Game 64: Bruins 2, Lightning 1

The Good

• Lucic's goal This one likely won't make national highlight reels, but Lucic's game-winner really was remarkable. To display that kind of poise and scoring touch from nearly below the goal line is incredible. Throw in the fact that there were no fewer than 5 bodies in the crease and Lucic's goal looks even better. By the way, Lucic's custom of raising both of his arms in a kind of "I rule" pose after he scores is one of the best goal celebrations on the B's. I'm also partial to Tyler Seguin's, because he, as a kid, looks genuinely thrilled when he scores.
• The PK saved the day The Bruins' PK has been as consistent as winter weather in New England. It was incredible to start the year, went through a miserable stretch, and now seems to be tightening up again. Last night's kill of a nearly two-minute 5-on-3 was the turning point of the game. Killing off a 5-on-3 is no small feat in and of itself, but when one's opponent rolls out a PP unit that includes Steven Stamkos, Martin St. Louis and Simon Gagne, it's borderline miraculous.
• Mike Smith redeemed himself Last time Mike Smith played goal at the TD Garden was probably one of the worst nights of his career: he allowed five goals on 22 shots, including one from the red line by Dennis Seidenberg. Last night, Smith played like a man who not only remembered that embarrassment well but was determined to erase it. Smith was immense for Tampa, making countless top-notch stops including a sprawling save on a Patrice Bergeron one-timer, a sweet glove stop on a Brad Marchand backhand, and a blocker save on a Nathan Horton breakaway. Dwayne Roloson may be the guy in Tampa now, but if not for Smith's performance last night the Lightning would have been blown out of the Garden again.

The Bad

• Dominic Moore goes swimming Terrible embellishment by Dominic Moore on Horton's tripping penalty. I saw the replay later, but Bob Beers was livid on 98.5 The Sports Hub. Beers is usually relatively even-keeled, but he was furious about the culture of diving in the NHL. He's right too: once a player feels a stick on his arm or leg, down he goes to draw the call.
• Still no luck on the PP I know, I know, "it's coming around!" But how long until that's not good enough? I know the B's have shown more jump and life on the PP since Tomas Kaberle arrived, and that it's hard to complain when a team's just won its seventh game in a row, but the PP still needs to produce if the B's are to be considered a true contender.

The Rest

• I've been a huge supporter of Claude Julien all year, but I don't get the decision to scratch Tyler Seguin last night. His reason doesn't really make sense to me either. I have no problem with scratching the kid if he isn't playing well, or scratching him to send a message that nothing's going to be given to him just because he's a hot shot rookie. But to scratch him after he's been playing a stronger all-around game lately just to "give the fourth line an identity" is pretty dumb. I also don't like that he told the media that. If that's his reasoning, fine; but I can't help but think that Seguin's confidence must be taking a bit of a hit at this point. Tell him that he's out for that reason, but tell the media that he needed a night off or had a sore ankle or something. Hopefully he gets back in on Saturday, but I doubt it.
  

Attaboy: Lucic for the game-winner, but an honorable mention for Mike Smith. He was incredible between the Tampa pipes.

Providence Shuttle: Scratching Seguin. I know I sound like an HFBoards nut, but it makes no sense to me. Sorry Claude.

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.
  

Satan aboard, Julien unhappy, Bergeron injured...happy times in Bruin land

In case the sarcasm didn't come through in the title, these are hardly happy times in the life of the common Bruins fan. Just days removed from an exhilarating 2-1 OT win over the Flyers in the Winter Classic, doom and gloom rule the day.

However, before I go on to the aforementioned doom and gloom, a bit of regular B's news: the signing of Miroslav Satan.

Satan, who was out of hockey completely before signing on with the B's, comes cheap: his cap hit will be around $300,000 for the remainder of the season (the contract was one-year, $700,000, but will be pro-rated since the season is already half over). He's being brought here really for one reason: to try to bring some offensive firepower to a team that is sorely lacking in the goal scoring department.

Satan is really an enigma, a player who seems to have immense skill but doesn't exactly play his hardest at all times. He's not exactly known for his defensive prowess either, which makes his addition to a Claude Julien "defense-first" club somewhat strange, but the team doesn't seem too concerned about it:

"Generally speaking, you're not going to get a perfect player on the free-agent market at this time of year," he said. "He's been more of a one-dimensional player over the course of his career. But, as I said, we watched all his playoff games and he was above-average on the defensive side of the puck. And those playoff games, they're high-tempo, high-intensity."
-Matt Kalman, ESPNBoston.com

Satan will be re-united with his friend and Team Slovakia teammate Zdeno Chara, so it will be interesting to see if the captain can light a bit of a fire under his countryman. If Satan can re-discover his touch and knock in 10-15 goals in the team's final 40 or so games, then Chiarelli will look like a genius. If he washes out and is a bust, it's only $300,000 in cap space (hey, this is Jeremy Jacobs' money, not mine).

However, Satan's signing may serve a bigger purpose as well, one that Julien illustrated in his post-game comments following the team's horrible showing on Broadway last night.

"There were times in the past that they had their dressing room under control," Julien said. "Right now, you have to coach, you have to be a cheerleader, you've got to wake them up. You've got to do too many things that a coach shouldn't have to do at this level. These are professionals and they've got to take ownership of their dressing room at some point.

-From above ESPN link

Julien was clearly unhappy with his team's effort, and one can't help but wonder if complacency is a factor. There are a number of players who have been under performing all year, and the addition of Satan coupled with the return of Milan Lucic in the coming days will make playing time a luxury, not a right.

Among those who may be destined for the press box are Blake Wheeler, Vladimir Sobotka and Michael Ryder. Wheeler and Ryder have had very disappointing seasons, while Sobotka may just end up being the odd-man out in the battle for playing time, mainly because he won't have to clear waivers to be sent down to Providence.

The above comments are pretty strong coming from Julien, especially given that his team has played pretty well as of late. However, he made it quite clear that mediocrity or poor play will not be tolerated, and it's now up to the team to respond. They have a chance to show their coach what kind of team they are right away with a game in Ottawa tonight. It's the opinion of this writer that if the B's come out flat again, especially following a chewing-out by their coach, then it may be time for concern for B's fans.

Of more pressing concern, however, is the health of forward Patrice Bergeron. Bergeron took a Dennis Wideman shot off of the hand in the second period of last night's game, skated two more shifts and then didn't return. Bergeron didn't travel with the team to Ottawa, and is (as of 1 p.m.) still being evaluated by doctors at MGH. A broken hand would likely see Bergeron miss upwards of a month (and would thereby sink his chances at playing for Team Canada in Vancouver), whereas a broken finger may sideline him for less time. Chances are, however, that it's some kind of fracture; the hand isn't exactly an area where sprains or strains are common.

If Bergeron misses significant time, the Bruins are in a bit of trouble. He has been the team's best overall player all season, and would be a huge loss. One can't help but feel for the kid as well: just days after being told he'll represent his country in the Olympics, he's felled by an injury. Here's to hoping it's not that serious, for both his sake and the team as a whole's.

UPDATE: According to Boston.com, Satan will make his Bruin debut tonight in Ottawa. Still no update on Bergeron's status.

Claude on Kessel

Ran into Bruins coach Claude Julien at the Red Sox-A's game last night. As he was walking by, my brother asked him when Phil would be back.

Julien's response was: "Whenever he's ready."

Clearly this confirms GM Peter Chiarelli's statements that Kessel WILL be back. Stone-cold lock.









Yes, this is clearly meant as a joke. We really did see Julien, did ask him that question and did get that response, but we have not taken it anywhere near that seriously. I just thought it was a funny story.

Breaking News: The Bruins Had a Good Year

In case you didn't notice, I didn't write a post on Game 7/the end of the B's season. No, it wasn't because I was too sad to do so. Instead, I wrote a 1,000 word piece for the newspaper at school, and will link to it when the new website is up.

The latest Bruins news since the season ended has been about a variety of subjects: injuries, contract extensions, contract negotiations, Winter Classics and, last but not least, postseason awards.

After finishing the regular season at the top of the Eastern Conference with a 53-19-10 (116 points) record, it was clear that the Bruins had a regular season to remember. Just how good the season was became even more clear last night, where the Bruins cleaned up at the annual NHL Awards Night in Las Vegas. The winners were:

• Zdeno Chara, Norris Trophy winner as the league's best defenseman.
• Tim Thomas, Vezina Trophy winner as the league's best goalie.
• Claude Julien, Adams Award winner as the league's top coach.
• Thomas and Manny Fernandez, Jennings Trophy winner as the league's top goalie tandem (judged by fewest goals allowed).

Yes, all in all it was a great night for the Bruins, who had a haul of silver in Vegas of which even the most successful gambler would be jealous. Does it do anything to take away the sting of the season's end? No, but it certainly does validate more than a few members of this B's team.

While the "no respect" card may have been getting old as last year progressed, many were still hesitant to rate Thomas as one of the league's top goalies. "The Bruins have a solid defense," was one excuse, or, "he just gets lucky on most saves, he'll cool off eventually." Thomas, who got a top goalie-esque raise a few months back, will no longer be able to assume underdog status, as winning the Vezina cements him as one of the league's elite between the pipes.

Much of the same can be said about Julien, who, with the Adams award, may have finally silenced some doubters about his ability behind the bench. Even while guiding the B's to the top spot in the East and second round in the playoffs this year, there were still grumblings among fans during a Bruins rough patch in early 2009 that Julien simply didn't "have what it takes," and should be jettisoned. Yes, people thought the coach of the first place Bruins should be fired, mainly because of what happened with Julien in New Jersey. With the Adams Award under his belt, hopefully Julien is cut some slack, and remains in Boston for a while (which is apparently the team's wish, as contract negotiations are underway).

Also, it's good to see Chara finally validated as the league's top defenseman with the Norris. There was plenty of speculation as to whether or not Mike Green might sneak in a steal the trophy, as his offensive numbers this season were extremely impressive, but in the end, Chara emerged victorious. Chara got off to a slow start with the Bruins under much-maligned head coach Dave Lewis, but in his two years under Julien, Chara has grown into the dominant defensive force that got him named the league's best blue-liner. He plays with a physical edge not seen in the Lewis era, while also serving as the B's shut-down defender against other team's top players and the most fearsome shooter in the league from the blue line on the power play. Chara, constantly trying to better himself, will likely do all he can to assure that the trophy doesn't leave it's place on his mantle by keeping up his stellar play next season.

That's all for now. I'm thinking about doing another top-10 games of the year post, then maybe something like best plays and saves too. Stay tuned over the next couple of days, I'm sure I'll churn something out.

Photo Credit: AP

Go B's.