Takeaways from Bruins/Senators: McQuaid gritty in return, Chara continues alarming trend

(Photo by the AP)

by Dakota Antelman

The Bruins fell to the Senators Saturday afternoon in Boston, loosing in overtime by a score of 3-2. The game was dotted with budding animosity and had fans watching closely as young stars, Tory Krug and Seth Griffith complimented a host of Bruins veterans working to get the game to overtime. 

Bobby Ryan's overtime goal sent ultimatly them home sad for a second straight game though as the Bruins fell to 19-15-5 on the season. 

Below are a few takeaways from the game. 

Bruins take it to overtime once again

As much as December was a down moth for the Bruins they did get to overtime in five of their fourteen games. Though they were not winning with consistency, they were snapping up meager points where they could get them.

The same was the case Saturday with Boston dragging the contest past regulation for the second straight game.

Boston battled hard, tying the game in the second period and jumping out to a lead midway through the third. Despite then conceding to Ottawa, the Bruins held down the fort in the final frame dominating in the face-off circle and forcing Ottawa's shots to the perimeter.

Though they did not get two points, the "looser's point" which came for their getting to overtime locked them into a tie with the Panthers for 5th in the Atlantic Division.

Adam McQuaid gritty, fundamentally strong in return

Adam McQuaid who had not played for the Bruins since November 18th, made his return for the Bruins Saturday afternoon. He bumped young defender Matt Bartkowski out of the lineup and returned to his rightful spot alongside veteran Dennis Sidenberg.

McQuaid played 17 minutes and 26 seconds in his return. He blocked a shot and worked on the Bruins penalty kill unit all afternoon logging over a minute of shorthanded time.

His main strong suit as a player and as a player in this specific game vs the Senators however is his physicality and battling spirit. McQuaid did not hold back in his return. breaking out the face washes and late jabs to the chest by the dozen. He cleared the front of the net all afternoon and repeatedly sent Senators players complaining to officials in search of judicial retribution for various sneaky infractions.

Only once however did the officials oblige as his sole violence penalty came in the second period in the form of a rough against Clarke MacArthur.

McQuaid's physicality worked for the Bruins and gave them impressive grit and fire especially in the first period. If he can sustain that kind of lead-by-example play, he could be soon working wonders for this team.

Tory Krug continues hot streak, getting more aggressive in offensive zone

Tory Krug scored again vs. the Senators when he ripped a second period slapshot past Craig Anderson to tie the game at 1.

Krug now has goals in back-to-back games and also has points in four of his last five games. He has been jumping into the attack with more and more confidence and seems to be earning the trust of his coaches who are letting him do so.

One of the best examples of his offensive activity vs the Senators actually came on a play that was not reflected on the score-sheet, in his favor, in any way.

On Brad Marchand's slick skated, elusively placed goal to start the third period, Krug, who started the play at the blueline, rotated in behind Marchand as he skated out from behind the goal. As Marchand brought the puck out beyond the tops of the face off circles, Krug slid into a screen position and in turn drew tight coverage from the Ottawa defense.

That left Marchand open enough to get his clear, goal scoring shot off before being taken down by Clarke MacArthur.

Krug's involvement in the offense has the Bruins rolling. The addition of his slapshot goal to his resume also gives Boston a defender with 7 goals this season. That aspect alone is one that they can brag about being one of the best in, in the NHL.

Zdeno Chara uncharacteristically struggling with positioning, keeping on opponents

In his 16th NHL season, Zdeno Chara is finally showing signs of age. He has just two goals and six assists this season and has a +/- of two.

Chara is also moving slower and is almost appearing less aware of where his assignments are on the ice this season. That was starkly evident Saturday.

The Bruins captain was on the ice with shutdown partner Dennis Sidenberg for the overtime shift that was eventually end with Bobby Ryan's OT winner for Ottawa. As the play that spawned that goal developed, Chara ended up chasing opposing captain Erik Karlsson into the corner. Karlsson spun out of the corner and, in doing so, felled Chara to the ice.

Chara hobbled on his knees for a split second as Bobby Ryan shook off his defenders and cut back towards the goal. Unfortunately, by the time Chara slowly found his feet Ryan was already in front of him enough so that when the puck came back to him, he was able to tip the puck into the net before Chara could play the body.

This marks the second straight game where Chara has been at fault for a goal. On New Year's Eve vs Toronto, he was caught moving in the wrong direction against James Van Reimsdyk and, as a result, gave up a clear breakaway that resulted in a then go-ahead-goal.

Finding his strength has been a spoken about struggle for a little while now with Chara; but the sudden appearance of these positional miscues has Bruins fans both worried and angry as their captain continues to cost them in key moments.

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Bruins survive without Chara, Hamilton ties career high in points

October 26th, 2014

By Dakota Antelman

One day after learning that their captain Zdeno Chara had suffered a torn PCL and would be missing the next 4-6 weeks of games, the Bruins took to the ice in Toronto with a lot to prove.

Present Saturday night were new call-ups, Joe Morrow and Zach Trotman as well as several incumbent Bruins blue liners who were looking to make an impression in Chara’s absence. The Bruins were well aware of their need for those players to preform but prior to the puck drop there was certain fear that they simply would not be able to.

Needless to say, those Bruin defenders silenced the doubters against Toronto and proved that the sky was not yet falling.

"I think it's just a lot of focus and everybody knew without him, everyone had to step up,” said a cool headed Dougie Hamilton after the game. “So I don't think it's one guy - it's everyone as a team and our D corps and everything, and I thought we did well. Probably our best defensive game this year."

While the rest of the team may have played their best game of the year, Hamilton played one of his best games of his career Saturday.

He tied his career high in points with three. His assists on goals by Carl Soderberg and David Krejci helped put the game out of reach early while his stunning break-away goal in the 3^rd period earned the deserved praise of the Bruins fan base.

Such was a common theme Saturday as beyond Hamilton; the defense would fire off eight shots on goal sustaining the offensive minded presence that Chara would always bring to a game.

"I was just playing, and things happened, and wasn't really thinking about it. I just knew that we were facing a good line with Kessel and me and Seids had to play good defense and play solid,” said Hamilton. "And I think it's just a bonus that you get the offense."

Partially due to a stand out game by Rask but also due to a strong performance in the neutral zone, the Bruins allowed just one goal which was scored with only five minutes to go in the game.

"I thought defensively, we kept most of the shots to the outside. They did get some great chances, but Tuukka was up to the task,” said coach Claude Jullian.

All and all, the Bruins stood tall in a game that they could very well have lost. They silenced many who were in states of crazed panic after the Chara injury and played an all-out, leave-it-all-on-the-ice type of game.

"It should be that all the time, but when you lose a guy like Zdeno, you have to rely on it a lot more and it's got to be a total team effort,” Jullian said.

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Bruins roster taking shape ahead of season opener

October 7th, 2014
by Dakota Antelman

In the past week or so, the Boston hockey universe has been abuzz with talk of trades, demotions and contested promotions. 

On Friday, Johnny Boychuk was traded to the Islanders. Just a few hours after the Boychuk trade was finalized, the remaining Bruins took the ice in Detroit as they provided their final auditions for parts on this year’s starting roster. Guys like Ryan Spooner and David Pastrnak were tested hard and often in the game that culminated in a shootout in which the two were Boston’s only shooters.

Members of the Providence blue line made their case to be picked to fill the role of Dennis Sidenberg’s defensive pairing left by Boychuk while many other players who had since been cut watched from afar.

By Tuesday night, just under 24 hours before the regular season kicked off, the roster had begun to take shape.

Perhaps the most talked about young prospect in this year’s preseason, David Pastrnak, was informed of his destination for the 2014 season Tuesday afternoon. In short, he has none; at least not now.

“We’ll have a little more time to watch and assess him,” Bruins GM, Peter Chiarelli said.

Pastrnak missed much of the preseason with a shoulder injury making the Bruins indecisiveness understandable.

“We'd like to see him down there and play some games. It’s a good opportunity to have him on our soil and close by to watch him,” Chiarelli said. “In two or three weeks we’ll look at it and make a decision as to what the next step is.”

Thanks to a team friendly rookie contract, the Bruins have the freedom to have Pastrnak play in the AHL, send him back to the Swedish Elite League where he spent last season or call him up to Boston. Furthermore they could foreseeably toss Pastrnak into an awkward back and forth transit between Providence and Boston. Basically they have very little that they need to commit to in regards to Pastrnak.

Beyond him however, the Bruins shook things up in much more unexpected way Tuesday when they announced that 33 year old Bobby Robins had earned himself a roster spot.

“It’s pretty amazing,” Robins said. “It definitely proves that sticking to the game plan and the program of just working hard every day, and getting a little bit better every day and over the course of a long time -- nine years actually -- so over the course of that long time you can improve and get better and accomplish your dream.”

Robins’ is a long story. 9 years in the AHL have spawned 81 fights and a painful list of concussions and upper body injuries for him. His massive 220 pound frame is a mix of the hard skating power of Milan Luchic and the fists-flying ferocity of Shawn Thornton. The latter of those two established NHL’ers just so happens to, by no instance of coincidence, be the sole reason Robins made the cut this year.

In the wake of Thornton’s signing with Florida, the Bruins needed an enforcer. 9 years in the violent street fight league that the AHL can sometimes periodically become have made it so that Robins can be that.

“In Providence he was a great forechecker. As Claude said, he finished all his checks, he’s a hard player,” Chiarelli said. “Right through this camp he’s shown that he’s belonged, and it’s a great story.”

Robins does not deny that his place on this roster was not earned through skill but rather through physical power. He literally fought his way to where he is now.

“When you’re playing that style of hockey, fights are going to happen,” Robins said. “I’m going to be playing that style. I’m looking to hit guys and get on the forecheck. Then when somebody challenges you, that’s when you fight. All the stage fights are getting weeded out of the game, but when you’re playing with passion and fury, fights are going to happen and that’s what I’m looking forward to.”

Between the decision to not do anything drastic with Pastrnak and the impressive leap of faith to bump Robins up to Boston, the Bruins were praised by fans. Though they had not yet erased the confused pain solicited by the loss of Boychuk, the front office proved that they were doing what was best for the team.

But not everything was so fun in Boston Tuesday.

Former Edmonton Oiler, Simon Gange lost his battle with Ryan Spooner for the title of 3^rd line right winger. Also, highly touted goaltending prospect Malcom Subban lost a close race with Niklas Svedberg for the backup goalie spot late last week. He will start 2014 in Providence.

Lastly, the Bruins were dished a major blow when it was deemed that 2^nd line center, David Krejci would be unable to make Wednesday’s start.

Krejci missed Tuesday’s practice following an injury suffered when he collided with the boards in last weekend’s preseason finale. He was placed on IR Tuesday afternoon meaning that he would have to sit out at least 7 calendar days following the injury.

After the missed practice, Krejci was non-descript in regards to the actual injury and how it was suffered.

 “I don’t really want to talk about exactly what happened. It didn’t feel good enough to finish the game, so I was just being cautious,” Krejci said. “Obviously, I wasn’t on the ice today. It didn’t heal as fast as I would like to, so I would say it’s kind of day-to-day. We’ll see when I wake up tomorrow and how it feels tomorrow.”

His veteran presence on the back half of the Bruins 1-2 offensive punch will be sorely missed verses Philadelphia. However at the same time, if the injury is to his upper body, starting a game like this, against a team as physical at the Flyers could be greatly detrimental to his long-term health.

After an offseason of roster turnover, there are many questions being asked of the Bruins ahead of their opener. Those questions cannot be answered with words, rather, they must be and they will be answered by actions in Wednesday’s game. 

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The Case to Trade Chris Kelly: With young talent waiting in the wings and defencemen going down in bunches a trade could be looming

The 4 year 169 game Chris Kelly experiment for the Boston Bruins was a productive one and yet, the time might be now to terminate that experiment and move on from their streaky 33 year old center. 

Originally drafted by the Ottawa Senators back in 1999, Kelly spent 7 years in the Canadian capital making himself useful with a 50+ face off win percentage and a near perennial scoring output of 15 goals and around 20 assists. He certainly was not a guy comparable in skill to the Senators greats he played with, Danial Alfredsson in particular but was a decent compliment to a Senators team devoid of any talent at center whatsoever. However, as the Senators began to contend in the east once again the Boston Bruins slowly came into the picture. 

With their situation at goal-tending rapidly solidifying and their homegrown talents including Patrice Bergeron, Mark Recchi, Milan Lucic and David Krejci turning into that of superstar proportion the Bruins seemed to be moving towards having their best chance as a cup run since the late 1980's to early 90's. With guys like Bergeron, Recchi and Lucic they were a stacked team when it came to working in the corners and playing physical through the neutral zone however they were also a team that knew very well that they needed to be able to score goals in clutch points in a hockey game.

GM Peter Charelli remedied that need prior to the 2010-2011 season signing Nathan Horton during the off-season and trading for Gregory Campbell and of course Chris Kelly during the season. Kelly's 49th game in Boston was Game Seven of the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals.

In the 4 years since that day in February of 2011 that brought Kelly to Beantown Chris has scored just 28 times. Once you average that out, it begins to seem strange how he has lasted this long. In 169 games with Boston, Chris Kelly has averaged just .165 goals per game. By comparison, DEFENCEMEN, Zdeno Chara has averaged .17 goals per game in 563 caps with Boston. 

Kelly's strongest attribute is one that frankly is not as needed in Boston as would be anywhere else. He wins face-offs but due to Patrice Bergeron's proficiency in improving that statistic his talents at the dot are expendable. With all this coming together it is time that a case be made for the movement of an inept Chris Kelly.

When you look at the present day Bruins roster there is no longer a need for goal scoring, between Jarome Iginla, Reilly Smith and Milan Lucic, the Bruins have already scored 111 goals. There has never been a need for face off help and as it stands the Bruins has a certain man named Ryan Spooner ready to take over as a possible 20 goal scorer. Furthermore, there is a more urgent need to trade Kelly than just having a place to put Ryan Spooner. All season long, the Bruins defensive core has been absolutely inundated as they have been forced to fight through injuries to guys like Dougie Hamilton, Johnny Boychuck and most recently, Dennis Sidenberg.

Even Zdeno Chara who has not been injured this season has averaged 25:03 minutes of ice time per game meaning that his chances of getting injured or at least burning out especially with the Olympics this season are even higher. Much like 2010 the Bruins have a need and GM Peter Charelli seems to have recognized it. When it was announced today that defencemen Dennis Sidenberg had torn his ACL, instead of making the decision to put Kevin Miller up on wavers the Bruins called up mediocre replacement, Zach Trotman to serve has his short term replacement. Such a decision shows that the Bruins are planning something and that something could very well be a trade of someone on their current roster. 

In 2010 the Bruins were a team in desperate need of goals. 4 seasons later they need defense and if it takes the loss of a streaky Chris Kelly to get that, than that is what must happen.

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