Game 50: Bruins 2, Panthers 1

The Good

• Benchmark for Lucic Milan Lucic's goal last night was his 20th of the season, giving him the first 20-goal season of his career. As Bob Beers pointed out last night on the radio, every goal Lucic scores for the rest of the season will be a new benchmark for him (his previous career high was 17), but the "20-goal mark" is a special one for goalscorers. If Lucic keeps up his current pace and stays healthy, he should crack the 30-goal mark before the end of the season.
• Marchand keeps producing As I've said before, Brad Marchand has been, in my opinion, the most consistent Bruin this season. He rarely, if ever, has an off night and has put up 13 G-12 A- 25PTS totals so far on the season. Marchand loves playing with Mark Recchi and Patrice Bergeron and his confidence keeps increasing, meaning B's fans should have more Marchand highlights to watch before season's end. He's quickly become one of my favorite Bruins.
• Krejci's OK One of the "mantras" for the Bruins this season has been "we have a ton of depth at center." That depth was nearly pushed to the limit last night when David Krejci went down in a heap in the first period. Early assumptions were that Krejci hurt his wrist or shoulder, as the center struggled to his feet after staying down on the ice for a while, then went down the tunnel. Lo and behold, Krejci returned just a few minutes later and assisted on Lucic's goal. Luckily for the B's, Krejci's tumble was just a scare.
• WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDES Wides was in this game. That's good enough for me.

The Bad

• The usual Horton, power play, etc. I wasn't too happy with how the B's kind of sat back towards the end of this game, but at the same time I never felt like they were going to lose. Whatever.
  
• Booing Wideman I feel like I don't even want to get started on this, but: why boo a guy who led your team in playoff scoring the year before, a guy who's had nothing but good things to say about the city and the fans since he got dealt? Because he had an off-year last year? Uh, newsflash boobirds: pretty much everyone on the Bruins had an "off-year" last year; why don't you boo them? In any case, it's not worth my time or energy to defend Big Money Wides. If you booed him last night, then you aren't worth my time. You clearly don't know much about watching hockey.

The Rest

• The B's head into the All-Star break with a little momentum, having gone 11-4-3 in their last 18 games. They're quietly starting to play more consistent hockey, good news for fans. Hopefully they can keep it up and keep building momentum as they head towards the playoffs. I'm planning on writing a longer "state of the Bruins" piece either today or tomorrow, so stay tuned.

Attaboy: Marchand. Kid's money.

Providence Shuttle: The fans who booed Wides. You and Providence deserve each other.

Game 49: Kings 2, Bruins 0

The Good

• American netminders Last night's game featured two of the best in Tim Thomas and Jonathan Quick, with the two combining in this game for 66 saves and two goals allowed. Unfortunately, both were allowed by Thomas, but whatever. Throw in Ryan Miller of the Buffalo Sabres and Jimmy Howard of the Detroit Red Wings and the good ole' USA is well-represented between the pipes. Now if only us Americans could start scoring regularly...
• Fast-paced action I'm not sure if it's just how the Kings play or if it was just last night's game, but this was a pretty entertaining game to watch. Lots of back-and-forth play, rushes from one end to the other and big hits thrown. The Kings are an exciting young team, and they made the game fun to watch last night.
• Thomas was spectacular at times I don't fault Tim Thomas on either of the goals he allowed, but I will give him credit for keeping the Bruins in the game. He made a number of excellent saves, including a beauty on a partial breakaway for Wayne Simmonds and a top-notch kick save on a King 2-on-1 (I don't remember who or when it was, this was when my sleepiness started to kick in). It's a shame that Thomas, who has bailed out his team on countless occasions this year, had to suffer a loss in a game in which he really played very well.

The Bad

• Ryan Smyth sets up camp "Captain Canada" did a ton of dirty work to get LA's first goal, but he never should have had the opportunity to put the puck in the net. Smyth was given way too much room in front of the net on the power play by Johnny Boychuk, allowing him the opportunity to bat the puck past Thomas. Zdeno Chara, who usually patrols the front of the net on the PK and makes it a far less hospitable place to be, was in the penalty box at the time. One can say he wouldn't have allowed Smyth to get to that position on the ice, but one also must credit Smyth's determination.
• The power play remains bad Surprise!
• Nathan Horton is still invisible Surprise!

The Rest

• All in all, I'm actually not all that upset about this loss. Quick played extremely well, and while I wouldn't go so far as to say he stole the win, he certainly was a huge factor. Then again, the Bruins didn't exactly swarm his cage all night. LA played a solid defensive game and capitalized on their power plays and scoring chances, something the Bruins failed to do. It's as simple as that.
• Anyone else hear the organist at the Staples Center play the Star Wars Mos Eisley Cantina Song during a stoppage in play last night? Awesome. I love the 80s hair metal music that they play at the Garden (and I'm not even being sarcastic for once), but that cantina music should be worked into regular rotation at the Garden, effective immediately.

Attaboy: The organist at the Staples Center. That music made my night.

Providence Shuttle: Nathan Horton. Sure, this loss isn't totally on him, but he's doing nothing right now.

Game 48: Bruins 6, Avalanche 2

I'll try to keep these brief, who wants to read epic tomes about the Bruins before going out on Saturday night? Well I might, but...

The Good

• Bergeron-Recchi-Marchand magic This line continues to produce and has been the Bruins' best line for weeks now. Patrice Bergeron is putting up pre-concussion points, Brad Marchand is showing offensive flair that few thought he had and Mark Recchi continues to defy old age by producing. In this game, this line alone combined for four goals, ten points and a collective plus-10 ranking. Impressive.
• Career mark for Lucic Milan Lucic's two goals gave him 19 goals on the year, two more than his previous career high of 17, set back in the 2008-2009 season. The big winger has been great for the Bruins so far this year and has clearly fully recovered from the high ankle sprain that hindered him throughout last season.
• Thomas solid Tim Thomas was solid throughout the game and spectacular when the team needed him to be, including during some "scrambley" times in the third period as the Avs pressed hard after Kevin Shattenkirk's goal cut the Bruin lead to two.
• Campbell's spark If you watched this game on NESN, you probably came away from it thinking that Gregory Campbell's first period fight with Cody McLeod was the catalyst for everything from the Civil Rights Movement to the American Revolution; that's how hyped up Jack Edwards was about this fight. While I'm a bit skeptical, especially considering that the B's first goal didn't come until nearly seven minutes after the fight, it was good of Campbell to try to spark his team. The entire squad looked a bit slow, probably due to a combination of a weird start time (felt like 3 PM to the B's) and the high altitude.

The Bad

• Colorado's defense Yeesh. How's Matt Hunwick working out for you, Avs fans? While the former Bruin had a decent game (finished at plus-1), the Avalanche defense was comically bad at times. Strange decision making led to a number of Bruin odd-man rushes, two of which were converted into goals. The Avs have a lot of raw talent on the blue line, especially in players like Shattenkirk and Kyle Cumiskey, but collectively, they were pretty bad in this game.
• Invisi-Horton! Yes, Nathan Horton did nothing in this one again. I'm willing to give most players the benefit of the doubt during slumps, but I'm getting a bit tired of hearing how Horton's "always smiling, working hard, skating hard, the puck's just not going in!" At what point is that not enough? Horton has one goal in his last 18 games and just ten points since Dec. 1. He was also one of only six Bruins to finish this game in the minus column (-1). I'm convinced that he'll break out of his slump eventually, but he needs to do it soon.
• Savard's injury Obviously. We'll know more about Savard's condition on Monday, but the way he was helped off of the ice didn't look good. At this point, one almost hopes that he broke his nose or something as opposed to having him suffer another traumatic head injury. Savard's gotta be wondering what he did to deserve this fate at this point, as the hockey gods seem to be picking on him. Hopefully his trip back to Boston is just a precautionary measure and he's back with the team after the All-Star break.

The Rest

• I saw two of these behind the Avs' penalty box in during this game, so BOOO RAY BOURQUE FRANKEN-JERSEYS! Pick one, fans. If you want to wear a Bourque Avs jersey, feel free! If you want to wear a #77 Bruins sweater, feel free! Just don't cut them in half and smash them together. A definite jersey foul in my opinion.

Attaboy: Marchand. He's been a spark plug for the B's this year, and his four-point effort is arguably the main reason the B's got the W in this one.

Providence Shuttle: The Avs' defense. On second thought, Providence might not even want them, so never mind. HIYOOOOOOOOO!

Game 45: Bruins 7, Hurricanes 0

The Good

• Zdeno Chara is actually happy That was nice to see today, eh? Most players look pretty happy when they get hat tricks, but Zdeno Chara isn't usually a guy who shows much happiness on the ice. To see him actually smile and perform Peter Bondra's celebration was awesome. Big Z had been taking some heat in the Boston media lately, especially after walking out on the media after the B's meltdown in Montreal. However, he remains the most important player on this team (by far), and it was nice to see the big guy show some emotion and childlike joy on the ice.
  
• Bergeron keeps on producing Another game, another multi-point effort from Patrice Bergeron. The Bruins' leading scorer has recorded two or more points in five of his last six games, and has been on fire since the start of 2011.
• Power surge The Bruins went 2-for-5 on the power play yesterday, with both goals coming from Chara: one on a 5-on-3 and one in the third period on a 5-on-4. True, Carolina looked like a defeated bunch early yesterday, but getting production from what has been (at times) an abysmal power play is certainly a good sign. The B's have been moving the puck better and showing more confidence with the man advantage lately; it's only a matter of time before the results start pouring in.
• Thomas as good as he needed to be Tim Thomas made two or three huge saves in the first period yesterday when the game was still close. He stopped made a couple great stops on Eric Staal, and then pretty much enjoyed the rest of the game as his teammates gave him all of the support he needed. Thomas wasn't anything special in this game, but he didn't need to be, and he made the big stops when he had to.
  

The Bad

• What was Justin Peters doing? I know that Carolina back-up Justin Peters doesn't play much with Cam Ward playing in front of him, but did he forget what sport he was playing? Two penalties (roughing and holding) in the same game? For a GOALIE!? Peters' tackle of Blake Wheeler reminded me of playing snow-football as a kid: you'd have to grab the leg of the bigger kids and basically hang on for dear life until they fell down. But what was Peters trying to do? Clearly he knew it was Wheeler's leg he was holding on to...why was he trying to tackle him? Then later in the game Peters lunged furiously at Tyler Seguin, much like Tim Thomas did to Jason Blake a few years back. I assume it was just frustration, but it was weird. Peters probably isn't going to earn himself more playing time by acting like a linebacker out there.

The Rest

• At least one person, 'Canes PR guy Mike Sundheim, wasn't happy about the B's pouring it on yesterday (see post #38). I actually saw this on Twitter yesterday afternoon and just went to link directly to the Tweet, but he deleted it. Strange...I wonder if someone affiliated with the team made him delete it. It's a valid point, however: the B's did have their top power play unit out there in a 6-0 game. However, I have no problem with it for two reasons: they wanted to get Chara the hat trick and the power play still needs a lot of work. It'd be different if the B's power play was one of the tops in the league and they were simply trying to pad their stats. But making changes and practicing the power play in game situations is always going to help more than simply practicing the power play in practice. It's a rare occasion when a team gets a power play and really doesn't need to score; yesterday happened to present a couple of those chances, and I have no problem with the B's trying to work on things. If the roles were reversed and the 'Canes did the same thing, I'd have no problem with that either. But it'll be interesting to see how the 'Canes respond tonight. It's not often that you get beaten by a team 7-0 then play them the very next day in your own barn. I expect the 'Canes to come out with a lot more effort on Tuesday and to actually make a decent game of it.

Attaboy: Chara. The only other Bruin I've seen look that happy on the ice this year is Tyler Seguin when he scores.

Providence Shuttle: Peters. What are you doing, Peters? You try that leg tackle on me in snow football and you're getting a snowy glove to the face.

Game 43: Bruins 7, Flyers 5

Well that was a crazy game, eh? Good to see the Bruins actually win a wild one this time.

The Good

• Marchand continues to impress Brad Marchand is quickly becoming one of my favorite players on this Bruins team. The effort is there from the youngster night in and night out, and he's now making his presence felt on the scoreboard as well. His wicked wrist shot beat Brian Boucher cleanly midway through the third period to tie the game for the Bruins, and his intense forecheck on Matt Carle led directly to Steven Kampfer's game-winner, a play that won't show up on the scoresheet. Marchand's been the most consistent Bruin this season (along with Tim Thomas), and it's going to be hard for the coaching staff to keep him on the third or fourth line if he keeps playing as he has been.
• Same can be said for Kampfer He continues to impress as well. I liked the hit he threw on Scott Hartnell in the third period, though in the immediate aftermath I was a bit concerned that he took himself too far out of position to make the hit. Kampfer's shown an offensive touch that the Bruin blueline has sorely lacked since the departures of Big Money Wides and Matt Hunwick. His willingness to rush the puck, jump into the offense and take shots has proven to be a huge boost to the B's defense corps. Even though Mark Stuart is getting healthy, there may be no place for him right now: Kampfer and Adam McQuaid deserve to stay in the lineup.
• Signs of life from the power play The much-maligned Bruin power play went 1-for-5 last night, with the one goal coming from Zdeno Chara on a first period 5-on-3. The B's showed some signs of life with the man advantage last night, moving the puck very well and appearing to have some confidence again. The team as a whole recorded 11 shots on the five power plays, a pretty good number considering how abysmal the power play has been recently. SIGNS OF LIFE.
• Bergeron remains on a tear Patrice Bergeron now has points in five straight games and six of his last seven. He's recorded a point in all but one of the B's games in 2011, and has 11 points this month. He's actually got a multi-point game streak going too, as he's recorded two or more points in four games in a row.

The Bad

• Too many odd-man rushes It's almost like the B's were letting Philly have an odd-man rush every few minutes to make sure Tim Thomas stayed awake. Way too many sloppy changes and blown assignments in this one last night. It seemed like the Flyers had either a breakway, a 2-on-1 or a 3-on-2 every two or three minutes of game action last night. They cashed in on a couple of them, but the B's really dodged a bullet. They can't keep letting teams get a guy behind their defense. It's an area of concern, and one that got exposed big time last night.
• SHOOT THE PUCK! There was a period of time last night in the second period when it seemed like the Bruins had two or three odd-man rushes of their own in a row, but they didn't get a shot off. I know that with a 2-on-1, it's common practice to wait it out, make the goalie think "shot" then slip the puck to one's teammate for an easy tap-in, but the key to making that work is to make the goalie think "shot." And how does one do that? BY SHOOTING.

The Rest

• A lot of weird goals in last night's game. Mark Recchi's goal came on a wild bounce off of the glass. Scott Hartnell's goal seemed like it was batted in from behind the goal line. Nikolai Zherdev's breakaway goal probably could have been called offside. Brad Marchand's tying goal probably shouldn't have happened, as Johnny Boychuk (I think it was him) threw the puck off of the glass in an attempt to clear it, and the puck hit the glass then the bottom of the netting then came back onto the ice. And finally, Kampfer's game-winner just seemed like a weird goal: Brian Boucher never moved, almost like he thought it was going well-wide. Just a weird game overall.
• The Bruins have performed pretty well so far against the East's "elite" teams: they're now 2-0-1 against the Flyers, 2-0-0 against the Penguins, 2-1-0 against the Lightning and 3-1-0 against the Capitals. Another date with the Pens looms on Saturday afternoon at the Garden, after which the B's won't see Crosby, Malkin and Co. until March 5.

Attaboy: A tie between Marchand and Kampfer. Both deserve it with their stellar play both last night and over the course of the last few games.

Providence Shuttle: I'll give it to Boucher. That Kampfer goal is one he probably should have stopped.

Game 42: Bruins 6, Senators 0

I missed a good chunk of this game due to work, so I don't have enough for a "Good, Bad and the Rest." Here are a few quick hits from what I saw of the game:

• Cory Clouston's probably getting fired soon, right? You've gotta feel at least a little bit bad for the guy; it seems like his team has completely given up on him. I saw Darren Dreger on NHL on the Fly talking about the Senators, and he said the entire team is listless right now because they're waiting for changes to be made. Whether those changes come in the form of firing a coach or making a trade remains to be seem, but something's gotta be done. Bryan Murray wouldn't give Clouston the public vote of confidence a while back, and the Sens' play as of late likely hasn't helped matters.
  
• Patrice Bergeron continued his stellar play in this game, even though he may not have actually recorded a hat trick. Bergeron's second goal may have actually been scored by Blake Wheeler, but whatever, a hat trick's a hat trick. Bergeron now leads the team with 32 points, and has gotten off to a sizzling start in 2011: he's scored in all but one of the B's games this year, has points in four-straight games, has seven points in his last three games and has nine points in the B's six 2011 games. Simply put, Bergeron's been on fire, and at a good time: Bergeron's picking up the slack while Milan Lucic, Nathan Horton, David Krejci and Marc Savard continue to slump.
• With his win in this one, Tim Thomas now leads the NHL in three of the four major goaltending categories: shutouts, save percentage and GAA. He trails Jonas Hiller of Anaheim by three in terms of wins (22 to 19), but Hiller has started ten more games. Thomas wasn't challenged much in this game, but he made the big stops when called upon.
  

Game 41: Bruins 4, Penguins 2

The Good

• Sticking with it One can't entirely fault the B's effort in this game; in fact, it could be argued that they deserved to be in a better position than down two goals going into the third period. However, they kept at it, stuck with it, whatever you want to say, and got rewarded in the end. Zdeno Chara called this victory a "great character win," and it's hard to argue with that.
• Who was the throw-in again? Gregory Campbell was called a "throw-in" in the Nathan Horton trade by some, an added spare part to help get the deal done. I'm not going to claim Campbell is a better hockey player than Horton, but he's certainly been far more consistent this year. Campbell had three points in the last four minutes of the game last night: an assist on Chara's PPG, an assist on Brad Marchand's tying goal and an empty-netter to seal the deal. Campbell now sports a stat line of 4G-8A-12PTS and is a +3 on the year. For those keeping score, Campbell had as many points in the final four minutes of last night's game as Horton's had since Dec. 15. Just sayin'...
• Marchand and Bergeron ...are becoming the B's two most consistent players. In a season that seems to be rife with up-and-down play throughout the lineup, these two players have been fairly consistent bright spots. Bergeron has turned it up a notch lately and has quietly taken over the team lead in points, passing Milan Lucic. Bergeron had his second-straight two-point night last night, and has recorded six points in his last five games. Bergeron has points in nine of the B's last 12 games. Marchand, meanwhile, may not be putting up the same point totals as Bergeron, but he's making his impact felt in other areas. The youngster is responsible with the puck, tenacious on the forecheck and a very hard worker. He also has quietly recorded at least a point in five of his last eight games.

The Bad

• Rupp's goal The first Penguin goal is one that Tuukka Rask simply can't allow. Not only did it come from a grinder in Mike Rupp, but it came on a backhand that was nearly below the goal line. Those are the saves a goalie has to make.
• Haven't you done enough, Cooke? One could very convincingly argue that Matt Cooke has already done enough to Marc Savard. So why, then, did Cooke feel the need to take himself out of position and try to check the pivot during the B's game-winning power play last night (top-right of the screen at around 1:50)? Cooke's eagerness to throw a hit left Michael Ryder wide open in the slot; Ryder fired the puck on net, and Mark Recchi eventually batted it in for the game-winning strike. Cooke cost his team on that one.
• Where are you? Did the Bruins top-guns even play last night? David Krejci: no points, no shots; Milan Lucic: no points, three shots; Savard: no points, one shot (and an incredibly lazy slashing penalty). Not good enough.

The Rest

• The Penguins' second goal was a sublime display of skill from Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang. Malkin's saucer pass across the ice was a thing of beauty, only to be outdone by Letang's absolute laser beam of a shot. Rask had no chance on that one. The Pens will need Malkin to step up his game while Sidney Crosby's out with a concussion. Letang is quickly becoming one of the league's best young defenseman, as the 23-year-old has 37 points and is a plus-20 on the season so far.
• All in all, a decent big-league debut for Matt Bartkowski. The Pittsburgh (or technically Mt. Lebanon), PA, native had a lot to deal with in his first NHL game: short notice, a high-powered opposing offense, oh and yeah it's in your hometown. Good luck, kid! Bartkowski did fairly well, though he did get spun around pretty badly on Mike Rupp's goal and tagged with a somewhat lazy hooking penalty. The Ohio State product finished the night with no points and a minus-1 in 9:53 on the ice. Not perfect, but not bad for a kid's first game in the NHL.

Attaboy: Campbell. He seemed to be everywhere the B's needed him to be in the last four minutes of this game, and had a couple of great chances earlier on as well.

Providence Shuttle: The B's best players. WHERE ARE YOU? The All-Star break isn't for a few weeks, I think you guys went on vacation a little early.

Game 39: Wild 3, Bruins 1

The Good

• Strong game for Bergeron Patrice Bergeron had an excellent game for the B's, despite spending most of the night skating on Tyler Seguin's wing, something Bergeron hasn't done with any regularity in a while. Bergeron's tenacious forechecking directly led to the Bruins' first goal, and his puck pressure caused a couple of other Wild turnovers in the game as well.
• Can't blame Tuukka It seems like Tuukka Rask can't catch any breaks this season: whenever he plays well, the team in front of him generally lets him down, and that was the case last night. Rask certainly deserved a better fate than suffering his eighth loss of the year, but that's not much consolation. The Finn had no time to get set on Cal Clutterbuck's game-winnner, and simply got beaten by a slick backhander from Martin Havlat on the Wild's first goal. While he must be frustrated, Rask seems to have gotten a little of his swagger back with the win in Toronto. Let's hope that continues and that Rask gets at least a spot start or two in the next couple of weeks.
• Vintage Theodore José Théodore is already reviled in these parts for his playoff performances in 2002 and 2004, when he led underdog Montreal Canadiens teams to first-round playoff upsets of the Bruins. With his win last night, the Québecois netminder improved to 8-0-1 in his last nine starts against the B's. There must be something about playing in or facing Boston that Théodore likes: he also went 4-0-0, won the Best Goaltender award, was named a Tournament All-Star and led Team Canada to the gold medal in the 1996 world junior tournament held in...you guessed it: Boston.

The Bad

• Savard's turnover Simply an inexcusable play both at that point in the hockey game and from that point in the defensive zone. I understand what Savard was trying to do: his line needed to get off the ice, and he was trying to flip the puck into the neutral zone to facilitate a line change. However, if a player is going to use the center of his own zone to clear the puck, that puck MUST get out of the offensive zone. If the clearing attempt is flubbed or whiffed on even slightly, it's going to cause serious problems, as was made quite clear last night. Had Savard elected to make the safe play and go up the boards instead, the turnover would have been slightly less harmful. An inexcusable play from a player who usually takes great care of the puck. I'm not concerned about Savard's confidence; I'm glad Claude Julien sat him down. He sent a clear message with that benching: everyone's held accountable for poor decision making, not just rookies like Tyler Seguin.
• First line goes missing again It was good to see the first line of Milan Lucic, Savard and Nathan Horton carry over the momentum they earned from Monday's win in Toronto. What's that you say? They finished the night with no points and were a combined minus-five? Oh. Never mind then.
• Power play needs help At this point, I don't know if it's a matter of strategy or personnel, but something needs to be done to fix this woebegone Bruins power play. The B's haven't scored a power play goal in their last ten chances, making the power play more of a momentum killer than a weapon. Julien attempted a bit of a shift later in the game by putting Zdeno Chara in front of the net, but I don't like that for two reasons: you miss his booming shot from the point and Chara is far too valuable to this team to be hurt taking a shot off the leg or ankle during the power play. Changes need to be made to the power play, and quickly. The B's looked more dangerous last night shorthanded than they did with the man advantage.

The Rest

• Obscure fact time! The Wild have never lost to the Bruins in Boston. They're now 6-0-0 at the TD Garden, and 9-2-0 against the Bruins all-time.
  

Game 38: Bruins 2, Leafs 1

The Good

• Everyone deserves a second chance! Glad to see Tuukka Rask back in between the pipes. No matter what he or anyone else said, getting yanked in Buffalo must have hurt his confidence. Working with a goalie coach is all well and good, but nothing will rebuild confidence better than actually playing in a game. Rask had played well against Toronto in the past, and, with the win, should see his confidence increase. He played a solid game, had good rebound control and can't really be faulted for the goal he allowed; Mikhail Grabovski made a great move. I still think Rask will mainly be playing the role of back-up (unless Tim Thomas gets hurt or falters), but this win should be a good one for him in terms of confidence. It'll be interesting to see if Julien lets him start again on Thursday, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him go back to Thomas.
• Hey, there IS a first line! Well what do you know? Marc Savard, Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton DO still play for the Bruins...they could've fooled me. The heat hasn't been turned up on this trio as much lately due to the fact that the B's are 4-0-2 in their last six games, but they really haven't been producing at all: Lucic's point last night was his first since Dec. 16 and Horton's goal was his first since Dec. 11 and only his second point in the same stretch; Marc Savard gets a bit of a pass because he's just now rounding into top form. Last night, the first line finally looked dangerous again, with Horton doing tremendous individual work on his goal and Lucic serving as a space-creating machine on Savard's goal. I've said in the past that as goes Lucic, so go the B's. Last night, Lucic was firing on all cylinders, and it showed in his line's overall performance.
• A reward for Seguin I called for it yesterday, and Claude Julien delivered: Tyler Seguin got the increased ice time he deserved after a stellar game in Buffalo on Saturday. Seguin netted 14:21 of TOI last night, nearly as many minutes as he logged in last week's games against Tampa and Atlanta combined.

The Bad

• Defensive breakdowns continue Though they weren't nearly as numerous as the breakdowns in Buffalo on Saturday, the B's continued their disturbing trend of defensive lapses last night. Mikhail Grabovski's goal came as a result of a terrible line change, and the B's got caught giving up odd-man rushes a couple of times late last night. Again, I stress that this game was a marked improvement over the Buffalo debacle, but the B's still need to tighten things up defensively.
• Where are you, Phil? Phil Kessel continues to show flashes of brilliance against the Bruins, but he still can't put anything up on the scoreboard, something that must be incredibly frustrating for Leafs fans. Phil is now pointless and a minus-1 in three games against the B's this year after registering just one assist and recording a minus-5 rating in six games against his former club last year. All told, the speedy sniper has played nine games against the team that drafted him; in those nine games, he's recorded just one point and is a minus-6. Ouch.

The Rest

• Toronto youngster James Reimer looked pretty good in net last night. He made a number of big stops, and I can't really blame him for either Bruin goal. The 22-year-old has made three appearances in his young career (two starts) and has only allowed three goals. He's posted a .957 save percentage and a GAA of 1.35, pretty good considering his age and the somewhat shaky team in front of him. It's early, but Reimer looks like he'll be a good young player for the Leafs. Now who are the Leafs going to trade him to...
  

Attaboy: I'll give it to Horton for finally breaking out of his slump. Now it's time to go on a tear, Nathan. If not, back to Florida you go.

Providence Shuttle: Phil. When are you going to show up against the B's, Phil? When?

Game 37: Sabres 7, Bruins 6 (SO)

The Good

• Solid showing from the rookie An excellent game from Tyler Seguin, who finished the night with a goal, an assist, a team-high six shots and a plus-2 rating. Seguin looked like the most dangerous Bruin on the ice throughout the game. I think this was his best game as a professional, and a game that should earn him more ice time in Monday's game at Toronto.
• Points from the blueline As I mentioned on the main page, this was the first time in Bruin history that four different defensemen scored in a single game, no small feat for a franchise that had names like Orr and Bourque patrolling the blueline in the past. All of the Bruin defensemen seemed to be very active offensively in this game, something that carried over from the Atlanta game. It's good to see the blueliners create offensive chances, but...

The Bad

• Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy ...not when they come at the expense of good defense. Andy Brickley alluded to the fact that the Sabres like to send a guy to the offensive blue line in hopes of generating odd-man rushes, and it worked to perfection in this game, especially with the B's newly-active D. The Sabres had what seemed like a dozen odd-man rushes, and they managed to score on a couple of them. I'm all for having the defensemen more involved in joining the rush and creating scoring chances, but not when it comes at the expense of sound defensive hockey. There's a happy medium somewhere, and the Bruins need to find it.
• Concern for Rask I know Tuukka Rask is a professional, and supposedly he and Tim Thomas have a great relationship. But I'm beginning to get a little concerned with how the Bruins are handling him this season. While Thomas is the goalie of the present, Rask is certainly the goalie of the future. I'd be much more concerned with the team "losing" a young goalie of Rask's caliber than I would be of them "losing" a veteran like Thomas, who thrives on perceived slights against his ability. I've been an ardent supporter of Claude Julien, but pulling Rask in this game was ridiculous. Yes, he'd given up three goals, but look at them: the first came when a shot from the faceoff dot got knocked down, changed direction and landed right on the stick of a Sabre in the slot; the second goal came when Thomas Vanek got away with a blatant tripping penalty that resulted in him having the puck alone right in front of Rask. Tuukka went for the poke check, and Vanek, a proven goal-scorer, deked around it and slipped the puck in; and the third goal I'd put squarely on Rask. He failed to hold the post on a weak shot that nearly came from below the goal line and allowed the Sabres to whack it in with just 40 seconds left in the first period. Rask was irate that the whistle wasn't blown, but the fact of the matter is that he must hold the post there. Of the three goals, I'd place one squarely on Rask's shoulders, blame one on a bad bounce and the other on poor officiating (of which there was plenty in this game). Julien seems to know that Rask is struggling with his confidence, so how is pulling the kid in a game the team is winning 4-3 going to help? Especially after just one period? Now the B's say they'll have Rask work with their goalie coach, but let's face it: he's not going to regain his confidence in practice. The youngster needs to play, and Julien needs to let him finish what he started.
• Where are the netminders? Going into this game, one would've been right in assuming it'd be a low-scoring affair. It was going to feature Ryan Miller, one of the best goalies in the league, and either Tuukka Rask, who matched Miller save for spectacular save in last year's playoffs, or Tim Thomas, who is at or near the top in every major statistical category for goalies this year. So what happened? 12 goals were allowed in regulation, and Miller and Thomas, arguably the two best American goalies in the game (throw LA's Jonathan Quick in there for consideration too), combined to allow five goals on six shootout attempts. Yikes.

The Rest

• Where's the top line? Boston's "top line" of Marc Savard, Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton went a combined minus-4 in this one, and none of the three recorded a single point. The trio combined for nine shots, just three more than Seguin had on his own. Not good enough from a unit with that much skill, a line that simply hasn't been getting it done: Horton hasn't scored in nine games, while Lucic hasn't scored in seven.
• Seguin must be rewarded If Claude Julien is going to limit the rookie's ice time when he doesn't play well, the opposite must be true too: Seguin deserves more ice time Monday against Toronto. I have no problem with benching the kid when he messes up or making him watch a game or two from the press box as long as he's rewarded with more time when he performs well.
• While the last two games (against Atlanta and Buffalo) have been disappointing, the B's have a chance to make the road trip an overall success with a win against the Leafs. If the B's leave Toronto with the W, they'll have finished the trip 3-0-2, grabbing eight points out of a possible ten. Not bad for a five-game road trip, especially when the B's had been struggling as of late.

Attaboy: Seguin. The rookie showed all of his skills in this one, and his saucer pass to set up Kampfer's third period goal was a thing of beauty.

Providence shuttle: The handling of Rask. Completely senseless to pull the youngster after just one period. At least give him a chance to figure things out, then pull him in the second if he struggles.