3, in game two of the season.

Here are some observations on the team so far:

• The offense already looks much more dangerous than last season. Last year's edition of the Bruins had a very hard time putting pucks in the net, while this year's group has scored 8 goals in two games. Granted this pace will be hard to sustain throughout the course of a season, but the offensive prowess of this team has looked very promising thus far. Patrice Bergeron is still showing a little rust, as he missed on two breakaways in the season opener, but that is to be expected. He looks very strong overall, and has been creating great scoring chances for his teammates. It won't be long before he buries one. Marc Savard is picking up where he left off, setting up golden scoring chances and even potting a couple himself. Blake Wheeler continues to impress, and David Krecji looks like he is continuing on his upward trajectory.
  
• It was good to see Michael Ryder get one out of the way against Colorado. He scored a goal to put the B's up 4-3 over Colorado on a beautiful no look pass from Marc Savard from behind the net. After doing little scoring last season, it must be a load off of Ryder's mind to get the first one out of the way. He's shown great offensive instincts so far, and a willingness to shoot and take the puck to the net. If Ryder and Savard can get some chemistry going, he will be a 30+ goal scorer this season.
• Defensively, the B's have work to do. The blueliners looked overwhelmed against Colorado early, and, despite holding on to win, nearly gave the game up down the stretch. Against Minnesota, the team was beaten end to end too many times, as Wild players were allowed the carry the puck from their own goal all the way to that of the Bruins without encountering much resistance. The defense needs to step it up. This team isn't going to go far getting into offensive shootouts with teams this season.
• The goalies have each had a start, and so far I'd say Tim Thomas has the upper hand. Each netminder allowed the same amount of goals (4), but it's safe to say that Thomas had the far better performance. He faced a barrage of shots against the Avalanche (20 in the first period alone), but held the fort, making some of his trademark spectacular(though some call it "flopping") saves, including stopping one on the doorstep as the final seconds ticked away. Thomas' performance left room for improvement, but he certainly didn't play poorly. Manny Fernandez, on the other hand, needs some serious work. I imagine there were some jitters for Manny, seeing his first real in game action in a while, and playing in front of his old fans against his old team. Despite all of that, Manny needed to have a strong showing to boost the team's confidence in him, and, perhaps more importanty, to boost his own self-confidence. He's made some statements this year that sound like he isn't all that high on himself, something that's never a good quality in a goalie. He let in two very soft goals, goals that he himself said he should have stopped. He didn't play all that poorly, but definitely wasn't good. Manny needs to step it up in his next start, or he may be seeing the bench for a while.
• The Andrew Alberts trade marks a disappointing end to the ex-BC star's tenure in Boston. Unfortunately, Alberts never seemed to reach his full potential, his play marred by inconsistancies. He never seemed to fully recover last year after the hit to the head by Scott "I'm A Clean Player!" Hartnell of the Flyers, something that he can't be blamed for. It's interesting that Alberts is now going to play on the same team as the man who nearly derailed his career. It seemed a given that Alberts was on his way out when he was a healthy scratch against the Wild, as he is from nearby Eden Prairie, Minnesota, and probably was chomping at the bit to play in front of fans in his home-state. Best of luck to Alberts in Philly. Maybe he'll crush Hartnell in practice a couple of times.
• Tomorrow's game is going to be a tough one for the B's. Playing against the Canadiens, who according to some are already appearing to be a better team than last year, in Montreal is never a picnic. However, tomorrow is the Habs' home-opener and the home beginning of the season-long Centennial Celebration, one that is guaranteed to feature old Habs legends being brought back and plenty of pregame ceremonies. After that, the Habs are sure to come out flying, and the B's need to avoid a Game 1 of the ECQF-esque start, and try to not allow a goal within the first four minutes. If the B's can weather the storm early and slow down the pace of the game, they've got a great chance to win. Hopefully the team shows a desire to exact some revenge of the team that ended their season last year. Also, expect Michael Ryder to be loudly booed everytime he touches the puck, if not everytime he's on the ice. Hopefully he'll shut the crowd up with a goal or two.
• The Bruins really do have a pretty tough schedule to open the season. Not only do they begin with four straight on the road, but their first five opponents were all playoff teams last year. The Avalance, Wild, Canadiens, Senators and Penguins averaged over 98 points last year, with two (Pens and Habs) teams breaching the 100-point mark. It's good that the B's got a win in their first game, becuase it wouldn't be inconceivable to have them come home with a 1-3-0 or 1-2-1 record. I feel like this won't happen though, and that the B's will continue to build on the positives and trend upward this year.

That's all for now, I'll probably write something else after the Habs game tomorrow. Go B's.

1. Game Six

The title of the post really says it all. It's not "Eastern Conference Quarterfinals-Game 6", or "Bruins Playoff Home Game 3", it's just "Game 6". Any Bruins fan would know exactly what that was referring to, and will continue to remember it vividly for years to come.

I'm only 20 years old, and my hockey memory only goes back so far. I don't really remember anything before 1998, so I missed the real glory days of the Black and Gold. However, I've seen plenty of hockey games in my two decades, and I think this is far and away the best game I have ever seen. It had it all: a loud crowd, an air of desperation from both sides, intensity, chippiness, lead changes, bad goals, highlight reel goals, and overall drama. There are dozens of videos of this game on YouTube, of which I've probably watched 90%. I have this game on DVR too, and have watched it at least three times, and may watch it again before tonight's opener too. (In fact, I have two versions of it: one NESN replayed, and one from CBC that was on the NHL Network. It's pretty interesting to hear the differences in the way the pairs of announcers call the game).

This was a game that I wasn't too sure about, and was definitely nervous about the outcome. The Bruins had an incredible showing in game five, stunning the Montreal crowd with a sound 5-1 victory, and this should have led to a boost of confidence in the team. My only fear was that the Bruins would come home and completely lay an egg, falling flat in front of the home crowd.

No dice.

This game started off rocking, just like games three and four, but unfortunately I missed the beginning. I had to work, and ended up leaving an hour and a half early to miss as little as possible. I heard the Bruins were down 1-0 fairly early, and was watching the game at a pizza place in the North End while waiting for my food, when this happened:



I'm not ashamed to say that I threw up both hands and yelled "holy shit!" in the middle of a pizza place. Phil Kessel undressed Francis Boullion, and in doing so tied the game. That was probably the nicest individual goal I've ever seen Kessel score, except for the one at the end of the previous season where he batted the puck in out of the air against the Penguins. However, that goal came in a game of no consequence, where as this was a do-or-die situation. Just like that, on what appeared to be a broken play, Kessel had the Bruins back in business.

It wouldn't last long, however, as after coming oh-so-close on a power-play, including hitting the post once, the B's gave up a breakaway goal to Tomas Plekanec, who stepped out of the penalty box, took an easy feed in on goal and slipped one past Thomas.

Again, the Bruins found themselves down a goal, as time began to tick away early in the third period. However, they'd respond on what again looked like a broken play. Peter Schaefer carried the puck into the Montreal zone, nearly catching Vladimir Sobotka offside. Schaefer then tried to flip a pass to Sobotka, who grazed the puck while skating to the crease, somehow slipping it past Carey Price. To this day, I'm still not entirely sure how that puck went in the net, and from the looks of the celebration Schaefer and Sobotka weren't either, but it didn't matter: the Bruins had again tied the score.

With 17 minutes to go in the game, and having just tied the game, the Bruins had momentum on their side. They'd press Montreal for a bit, coming close on a couple of occasions, but were unable to break through. Then, with 10 minutes to go in the game, Boullion, the goat who got beaten by Kessel, made up for his mistake by beating Thomas on a shot from the point that bounced off of Shane Hnidy's stick, causing a wicked deflection that neither Thomas nor Hnidy could be blamed for. The Canadiens celebrated giddily, and the crowd was momentarily silenced.

It was at that point that the doubts crept in, the Boston fan in me began to think "Well that's how it's going to have to end, on a crappy bounce like that. Figures."

Again, no dice.

These B's refused to go away, continuing to pressure Montreal. With eight minutes to go in the game, and the Bruins running out of time, Price froze the puck for a faceoff in his own zone. The Bruins, after the ensuing faceoff, ended up with the puck and fired a shot on net, one that Price handled and again covered. For some reason, Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau, who at certain moments in this game had a look on his face like somebody had just stolen his lunch money, decided to pull Saku Koivu out of the faceoff circle, where he had been incredibly effective. Bad move, Guy.

Marc Savard won the faceoff, and slipped a pass back to the point, where the puck was fired right back on net. Milan Lucic, who barely moved from his spot on the left wing, turned, took a crosscheck in the back from Mike Komisarek, who routinely turned down invitations to fight Lucic during this series, instead choosing to try and take him out at the knees in game four, and got the shaft of his stick on the puck. The puck defected off of Lucic's stick, bounced off of the ice, and past Price to tie the game AGAIN. The Garden exploded, and it was at this point that I knew they were going to win this game, they just had to.

Soon after that goal, the Canadiens iced the puck, only further inciting the Boston crowd. The B's had all of the momentum, and for the first time in the series looked like they really had the Canadiens on their toes.

Finally, at 15:45 of the third, David Krecji had the puck in his defensive zone, heading up ice. Marco Strum was streaking up the left wing side, and Krecji fed him a beautiful pass, right in stride, indirect and off the boards. Sturm then took that puck and fired another beauty to the tape of a crashing Kessel, who chipped the puck over the shoulder of a stunned Price. 4-3 Bruins.

Jack Edwards gleeful shout of "the Bruins lead!" may never leave my head, ingrained right along with his other memorable line from this game, "This building is VIBRATING!" Yes, the Bruins did lead. In fact, they were ahead for all of 11 seconds, as the Canadiens promptly won the next faceoff, won a chase down ice for the puck, and caught the Bruins napping as Chris Higgins scored his second goal of the night to tie the game again.

To say that the goal quieted the crowd may be an understatement. The PA announcer was still reading off the B's 4th goal when Higgins scored, and the resulting trademark "woooo!" may have been one of the weakest the Garden has ever seen. The Bruins, however, refused to be deterred, and simply went right back on the attack.

1:27 after Higgins' goal, Montreal's Alex Kovalev, my least favorite player in the entire NHL, missed a chance to clear his zone, instead shooting the puck off the body of Zdeno Chara. Chara then threw the puck into the opposite corner, where Sturm knocked Roman Hamrlik off the puck, creating a scoring chance for Chara coming down the slot. That shot went well wide, but Sturm, in the words of Jack Edwards, "threw Hamrlik another bang", got the puck, and fired one through a crowd on net. Sturm, seeing the pile-up of bodies in front of him, also saw the juicy rebound Price gave up, hopped over a skater on the ice, gathered up the loose puck and simply outwaited the sprawling Price. By the time Sturm released the puck, Price was without his stick, and facing the wrong way. Ouch. Sturm fired one into the open net, a couple inches over the desperately outstretched glove of Price, and gave the Bruins a lead that they would not give up.

For the last two minutes of this game, my friends and I didn't sit down. As soon as the puck cleared the zone in the final ten seconds, we took off running from my friend Billy's apartment in the North End to the Garden, just down the street. Why? I don't know really, it seemed like the right thing to do. And believe it or not, this was BEFORE the party that night started, so there was no inebriation of any kind. The scene coming out of the Garden was joyous and loud, with people both excited and stunned by what they had just seen. There are videos everywhere on YouTube for this game, all of which can still induce chills. Yes, the B's went on to get steamrolled in game seven, but that didn't matter then. This game had singlehandedly revived hockey in Boston, bring the excitement of playoff puck to a level it hadn't seen in years.

That excitement has carried over to this year as well, as Bruins fans have been anticipating tonight's puck drop since the minute game seven mercilessly ended six months ago. This is a game that no Bruins fan will ever forget, and one that may be looked at as the turning point of the franchise. This game proved the B's were willing to fight, willing to get dirty, and ready to come from behind, no matter how great the odds stacked against them.

This is the game that all fans watched all summer, fuel to get the fires going for the upcoming season. Perhaps now, on cusp of the 2008-2009 season, I can finally stop watching YouTube clips, finally stop hearing "Sturm....holds....Sturm....scoorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrres!", and finally remove a picture of Marc Savard's game three winning goal from my desktop. After all, a new season is dawning, one that will hopefully bring moments that match and exceed the six listed in this space.

On second thought, who am I kidding? There's no way I'm going to not watch these clips...

Enjoy, and Go B's.










This one's my personal favorite, because it's actually the entire last 8 minutes, in which there would be four more goals scored. The person who posted it has a high quality version of it on the site too, which can be watched by clicking here.




"There'll be a game seven! We'll see ya Monday night!"

2. Savard Snaps the Losing Streak

Coming into game three of last April's Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, the Bruins had little on their side. They were beaten soundly by the Canadiens in game one, and were victimized by a questionable tripping call in an overtime loss in game two. Sure, the B's were returning home, but they hadn't been able to beat Montreal once in ten games last year.

This was a game that I attended, and was convinced that the Bruins would win. Honestly, I don't know if I was really that confident or if I was just unable to witness in-person another Bruins defeat at the hands of the hated Habs. The building was packed, and there was finally a great atmosphere for a hockey game in Boston, something that had seemingly been lacking for years. Granted a lot of the boisterousness in the crowd came from the fact that it was probably 30% Habs fans, something that should never, ever happen, especially in the playoffs. The Montrealers chants and songs were drowned out by booing Bruins fans, and even before the starting lineups were introduced, a "Let's Go Bruins" chant filled the arena.

The game started off pretty well for the Bruins, as they came out with a lot of energy, throwing hits and getting a couple of good scoring chances. Zdeno Chara was booed by the Montreal contingent everytime he touched the puck, but those boos were quickly overcome by racuous cheers from the Bruins faithful. Basically, this game was a mess of noise from start to finish, filled with chants, "Ole!"'s, profanity, and sometimes just drunken screams.

Finally, 6:30 into the first period, Milan Lucic found himself alone in the slot, took a great feed from Marc Savard, and ripped a wicked wrist shot past Carey Price, one that clanged in off of crossbar and sent the Garden into a frenzy. Not only was it the first time the Bruins led in the series, but the first time ALL SEASON that the B's found themselves ahead on the scoreboard against the Habs.

With the early lead, the crowd kept pushing for more, and the B's nearly delivered. There were a couple of different scoring chances in this game, including a breakaway by Marco Sturm and a 2-on-1 with David Krecji and (I believe) Glen Murray, both of which were turned away by Price.

Despite having the momentum on their side, the B's allowed Montreal to tie the game in the second, as Tom Kostopoulos slipped one past time Thomas with a little less than 16 minutes left in the middle frame.

The rest of the game was a roller-coaster ride, with the B's pressing for the go ahead goal, then nearly giving up that same goal to Montreal, etc. Things went on like this for the last 25 minutes of regulation, and into overtime.

Personally, I'd never been to a playoff game in person, let alone an overtime one where the team I'm cheering for finds itself in as "must-win" of a game as "must-win"'s can be. To say it was nerve-wracking is an understatement, as the entire arena lived and died with each Montreal rush or each Bruins shot on goal. Tim Thomas saved the Bruins big-time on a couple of different occasions down the stretch, including one in overtime where the puck popped into the air over his head and he had to swat it down, or it would have trickled in off of his back.

Finally, with about 10 minutes gone in the first overtime, a Habs player sent a shot in that missed the net and carromed to Peter Schaefer by the Boston blue line, and the rest can be told by a clip that I've probably watched hundreds of times in a couple of months...



To say that this was the greatest sporting event I've ever been to in person would not be an understatement, as I still occasionally get the chills watching this clip. This was one of the biggest goals scored by the Bruins in recent memory, one that all but erased a season's worth of frustration and made the Bruins believe that they could in fact beat this team, and could push to win the series.

This game is something that I will never forget, one of those sporting events that get burned in the memories of all those who were present. Yes, the Bruins eventually lost the series, and yes, this game would ultimately get outshined by the unreal game six, but this game was a fantastic game in its own right, and may soon be able to be looked at as the game that begin the slow rise of hockey back to consciousness in Boston.

Final Roster Set

After announcing their final cuts today, the Bruins now have their 2008-2009 opening night roster.

Ladies and gentlemen, your 2008-2009 Boston Bruins:

FORWARDS
Marc Savard
Patrice Bergeron
Michael Ryder
Marco Sturm
Phil Kessel
PJ Axelsson
Petteri Nokelainen
David Krecji
Milan Lucic
Chuck Kobasew
Vladimir Sobotka
Shawn Thornton
Blake Wheeler
Stephane Yelle

DEFENSEMEN
Zdeno Chara
Aaron Ward
Mark Stuart
Andrew Ference
Andrew Alberts
Shane Hnidy
Dennis Wideman

GOALIES
Tim Thomas
Manny Fernandez


The last three cuts were: Nate Thompson, Jeremy Reich, Matt Hunwick, and Peter Schaefer.

Hunwick is being sent directly to Providence, as he doesn't have to clear waivers. Thompson and Reich both do, and speculation is that Thompson will be claimed by some team before tomorrow's noon deadline, meaning he would no longer be Bruins property. Reich could be claimed by a team looking to add some grit to its lineup. Schaefer is the more notable one, as the Bruins essentially dropped him to make space for Wheeler. They are still on the hook for his salary, even if he gets claimed by another team, but it doesn't count against the all-important salary cap.

Schaefer turned it on in the playoffs last year, and may get a few looks by some teams looking to add a viable second or third scoring option. However, he didn't really show much life at times here with the B's, so it remains to be seen if any team wants to take a flyer on him. Even though he was basically "dropped", it seems like this was something he expected, according to Fluto Shinzawa's Bruins Blog on Boston.com. Best of luck to Schaefer, wherever he ends up.

Here are my proposed opening night lines:

Ryder-Savard-Lucic
Kessel-Bergeron-Sturm
Wheeler-Krecji-Kobasew
Axelsson-Nokelainen/Sobotka-Yelle

Chara-Wideman
Ward-Stuart
Ference-Hnidy/Alberts

Thomas
Fernandez

Basically, there will be 3 healthy scratches a night it seems. Above, it would be 3 out of Hnidy, Alberts, Thornton, Yelle, Nokelainen and Sobotka.

This is all barring some more moves before the season starts, which, though unlikely, are entirely possible as well. If not, this line-up looks pretty solid, and looks like it should have more scoring punch than last year's group. We'll find out on Thursday night.

3. Comeback vs. the Caps

This was a game that I attended, and was pretty pumped at first, then pretty disappointed until there were literally about 4 minutes left in the game, at which point I was pumped again.

First, Milan Lucic and Matt Bradley, dropped the gloves at...0:05 of the first period. Why wait?



"DOWN GOES BRADLEY!"

This was all only a week after the Bruins got completely destroyed by the Caps in DC, by a 10-2 score.

9 seconds after that bout, we got this...



After all of that, there wasn't much in the way of action until the Capitals scored with around 13 minutes to go in the first period, and that was it until near the end of the third.

The Caps took the lead into the first intermission, and even after that the Bruins didn't do all that much, failing to generate many chances and often getting bogged down in the defensive zone. As the game entered the third period, and as the clock began to tick down, it looked like the B's were heading for a 1-0 loss, a huge disappointment.

Then, Donald Brashear got called for a high-sticking double-minor, and decided he'd follow it up by doing this...



...which earned him a two minute minor for roughing as well. That's right, in a span of literally 7 seconds, Brashear earned himself six minutes in the penalty box, and, since one was a double-minor, the Bruins could score once and he still wouldn't be able to come out.

After killing the first 1:13 seconds of the Bruins power-play, the Caps decided to shoot themselves in the foot again, as Jon Erskine (who in a different game was one of the few players to soundly defeat Milan Lucic in fight all season) went to the box for hooking, giving the B's four and a half minutes of a two-man advantage.

Just 17 seconds later, Zdeno Chara ripped home a slap shot that rattled in off of the crossbar, tying the game. For some reason (a rule stipulation that I'm not entirely sure of), no one came out of the box for Washington, putting the B's back on the two-man advantage. After Washington killed off the remainer of that advantage, the B's were still on the power-play due to Brashear's brilliant decisions.

However, again shooting themselves in the foot, Tom Poti took a slashing penalty 30 seconds after Erskine left the box, giving the Bruins ANOTHER tw0-man advantage. 40 seconds later, David Krecji slid a perfect pass through the crease of noted Bruins-killer Cristobal Huet that landed on the tape of Marco Sturm's stick. Sturm had all day to fire the puck into the net, and gave the Bruins the lead at 17:44 of the third period.

The Bruins couldn't put the puck in the net for 55 minutes, then scored 2 goals in three minutes to sink the Capitals. It was a great way to avenge the 10-2 loss from the week before, and since they were able to ice the Caps in regulation, they prevented them from getting a point, which, considering the Caps were fighting for the playoffs just like the B's at the time, turned out to be big.

Also, aside from the win on the ice, this game also featured a dance-off between Mustache Guy, who is always plastered and dancing at the Bruins, and WBCN's Crash. It was some pretty funny stuff.



Game highlights are below.

4. Ward Winner in OT

On January 12, 2008, the Bruins beat the Flyers in OT. This wouldn't have gotten much play in the newspapers anyways, since the B's received little media love last year, but got even less due to the fact that the Patriots were playing the Chargers in the AFC playoffs later that night.

This game saw an already banged-up Bruins team suffer a couple of more blows, this time to two of their tougher players. Jeremy Reich was forced out of the game after taking a shot off of the foot, and Milan Lucic crashed nose-first into the dasher after checking a Philly player.

Despite being without these two for some time, the Bruins were able to take a 3-1 lead over the Flyers in this game. However, the Flyers stormed back in front of their hometown fans, and tied the game at 3-3 with 7:15 to go in the game.

The game ended up remaining scoreless through the end of regulation, but the B's wasted little time sending the Flyers packing in OT. After Marco Sturm streaked in on goalie Antero Nittymaki in a breakaway attempt, Nittymaki skated out and knocked the puck to the blue line, appearing to be out of harm's way. However, the puck landed on the stick of Aaron Ward, who fired it back on net and beat a stunned Nittymaki, who wasn't expecting the puck to arrive back so quickly.

After the goal, Ward immediately dropped his stick, saying after the game that he thought his stick may have been broken when he shot it. Had the referees known this, he would have been penalized and the goal would have been waved off.

Regardless, and maybe with a little bit of luck, the Bruins left Philly with two points, and a satisfying win against a team that became public enemy #1A (with Montreal of course being #1) last season.

Game highlights below.

5. Comeback vs. the Cats

A regular game in the middle of February vs. the middle-of-the-road Florida Panthers doesn't seem at first glance like it'd be a great game. However, this was a game that showed the mettle of the Bruins, and proved that as they had done all season in the absence of Patrice Bergeron, they could stand up to adversity.

This was a game that featured a rare weak game by Tim Thomas, who ended up being lifted after the second period in favor of Auld the Bald, Alex Auld. The Bruins trailed in the game 1-0, 2-1, 3-1 and 4-2, but managed to tie the game with five minutes left and take all the momentum into the extra frame.

After Zdeno Chara got the Bruins within one on the power play at 13:10 of the third, the Bruins put the pedal to the metal and pushed hard for the tie. The Panthers, who were bending the entire game, finally broke with 4:12 left in the game, when Phil Kessel potted the equalizer from David Krecji and Milan Lucic.

The teams remained even through the end of the third and overtime, and went into the shootout. Marco Sturm ended up sliding the winner past Tomas Vokoun, giving the B's the much-needed come from behind victory, a win that would extend what would eventually become a season-high eight game points streak, a push that solidified the B's as a post-season contender.

This was a game that seemed like a loss from the beginning, but the Bruins hung around and were able to steal one in South Florida. This was a game that brought the team together and showed their conviction and resilience, two qualities that would continue to appear throughout the 2007-2008 campaign.

Game story here.

Pre-season: Islanders at Bruins

The Bruins played their second game of the pre-season at the TD Banknorth Garden yesterday, and result (a loss) was the same as the first.

The Bruins' line-up for yesterday's tilt was essentially what it should be this coming Thursday. Tim Thomas was in net, and all of the major players (Chara, Bergeron, Savard, Wideman, Kessel, Ward, Lucic, etc.) were dressed, and played the entire game.

The opposing Islanders are a team slated to do little this season, in the middle of a rebuilding of sorts. Their line-up was essentially intact yesterday, the only exception being Joey MacDonald (yes, that's former Bruins Big Mac in net) starting as goalie instead of Rick Dipietro.

The game was pretty disappointing overall, especially considering that this was the second last game before the regular season starts. The power play looked decent, and scored the only goal. The passing was crisp and chances plentiful. However, offense can't be based only on power plays, and the B's even strength game was mediocre at best. There were really very few good scoring chances generated even by the top lines.

In goal, Thomas looked pretty strong. He gave up two goals, both of which came on Islander power plays. The first goal was scored on a great bit of passing, and there was nothing Thomas could have done. The second was a tricky deflection, one that, again, Thomas really can't be blamed for. He didn't do anything spectacular, but was definitely steady in net.

One player I was focused on yesterday was Blake Wheeler, who still has a pretty good chance of making the team. He played pretty well, though he did take two penalties. He was strong along the boards in battles for the puck, and showed great hockey instincts as well, threading passes and setting up some good breakouts and chances.

I was also keeping an eye on Michael Ryder, waiting for him to show flashes of bein reinvigorated. I didn't see many, but he didn't really play poorly either. He showed some pretty nice offensive moves at times, at one point stickhandling his way into the slot only to misfire on the shot. I'm still confident that he's going to turn it on, but he's done little to silence the doubters.

No one really played poorly yesterday, but the whole team definitely needs improvement. The group still looked a bit out of sync, and with only days until the real games start, they don't have much time to get it together. Today's game (starting right now, actually) will be a telling one, as it's the final tune-up of the pre-season, making it likely that everyone will play regular season-esque shifts.

Hopefully they show some life tonight that was lacking yesterday.

Sums/story of the game from Bruins.com

6. Welcome Back to the Garden, Philly

Any Bruins fan will tell you that the first time the Philadelphia Flyers visited the Garden last year, it changed the season, and nearly changed the franchise, drastically. That date was October 27, 2007. Seem familiar?

Suddenly without their brightest young talent, and arguably best all-around player, the Bruins were looking at an uphill climb for the rest of the season. However, by the time the Flyers rolled back up to Boston on March 15,2008, the B's remained in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff hunt.

Undoubtedly, revenge was the first thing many fans thought of at first sight of those orange, black and white jerseys. However, if memory serves me correctly, Randy Jones actually didn't dress for this game, robbing Garden fans of showering him with obscenities and trash (kidding).

Shawn Thornton ultimately took it upon himself to start the festivities, taking on noted pugilist Riley Cote in a ferocious exchange of punches.



"It's just Rock'em Sock'em robots!"

After that, there wasn't really much in the way of bad blood, or a least none that resulted in fighting. There obviously were the occasional scrums, roughing penalties, etc. but nothing all that serious. The teams instead decided to play a remarkably entertaining hockey game.

Chuck Kobasew opened the scoring for the Bruins in the first period, but Philly stormed back with two straight goals in the middle frame.

With time ticking down, the Bruins put on some great pressure. Controlling the puck in the zone, Dennis Wideman fired a slapper on net, a shot Biron pushed aside. The rebound found its way to the stick of Andrew Ference, who fired one right back on net, found the twine, and tied the game with 27 seconds left.

In overtime, Tim Thomas stoned Jeff Carter of the Flyers on a breakaway. As is always the case in hockey, a big save can lead to a big momentum swing, and this game was a perfect example. Thomas made the save, and PJ Axelsson got control of the puck at the B's blue line. He made a litte spin move, slowed the play down, then moved the puck up ice. As he crossed the blue line, he made a pass back to a trailing Aaron Ward (though if you view the highlights at the end of this post, it seems like the pass may have been intended for the other forward on the ice), who simply unloaded a shot on net that beat Biron. Game over, big win for the B's, and the second time last season that Ward beat the New Broad Street Bullies in OT.

Thomas had an outstanding game, making a number of highlight reel stops. This game could have been called "one for Patrice", as Thomas, Ward and the rest of the Bruins made sure the Flyers made the short trip home wondering if they let the game get away.

Full game highlights can be viewed below, or at the link here.

Pre-season Look Back...

With the regular season beginning for the Bruins in under a week, I thought I'd make a post each day for the best games of this past season. Since there are six days now until Thursday, I've made it into a top six, counting down to the best game of the season, which will be revealed on Wednesday.

Any input or comments on the choices are always welcome.

Back at the Bell Centre: New Season, Same Result

Wednesday night, the Boston Bruins returned to the scene of their last loss of the 2007-2008 season, a 5-0 loss in game 7 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. Granted, this was a preseason game, with a level of importance not even close to that of postseason hockey, but it was at the Bell Centre nonetheless.

This game, like all but one of the B's preseason games thus far, wasn't available on television, and the only radio feed available was that of CJAD out of Montreal. Uh oh, homer alert! But listening to play-by-play through bleu, blanc et rouge glasses is better than not listening to hockey at all.

The Bruins ended up losing this one 3-1, with Manny Fernandez giving up three power play markers in the defeat. Fernandez made 25 saves in the losing effort, but according to coach Claude Julien, played very well. A solid game seems like a must at this point for Manny. After reading this article by ESPN.com's Scott Burnside, it was hard to imagine Manny has all that much confidence in himself. One of the many things the NHL has proven over the years is that a solid 1-2 punch in net is never a bad thing, and the B's need Fernandez to play like the number one they acquired him to be.

It was a pretty decent game for the Bruins (from what I could hear, anyways, as it's always hard to judge without video, but...), who seemed to turn up the heat big time in the third period. There were a couple of occasions where they seemed to be knocking on the door, sometimes literally, with scrums for the puck in front of Jaroslav Halak, but they just couldn't put it away. Their one goal came on the powerplay, on a goal that the Habs' broadcasters seemed to describe almost as a "tic-tac-toe" goal, a perfectly executed power play strike, one that I believe they termed "inevitable", given the pressure the B's were putting on.

Here are some other pro's and con's from the game:


Pro's:

• Milan Lucic seemed to have a pretty good game. He's had a less than stellar camp so far, and probably needs to play better in these last few tune-ups to secure himself a spot on the roster. Yes, he's a fan favorite, but in no way is he an incumbent for a roster spot. Lucic has a ton of potential, and needs to turn it up a bit to solidify his standing.
• Blake Wheeler, a bit of a dark horse to make the team at the start of camp, seems to have almost assuredly gotten himself a place on the roster. GM Peter Chiarelli would have to do some juggling to get Wheeler on the team, as he has a pretty big (over $1 mil.) bonus that would need to be absorbed into the salary cap, but by all media accounts Wheeler seems to have been a standout throughout the entire camp. His name was mentioned quite frequently on the broadcast tonight, and always in a good manner. It's early, but Wheeler seems like he's been a great pick up by Chiarelli so far.
• Zdeno Chara, in his first game-action in the preseason, was unloading from the point on the power play. Some of the shots could be heard booming off of the pads of Halak even on the radio feed, so hopefully Chara's surgically repaired shoulder is at 100%.
• Patrice Bergeron and Mark Savard both seemed to be making plays as well, with Bergeron's name appearing all over the dial throughout the game.

Con's:

• This one could probably be split into two con's, but it'll instead go under one: special teams. The Bruins PK remained suspect, allowing all three goals (though one was on a 5-3, which is a situation where a team really can't be blamed for allowing a goal). To compound matters, the Montreal power play seemed as strong as ever, showing no signs of coming down from their #1 power play ranking from last season. This is bad for the Bruins, as the Montreal power play burned them almost too many times to count last season. The Bruins PK needs to improve from their bottom-half of the league ranking last year, and should do that with the acquisition of Stephane Yelle, a strong defensive player.
• Michael Ryder probably shouldn't be named as a complete "con", but he didn't do much in this game to shake his reputation of no longer being able to finish that followed him from Montreal. One of the reasons Bruins fans grew tired of Glen Murray was due to his inability to put home goals, despite constantly seeming to be in prime position. Ryder seemed to have plenty of shots, but missed the net fairly often. If Ryder is going to be the scorer the Bruins need him to be, he's got to start hitting the net.
  
• The physical play seemed lacking tonight. It almost seemed like the Bruins were shying away from their physical game, something that almost always led to trouble last season. When the Bruins impose their physical will on their opponents, their defensive style of play is far more effective. Plus, what real Bruins fan doesn't like to see a member of the Black and Gold lay out, as Shawn Thornton put it the other day, one of those "little French guys"?

Overall, a loss is a loss, but in the same vein, a preseason loss is just a preseason loss. No big deal, take the positives and negatives from it and move on. The B's next game is on Saturday, at home at the TD Banknorth Garden versus the New York Islanders. The game is on NESN too, for readers in the Boston area. I'm planning on going to this game, and should have more to report on after seeing the team in person.

Until then, go B's.