Underappreciated Patrice Bergeron finally recognized with All-Star nomination

(Photo by Matt Stone/Boston Herald)

by Dakota Antelman

Bruin forward Patrice Bergeron played ten NHL seasons before he was finally named to his first All-Star Game Sunday afternoon.

The sometimes underappreciated Bruin center has long since been an anchor of his team. As a player focused on defense, Bergeron brings a specialized blend of pinpoint offensive zone work and relentless back-checking to every situation he is put in. He scored with regularity and has, on four different occasions, ended a season with a +/- rating of over 20. That is a magnificent testament to the completeness of Bergeron’s game.

Bergeron had won two Selke Awards for best defensive forward. He had won an NHL +/- award, an Olympic gold medal and been named to the cover of the video game “NHL 15”. But through it all, he had never been named to the All-Star game. Sunday was his first nomination.

As a result, one can understand why even a person as cool headed and team oriented as Bergeron showed some overt excitement during and after team practice Monday morning in Wilmington.

“It’s a cool feeling. It’s an honor. It should be a fun weekend. It’s a first for me, so I’m excited about that and to say I’ve been there, and know what it’s like,” said Bergeron. “It’s good to sometimes have new experiences, and do something different. It’s also one of those things where you give credit to your linemates and teammates, and you’re just happy to represent the Boston Bruins.”

Bergeron will be the only Bruin present at this coming All-Star game. He does so fittingly as he currently leads the Bruins in assists, goals and overall points. Though much of that scoring has come in the last 11 games or so during a recent offensive hot streak, he has been the model of what the Bruins should be striving for all throughout this season.

While others have collapsed or struggled to return to form after minor to moderate injuries, Bergeron has powered through. He has helped keep the Bruins in a somewhat acceptable position throughout the season.

Bergeron, one of the best things Boston hockey has produced in the new century, has long flown under the radar of NHL voters. In 2014-2015 though, a season that will quite possibly go down as a lost one for the Bruins, he has jumped to the forefront, partially illuminated by the plummeting play of his teammates.

Coaches, fans and general Bostonians though are not surprised at the sudden declaration of number 37's skill.  They have known all that Bergeron can bring for a long time. The statistics speak for themselves.

“I think Patrice has deserved that honor for a long time. It’s his first time for a guy that’s done so much, not only for his team but for his league,” concluded Bruins coach Claude Julien. “He was good enough to play in the Olympics, and as good a two-way player as you’ll find. So it’s nice for him to get recognized.”

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Bruins needing to change their shootout approach following loss to Maple Leafs

(Photo by Gregory Fisher/USA Today Sports)

by Dakota Antelman

As much as the NHL knows how much fans and players alike seem to hate the convention of the shootout, the absolute way of determining a winner in EVERY hockey game has it going nowhere.

As a result, the Bruins, who were most recently hurt by the shootout in New Year’s Eve game with the Toronto Maple Leafs, are in desperate need of an internal overhaul to their approach to the shootout. With it likely being a part of hockey for many years to come, the Bruins need to find out how to win shootouts. This is simply because right now, that is not happening.

Their December 31^st game that ultimately ended in the shootout loss began uneventfully. The Bruins fell behind 1-0 but kept pace when Tuukka Rask stopped a key penalty shot in the first period. The Bruins came back firing following the first intermission, tying the game and eventually trading goals with the Maple Leafs in the second period. They finished regulation tied with the Leafs at three goals a-piece.

After bouncing through overtime without a game winning goal, the game went to the shootout.

The TD Garden rang with boos of the shootout convention while its few supporters tried to explain its rules to still others who did not understand it.

As the Zamboni drove off the ice and the administrators of the dry scrape walked down the maintenance tunnel, the Bruins and Maple Leafs conferred with officials.   

The home Bruins elected to have Toronto shoot first as they finalized their own shooters.

Needless to say even that was not enough to stave off the shifty shootout goals and five round win enjoyed by the Leafs.

But it was not their talent that doomed Boston, it was the Bruins’ own mismanagement of their shooters that prevented them from closing out 2014 on a winning note.

Accounting for the sudden death rounds of the shootout, the Bruins sent five shooters to center ice. They started with Reilly Smith, then they sent Tory Krug, Brad Marchand, Seth Griffith and finally David Krejci who missed on a must-make shot that ended the game.

The lineup was bizarre to say the least with a defensemen taking the second shot and a 50% career penalty shot shooter in Patrice Bergeron never taking the ice. Of a fundamentally talented Bruins attack, Claude Julian selected a group of five players with a career penalty shot conversion percentage of 19%. Furthermore, he did so against a Toronto shootout attack that came in with some of the best numbers in the league.

Boston was swiftly embarrassed by Maple Leaf shooters who entered with a shootout conversion percentage of 39% and nailed two of five shots on Rask.

So what is the problem? How can this be fixed?

Well, not too long ago mind you, the Bruins were, hands down, the best team in hockey in terms of winning shootouts.

Two seasons ago, in the season of their dominant run to their second Stanley Cup in three seasons, the Bruins reaped the benefits of a near immaculate winning percentage in shootout games. That sterling reputation was the direct byproduct of their lights out shooting lineup.

Each time the shootout was needed, in almost painful repetition, the Bruins would send Tyler Seguin, Patrice Bergeron and Davis Krejci to the puck.

Those players would constantly score on 40-50% of shots. They legitimately capped off hours of play with three minutes bearing three darting goals from the top of the opponents crease.

Things changed though after Seguin left Boston following the season. The Bruins started sending Marchand out in the top three and testing Loui Eriksson in the number two slot. They dropped Krejci out of the traditional shooting lineup and over time even let Bergeron fade.

And what for; so that they could let Seth Griffith shoot, so they could let a lucky Tory Krug pound a shot off Johnathan Bernier’s pad?

The Bruins need to rework their shootout approach. Bergeron needs to get back into the mix and we need to see somebody come through as a prime shooter for the team. 

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No rest for Bruins during Thanksgiving layoff: David Pastrnak skates with first line, Chara, Kelly making progress after injuries

November 28, 2014

by Dakota Antelman

During a time while many were out digging out from this week’s snowstorm or relaxing ahead of their holiday feasts, the Boston Bruins were hard at work at their Wilmington practice facility, the Ristuccia Arena.

This three day period without any games has given the Bruins a chance to step away from the drama and competition of the NHL season and address some of the internal issues that have plagued them for much of the year.

Among the biggest and most publicized of those issues has been the injury bug that has bitten the Bruins badly this season. Going into the break they had five players on the injury report with at least three out long term.  Names like Zdeno Chara, Adam McQuaid, Chris Kelly and David Krejci were all among those listed.

During the break however, considerable progress was made with milestones reached by several of those players.

Chara and fellow defender David Warsofsky were both skating for the first time since their injuries Tuesday morning. The next day, Kelly returned to practice and was seen running drills with the Bruins fourth line.

Kelly suffered an undisclosed injury last Friday vs Columbus and had been out of the spotlight since. When speaking to reporters on Wednesday however, he detailed the plan that the team training staff had set out for him. He spoke on the subject of how caution was an important quality in his rehab plan.

"I think we thought [it was] better to be on the cautious side of things," Kelly said. "It was exactly kind of how we thought it would be. And it felt good today [Wednesday], and we'll see how it feels again [on Thursday]."

Bruins fans and coaches alike were excited to see the returns of so many big names this week. But at the same time, Krejci, whose injury has still not been announced, was not present at any practices. Krejci, who might very well miss Friday’s game, has currently sat out three straight games. This recent absence comes during a stretch where Krejci has missed 9 of 11 games.

Bruins coach Claude Julian was non-descript in his discussing the terms of Krejci’s injury or his recovery plan.

“[we have to] Get the situation fixed so he's not in and out, in and out [of the lineup]," Julian said.

Beyond injuries, a myriad of transactions with AHL Providence saw rookie sensation Seth Griffith return to the team while Alex Kohoklachv and Jordan Caron were both sent back down. Among those who stayed with the Bruins, was first round draft pick David Pastrnak.

Pastrnak was promoted to the first line for Wednesday morning’s practice. He was seen skating alongside Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand.

Pastrnak made his NHL debut Monday vs. Pittsburgh skating 10 shifts for a total of 7 minutes and 53 seconds of ice time. He provided a presence in front of the net but did not manage to get a shot on goal.

The Bruins, who currently rank 20^th in the NHL in goals per game (2.5), are searching for a spark offensively and understand the need to put a flashy Pastrnak in a scenario where he can score. The first line, with Bergeron dishing out passes from the center position might very well be that perfect scenario.

"You try not to put him in a situation that may be too much, but at the same time, he's a good player, we know he's a good player - he showed that the other night, too," said Julien. "Offensively, he's a real good player, explosive, makes plays and he's pretty dynamic, and he'll only get better, so we need to continue to give him that opportunity to grow in the right environment."

Though experimenting with various positions in the lineup are definitely a positive for Pastrnak, with each new position comes a sort of acclamation period. The team is hoping Pastrnak can get into a grove on the first line as quickly as possible. 

The team's lack of scoring has definitely been noticed just as it has troubled team management.

“…The goal scoring, the offensive chances, the nature of the chances — getting better, but still has to get better,” GM Peter Chiarelli said. “I’m talking about heaviness on the puck, about competing, about not being stripped,” he said. “It’s a collective team thing.”

The Bruins understand that it takes goals to win hockey games. The Pastrnak move, as well as the Griffith call up, are both examples of the Bruins taking strides to give their team the best chance to get those goals.

Boston does currently hold a playoff spot; but with stalling goal scoring and nagging injuries, any number of teams currently breathing down their necks could very well come up and knock them out of that spot.

That is why nobody was resting within the Bruins organization this week. With the exception of a three hour Thanksgiving Day Dinner at Milan Lucic’s house, it was all work – top to bottom.

“I think what’s important with this group is that even with all of the injuries and everything, it can be easy to say we’re in a good spot right now,” said defensemen Torey Krug. “We’re happy with where we’re at, but we’re not a satisfied group, so I think that’s really important — especially when guys start to return. We’re a hungry group looking to move up in the standings, and that’s where that sits.”

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The Broad Nosed Killah has changed his ways: How Brad Marchand has evolved as a fighter and a goal scorer

November 15th, 2014

by Dakota Antelman

With about 13 seconds left in Game 3 of the 2013 Stanly Cup Finals, Bruins captain Zdeno Chara tackled Blackhawks’ Brian Bickall about 15 feet in front of the Bruins net. The referee blew the play dead with about 9 seconds left in the game allowing the entirety of the two teams to gather around the messy scuffle.

As everyone grabbed a dance partner, hard-nosed Bruin forward Brad Marchand spun out of the pile with a firm hold on the powerful Andrew Shaw.

Marchand threw two punches then wrestled Shaw to the ice. As referees quickly jumped in, Shaw dropped a hard right hand shot onto Marchand’s face as Marchand waved blindly in an attempt to tag Shaw from the ice.

As the referee wrestled the two combatants apart, they sent both them to the penalty box to serve the traditional five minute fighting major.

In over 100 games since then, such a scenario has not been repeated. Marchand has not fought anyone since that game.

The now 26 year old left winger is in his 5^thseason in the NHL. He was drafted in the 3^rd round of the 2006 NHL draft and has been starting games for the Bruins since 2009-2010 in which he bounced between the AHL and the NHL.

He played 20 games in that 2009-2010 season. He averaged just over 11 minutes of ice time per game and did manage an assist in his NHL debut. After the Bruins lost in the second round of that year’s playoffs, Marchand was bumped up to full time NHL’er. He played 77 games in the 2010-2011 season and slapped home 21 goals.

In those first few years in the NHL and even before that in the AHL, the Bruins front office did a marvelous job of identifying Marchand’s skills and even his personality. Thus they were able to put him in the hockey niche that fit him best.  That niche, simply put, is that of the “pest”, the player designated to annoy players.

That was a role that Marchand was quite good at. He was always the player that could be seen chirping at an opponent from the bench, barking at referees or yelling across glass dividers at the other teams’ bench during his time off the ice.

He was assessed 144 penalty minutes in 129 games with the Providence Bruins and logged 22 penalty minutes in his first 20 games with the NHL Bruins. Those were not dirty player penalties either. No, Marchand ticked players and referees off so much that he was given unsportsmanlike conduct penalties for simple profanity and after the play pushes and shoves.

But as the Bruins rapidly morphed into an absolute powerhouse team following their 2011 Stanly Cup victory, so did Marchand.

After netting 21 goals in 2011, he scored 28 in 2012. One year later, in the lockout shortened 2012-2013 season, he led the team with 18 goals scored. He was becoming a skillful player as well as a pest. The evolution was noted and celebrated by fans.

As he scored, Marchand continued to rack up penalty minutes. His career high came in 2012 when he spent 87 minutes in the box.

But especially in the last two years though, the last aspect of the game that Marchand first showcased with the team has slowly died away. In Bruins hockey, dropping the gloves or fighting is commonplace and each and every good Bruins team has always had a wide array of guys who are always more than willing to trade roundhouse shots.

Marchand fought only twice in the AHL but seemed to perpetually get up in the faces of opponents around the net. He would take on guys who were twice his size, shoving helmets and facemasks up into opponents’ noses and knocking players to the ground with football like tackles.

In the NHL, where the players were only bigger and stronger, Marchand did not cower in fear. Instead he went even harder. Midway through the 2011 season, he got into a tussle with Edmonton Oilers’ forward Andrew Cogliano. He spent the first half of the fight getting clobbered with punches but kept his wits about him and came back strong to knock down Cogliano in the end. Later that season, Marchand actually initiated the now famous Bruins vs Canadians line brawl that spawned the even more famous Tim Thomas vs Carey Price goalie fight.

The man Marchand hit to start that fight would, one season later become his partner in one of the most iconic fights of the Claude Jullian era in Boston.

After chirping at Subban for the entirety of a 2013 Bruins vs Canadians game, the pair finally tried to square up but were given penalties. A similar situation happened mere minutes after getting out of the box when the two jumped each other at center ice but were separated again and given delay of game penalties. That time, when they were allowed out of the penalty box they skated about eight feet away from the boards and were throwing punches before referees noticed them.

The fight was iconic for Marchand and the team simply because it symbolized the grit that he brings to every game. Subban had four inches on Marchand and outweighed him by almost 40 pounds and yet Marchand went at him like a seasoned enforcer.

Marchand was annoying and almost unsportsmanlike in a totally legal way when he literally spit in Subban’s face during that fight.

And when they were separated, with Marchand’s face bruised and his knuckled bleeding, he arrogantly raised his arms in celebration drawing delirious cheers from the crowd.

He was a player people loved to watch make himself hated. He was a player that was so annoying and pesky that he started to define the Bruins relationship with the rest of the NHL. They were once again, big and bad, annoying and genuinely unpleasant to play.

In a bizarre way is that not what we associate with good hockey?

But one cannot keep up such a mantra of play for very long. Such is especially true when one has actual all-star talent.

After his 18 goal 2012-2013 season, Marchand seemed to ditch some of the after the play activity. He seemed to start leaving the demolition of stragglers in front of the net to the team’s defenders and fought only once that year.

His penalty minute totals went down as well as he was assessed only 27 minutes of time in the box in 45 games.

The trend continued into last season in which Marchand did not fight for the first time in his career and was given just 64 PIM in 82 total games. On the flip side though, he scored 25 goals and assisted on 28 for his second highest points total (55) of his career.

This season, he has already scored five goals and assisted on five others. Saturday in Carolina, he shot a pass over to Patrice Bergeron who eventually scored. The assist was Marchand’s 100^th as an NHL player. Looking deeper into that statistic, one sees that 68 of those 100 assists have come since the PK Subban fight.

Very simply speaking, as Marchand has stopped fighting he has gotten better; or, as he has gotten better he has stopped fighting. That much depends on how one looks at it. What does not is the fact that lack of fights has occurred in direct correlation with goal scouring excellence.

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Patrice Bergeron, Tuukka Rask win big at NHL Awards: League recognizing qualities in two stars instrumental to Boston's sucsess

At Tuesday's NHL Awards Show, 3 Bruins were nominated 5 awards. By the end of the two hour special that included performances by Phillip Phillips and appearances by a whole host of TV, movie and music stars, 2 Bruins had WON 4 awards. 

For Bruins center Patrice Bergeron, he won his 2nd Selke Trophy in 3 seasons in addition to winning both the NHL 15 Cover Vote and the NHL Foundation Award for community service. 

As tweeted out by the Bruins organization after Bergy's Selke win Bergeron was gracious in his acceptance of the award. "any individual award goes with the help of all your teammates & coaches," He said "have to thank them all for making me a better player" 

Bergeron played perhaps the best season of his career this year. He finished 3rd in the league in face-off win percentage this season, assisting on 32 goals and scoring 30 goals on top of that. His plus minus rating of +38 was substantially better than any other player nominated for the Selke and surely represented the equally offensive and defensive style of play that Patrice Bergeron embodied. It was also the best plus minus rating of the Bruins' star's career. It was the unique way that Bergeron showed his stunning skill set and suddenly vocal leadership in 2014 that won him both the Selke Trophy and the hugely popularity based contest that is the NHL 15 Cover Vote.  

But beyond that, Bergeron was also finally recognized for his community work this year with the NHL Foundation Award. Frankly for almost a decade now, Patrice has been one of those sports icons that Boston sports fans love to make into absolute celebrities. In the past few years Bergeron has most notably used his power in the city of Boston for good by starting up his own charitable organization, Patrice's Pals. Patrice's Pals gives children in local Boston hospitals for long term care the opportunity to attend a Bruins game in all its splendor and then meet Bergeron himself shortly after the conclusion of the 3rd period.  

Bergeron, though he has never been one to go after individual recognition was bathed in it Tuesday. Boston's center has already achieved great things and it was proven Tuesday night that the NHL is finally recognizing that. 

One man who was getting recognition right from the get go was also rewarded with a heavy dose of celebration Tuesday. Tuukka Rask absolutely shut opponents down in 2013-2014 winning 36 games, logging 6 shutouts, a sub 2.5 GAA and a save percentage of over .930. His dominance with the glove was greatly bettered by increased skating mobility this season while his stick was put to use much more. The most notable of these stick plays occurred when Rask would come charging off his line to combat any given breakaway with a pad stack 30 feet out from the net. 

As a result of his stunning imitation of a brick wall as it would act when placed in front of a hockey goal this season, Rask was awarded not only with his first Vezina nomination but also his first win. The victory served as the 3rd by a Boston goalie in the last 6 years. It is that fact that is perhaps the most stunning. As you may remember just two years ago, Tim Thomas bizarrely quit professional hockey for a year leaving the Bruins questioning their situation in goal. Tuukka Rask was just coming off a groin injury and without a solid backup he would be expected to play huge minutes in the seasons of the near future. While some predicted greatness from the Finnish star, none predicted what he has given Boston. The fact is when Thomas left at the end of the 2011-2012 season, Bruins fans thought they might not see the likes of such a great goalie for a long time. I can assure you that by long time they did not mean 1 season. 

Tuukka Rask won the Vezina this season, proving his worth to Boston and the NHL and showing off what has very quickly become one of the most stunning stories of goal tending luck mixed with coaching ever. While other teams have been able to trot out guys like Martan Brodure or Dominik Hasek it is surely a rare occasion when a coaching staff can groom two different Vezina Trophy winners as close together as the Bruins have with Tim Thomas in 2011 and Tuukka Rask in 2014. 

Rask's win Tuesday gave props not only to him but the Bruins team as a whole.  

All and all, the duo of Rask and Patrice Bergeron will likely become the defined core of the Bruins in a couple years when Zdeno Chara retires and will likely produce a new captain of the Bruins to fill that void. These two men have leadership and gutsy skill that is almost unrivaled in the league right now. They never play for their own personal game, they do play for their team and above all they do play for the city that worships them. The NHL saw that as something admirable Tuesday night and thus responded by handing both Bruins huge recognition.

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NHL Awards preview: Chara, Rask, Bergeron all up for awards...predictions and analysis for every award

Selke Trophy (Patrice Bergeron, Anze Kopitar, Johnathan Towes)

In a season where these three finalists all solidified their rankings as some of the best players in hockey, who wins the Selke Trophy this year will be decided by a very close margin. Anze Kopitar ranked 4th in the league in plus minus this season with a score of +34 while Johnathan Towes played out of his mind in Chicago, scoring 28 goals and winning 57.2% of his face offs. The only man better than him in either mentioned category was Patrice Bergeron. Bergeron had perhaps the best season of his career in 2014, winning 58.6% of his face-offs and scoreing 30 goals. Bergeron played the most games of any player nominated for this award and retained the hard skating, selfless style of play this season that made him great in years past. 

Patrice Bergeron is my pick to win the Selke Trophy awarded to the best defensive forward in the NHL.

Calder Trophy (Tyler Johnson, Nathan McKinnon, Ondrej Palat)

Unfortunately for Johnson and Palat, Nathan McKinnon is the clear cut favorite to win this trophy. While Johnson and Palat both scored 20+ goals this season, McKinnon was sunning for Colorado especially at the beginning of the season. Last year's number one draft pick scored 26 goals in 2014,  cracking 63 points and logging 5 game winning goals. 

Nathan McKinnon is my pick to win the Calder Trophy awarded to the best rookie in the NHL.

Vezina Trophy (Tuukka Rask, Ben Bishop, Semyon Varlamov)

In the early months of the season Tuukka Rask was almost guaranteed to win the Vezina Trophy. However, as the season went on the work of Ben Bishop increased in quality and the work of Tuukka Rask decreased. While Rask played more games than pretty much any goalie in hockey this year, his stunning sub 2.5 GAA, 6 shutouts and .930 save percentage were all achieved with the help of a defense that included both Selke and Norris Trophy nominated players. Ben Bishop however, played on a team in Tampa that lacked much defensive talent whatsoever. Still however, Bishop logged a GAA of 2.23, a save percentage of .923 as well as smacking together 5 shutouts.  

Regardless through, my pick for this year’s Vezina Trophy awarded to the league's best goaltender is Tuukka Rask.

Norris Trophy (Zdeno Chara, Duncan Keith, Shea Weber)

I’m sorry Boston fans, in this his 6th Norris Trophy nomination, Zdeno Chara will not win the coveted prize for defenders. Frankly the big man was flat in 2014, lacking speed as well as his normal hard hitting dominance. Who did not was Blakchawks blue liner, Duncan Keith. Keith was a +22 this season assisting on 55 goals in 79 games played. 

For these reasons, Duncan Keith is my pick to win the Norris Trophy awarded to the NHL's best defender.

Adams Trophy (Patrick Roy, Mike Babcock, Jon Cooper)

In what has now become an annual occurrence Mike Babcock is once again nominated for the Adams Trophy. He will not win though. That job will be done by the fiery Patrick Roy who caught our attention with his outburst in the first game of the year and the kept it by guiding the Avalanche into the playoffs for the first time in years. Roy's dominance this season was one of the best every by a rookie coach.

For the reasons stated above, my pick to win the Adams Trophy for best NHL coach is Patrick Roy. 

Hart Trophy (Sidney Crosby, Claude Giroux, Ryan Getslav)

Frankly the pure existence of a Sidney Crosby nomination is pathetic. He lacks leadership and in my opinion did not even match the on ice output of say James Neal this season in Pittsburgh. Though he is favored in media polls to win this award, he does not deserve it. Who does deserve it is the Anaheim cornerstone that is Ryan Getslav. Getzslav scored 31 goals this season, playing 77 games and logging a points total (83) that ranked second among all NHL players.  He led the Ducks to one of their best regular season records in this decade and played with poise and leadership all year round. 

Ryan Getzlav is my pick to win this years Hart Trophy presented to the NHL's move valuable player. 

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Bruins lose, season wasted

Are we in Boston spoiled by our divinity in the sports world? Yes. But at the same time are we wrong to when we see a Bruins team with a Vesnia Trophy favorite (Tuukka Rask), a Selkie Trophy finalist (Patrice Bergeron), two 30 goal scorers as well as one of the most balanced attacks in the hockey universe, look at them and expect more than a second round loss? No. 

In truth, we expected a championship. But the Bruins failed to give that to us when they lost to the Montreal Canadians in Game Seven of the semifinals Wednesday night and so, for the sake of complete simplicity, the season has been wasted. 

You see from day one of the season, the Bruins seemed to have had the makeup of a Stanley Cup winning team from top to bottom. As listed earlier, the team has all the right players positioned in all the right places. Their goalie Tuukka Rask dominated the league with 36 wins in just 58 starts. In a season where he started more than 10 more games than he had ever in his career, Rask was consistently amazing.  His GAA held fast at or around 2.00 all season long and not once did his season save percentage dip below .910. From his first few starts of the season, Rask's play was eerily reminiscent of the shutdown hockey played by Tim Thomas in his second Vesna Trophy winning season back in 2011.

But as we turned towards these playoffs, watching the Bruins demolish their March and April opponents with 12 game winning streaks and 14 game point streaks, Tuukka Rask was not the only player on the team whose game was whispering of postseason dominance. 

The entire Bruins top line of Milan Lucic, David Krejci and Jarome Iginla had taken changes in personal makeup from the season before to the present one in stride. Aside from a few rough weeks as the beginning of the year, Lucic found his regular season scoreing touch coupled with his rediscovery of the body-check as a prime method of intimidation and puck possession and became a huge role player in every Bruins win  this season. At the face off dot, David Krejci actually climbed out of the shadow of Patrice Bergeron this season and gave the Bruins as huge one-two punch at center on each of their top two lines. Also, though he did not score in bunches (aside from his March hat trick against Florida), Krejci's proved his talent cannot be defined by the number in his goals column. After playing in 80 out of 82 games this season, Krejci was a +39 with a team leading 50 assists and an average ice time per game of almost 20 minutes. 

Finally perhaps the best part of the Bruins top line this season was their gifted right winger, Jarome Iginla. After finally signing with Boston during the off-season, Jarome played with a youthful drive that could only be attributed to his lack of a Stanley Cup ring on his finger after over a decade and a half in the NHL. With 78 starts this year, Iginla crafted 2013-2014 into a season involving 61 points, 8 game winning goals and his 13th 30 goal season which just so happened to be the first 30 goal season by a Bruin since 2010-2011. 

In addition to Iginla, Patrice Bergeron also scored 30 goals in 2014.  

All and all, the Bruins were filling the mold of all gritty Cup winners in past few years perfectly and many experts picked them to earn the same finish to their season that the teams who made that mold enjoyed. And in their first round series with Detroit they solidified the expert's reasons for picking them to win it all. 

After losing Game One, the Bruins came back with a vengeance over the course of the next 4 games, winning them all and bouncing the Wings from the playoffs in swift fashion. In that series it was the predicted stars like Rask, Iginla, Lucic, and Krejci that played like the stars they were. 

After winning that series however, off we went to Montreal where it quickly became evident that the Bruins would not breeze though this series. The Canadians snagged game one in double overtime and would have stolen Game Two from Boston if it were not for a historic 4 goal 3rd period by the Bruins that erased a 2 goal lead for Montreal and replaced it with a 5-3 win for Boston. After dropping Game Three, the Bruins found a spark in games four and five delivering crushing hits and relentless shooting en route to back to back wins that gave them an opportunity to win the series in Game Six. 

They gave it their best shot, no, that's not true. In a pivotal Game Six, the Bruins got blasted 4-0. And then came Game Seven which was a disaster from the start. The Canadians came out blazing with 2 goals in the first 30 minutes of the game. Though Jarome Iginla would answer with his 5th goal of the postseason, Danial Briere would seal the game in the 3rd with a power play goal with just about 3 minutes to go. 

When the clock ran out, the Bruins were done. Their season of dominance overshadowed  by a final two games of patheticness and failure. 

"It's going to be tough to swallow this one," Milan Lucic said. 

Yeah, real deep there.

Peter Charelli had a little more thought behind his remarks about the loss. 

"We have a young back line right now and I'm partially to blame if you want to assign blame," Chiarelli said during his annual season-ending news conference. "Maybe we didn't get enough at the deadline, maybe we overestimated the youth and where they were."

Maybe, what if, it does not matter because the Bruin lost one game they had to win. 

Their Presidents trophy no longer matters when all it is followed by is a second round loss, just like any individual accolades awarded to Bruins players do not matter after the team lost when they did. 

After a regular season for the ages, the Bruins could not make things work in the playoffs. So I have two words for you Boston: season wasted.

 

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Dominance redefined: In a superior month of March, Jarome Iginla helped distance the Bruins from the rest of the NHL

In a resurgent season that had already featured 18 goals for Jarome Iginla, the month of March was just plain dominant.

At the beginning of the year, March was earmarked by many in the Bruins following as the biggest obstacle the team would have to overcome this season. Those people cited its ravenous schedule of 17 games in 31 days combined with there being a road trip of 3 games in 3 time zones that once completed gave way to a week of games against a list of teams that included the Blackhawks, Canadians and Capitals. These people saw the month of March, a month that I point out has been one marred with the struggles of the Bruins in recent years, as a month the Bruins would just have to grind through and hope that it would not diminish their playoff positioning too much.

Instead, the Bruins exploded out of the mid February, Olympic Break finding their groove as these March games got under way and slowly but surely climbing to the pinnacle of NHL regular season excellence. As the Penguins went 7-7-4 in March for example, the Bruins went 15-1-1 earning 31 points in the standings, clinching the Atlantic Division, soaring away from the Penguins for the Eastern Conference lead and jumping 3 points clear of the Blues for the number one spot in the entire NHL. Furthermore, with 110 points accumulated so far, the Bruins have already eclipsed each of their points totals in the past 4 seasons and were just 6 points shy of topping their output from 2008 (the largest points total since 1971).

Their defense has helped win them games just as their goaltender has. Those arguments are fairly defended solely by the team GAA average of 1.94, that the Bruins posted in the month of March coupled with the 3 shutouts (2 by Rask and 1 by Johnson) during the same span. But as we look back on this stretch of superiority, it is the offence that has played the biggest role in these 15 wins.

The Bruins have averaged scoring 3.58 goals per game. Among the list of 61 goals scored by the offence, Jarome Iginla and Patrice Bergeron have accounted for 13 and 11 goals respectively with Iginla basically doubling his scoring output for the season in one month and Bergeron solidifying his case for the Selki Trophy awarded to the league's top defensive forward. Iginla and Bergeron both nabbed "3 stars of the week" honors from the NHL during the month while Iginla also finished the month with the number one star.

Iginla's work in March helped lock up his 12th career 30 goal season while also boosting his season +/- to an immaculate +34. He was also clutch as in 4 different games he scored 2 goals against opponents that included the Capitals as well strong goal-tending teams like Phoenix and Minnesota.

But most of all he has been more consistent than any other player in the sport scoreing in 9 of the 17 games in March.

"It's an honor," Iginla said of the award. "It's been an enjoyable month. For our whole team, we've had a great month. There have been a lot of guys who had great months, great streaks. You look at [Patrice Bergeron] -- he's been as hot as I've seen. So it's been good.

"It's been fun, but it's one of those things you don't really expect. I've gotten some good bounces, some great passes from my line mates, and as a line we've had some fun. But bigger than that it's been a great month for our team and we've all benefited from that."

All and all, Iginla has played with a kind of passion this season that even he has not shown in a long time. 

Mighty Jarome Iginla, with all his brilliance has never won a Stanley Cup and he sees this season in Boston as one of his last chances to change that. 

"I definitely feel blessed that this has gone as well as it has," Iginla said. "I was given a great opportunity to play with Krejci and Lucic right from the start. We had some hiccups during the year, even as a team we had some spells and stuff, but we've been able to work through them. I haven't been on a team in my career where you're battling at the top of the standings for pretty much the whole year, and it's fun. It's a different type of pressure."

"I probably enjoy more battling at the top of the league and preparing for the playoffs. I do feel fortunate to have experienced that this year. I knew it was a very good team I was joining."

As has been well documented this season, Iginla has greatly elevated the play of his line mates. The Bruins first line has scored 67 times this season up increasing their consistency and creating momentum better than any other line in recent Bruins history.

In one month, Jarome Iginla has shown the league that he still has it dominating the hockey world and helping the Bruins become the best team in hockey. 

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The plan for the future: Going into the final few weeks of the season, the Bruins are presented with a choice as to how to approach these final game

After a dominant 3-0 shutout of the defending champion Blackhawks Thursday night extended the Bruins point streak to 14 games, their dominance had been asserted. Thanks to their 12 game winning streak earlier this months and the 3 points that have come in the 2 games since it ended, Boston have shot themselves to a position 9 points clear of the Penguins for the Eastern Conference lead and 15 points clear of the Canadians for the Atlantic Division lead. Midway through March, the Bruins became the first team to clinch a playoff spot and while they could care less about such accolades, they have since climbed into a tight race with the Blues for the title of Presidents Trophy winners. Also, having allowed just 153 goals in the regular season, the Bruins suffocating defense led by stars like Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron and of course Tuukka Rask, the Bruins are not only in the running for hoisting the Jennings Trophy come years end (fewest goals allowed) but also, the Vesina (best individual goaltender), the Selkie (best defensive forward) and the prestigious Norris Trophy (best individual defenseman).

But the Bruins are a team who genuinely does not care about that kind of hardware or any of the recognition that is brings and so as the team now sits with at the very least a number 2 seed in the Eastern Conference locked up, they find themselves with a choice. That choice is to either keep pressing hard untill the end of the season or lay back and let the starters play fewer minutes while testing out younger players the team might need in the playoffs.

We know captain Zdeno Chara has an opinion on what route the team should take as they play out their final 9 games of the year.

"Our goal is to play our game every game until the end of the season and being strong," Chara said. "When we do that, obviously, the business will take care of itself, but it's not on our minds that we want to go for that. If we play well, play good enough, then it will happen. At this point we're trying to focus on our game on the ice." 

But just as Chara argues for keeping up this mantra of dedication to the team and the games they play that had earned them their first 50 win season in 4 years and this ability to sit back a bit as the season draws to a close, his presence reminds us of what has happened in playoffs past.  

In the last 4 postseasons in which Big Z has been a part of, he has averaged 28, 27, 27 again and then 29 minutes of ice time per game. In each playoff appearance, he has played a key role in the success of the team, throwing hit after hit while throwing down his massive body whenever a shot needs to be blocked. 

At times in last years playoffs, Chara was on the ice for 40+ minutes per game. While he definitely has not even approached those numbers in this regular season, Chara has crawled into a role as a key threat on the Boston power play scoring a team leading 13 power play points and 9 power play goals. He has averaged 24 minutes and 47 seconds of ice time per game this year logging 149 hits and 97 blocked shots in 70 total games. He alone is the biggest reason that the Bruins should settle in these final weeks of the season before the playoffs. But he is not the only reason. 

It does not take much of a reminder for Bruins fans to recall the story surrounding Patrice Bergeron at the end of last season. He punctured a lung during game 5 but was forced to play through the pain, tearing cartilage and further damaging his ribs in the process. Furthermore there was Gregory Campbell who broke his leg and left a huge void in the lineup and Dennis Sidenberg who got injured on the final play of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals and caused there to be a great deal of worry regarding the Bruins defensive core. If the Bruins were in a position last year, a position where they had clinched the division with 2 weeks left in the season than they could have and should have rested their starters not only to prevent stress related injuries but to also get a chance to test out some of their young talent and maybe discover how great Matt Bartowski and Torey Krug were before they needed to. 

Even more so this year, on a team were concussions have befallen 3 different players on 5 different occasions, fans of the team ought to be worried about not knowing the depth of their farm system in this lineup with these players should say Loui Eriksson go down with a 3rd concussion in 1 season. 

In the end, the goal of an NHL team is not to win the Presidents Trophy, it is to win the Stanley Cup and for a team in the Boston Bruins who pride themselves so heavily in keeping their priorities straight, they should know that. Furthermore as they go into the final days of the regular season, whatever path they take must be aimed at the Stanley Cup and not the Presidents Trophy. 

And this team knows that. Honestly, when it comes to playoffs they certainly know what they are doing. 

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Leaving with a bang: Bruins light up Senators in final game before Olympic break

During the Go Titletown preview of Saturday afternoon's game with the Senators we talked about what kind of taste this Boston/Ottawa game would leave in our mouths. If they lost, if they messed up like they did Thursday night in St Louis than the taste would be like that of some sweet and sour chicken minus the sweet. But if they won than the taste would be one of sweet candy that would last for two weeks. 

Let me just say this. We’re not eating any chicken in Boston tonight. 

The Bruins obliterated the Senators Saturday afternoon assembling their largest scoring output of the season and their second 5 goal victory in as many weeks. For the Bruins who knew they had to finish strong, this game quickly turned lopsided as Boston scored 2 goals in the first period alone. 

Their first goal was scored just over 2 minutes into the game when Patrice Bergeron used a stellar burst of speed to break up the middle towards Craig Anderson. As Bergeron crossed the blue line with the puck on his stick, he dumped the quick pass to Loui Eriksson and then took it on the return as he roared unchecked through the faceoff circle. Though the pass surely stretched him to the limits of his reach, Bergeron utilized a quick tap of the puck to settle it before yet another lunging jab at it lofted the shot past a disoriented Craig Anderson. 

As Bergeron celebrated the goal just behind the net, radio commentator Jack Edwards seemed to describe the play best. "How's that for effort?!" 

5 minutes later, effort combined with execution once again as Boston stretched their lead to 2-0 with Chris Kelly's 4th goal of the year.  Through 1 period, the Bruins had out-shot their opponents 11-6, their goalie Chad Johnson had continued his shutout streak to one 5 periods long but most importantly, the Bruins had not yet turned their sights to the break looming before them. And it showed. 

With 2:42 to go in the 1st period, Kevin Miller took on a man in Zach Smith who was 3 inches taller than he and outweighed him by over 20 pounds. Yet in true Bruins fashion, Miller took the role of orthodontist when he made out to rearrange Smith's facial geography. 

17 minutes into the game Bruins fans had just been treated to one of the biggest beat down by a Boston player all season and from that point on, this game turned from competition to clinic. Within 11 game minutes of the Miller fight, Patrice Bergeron solidified the clinic nature of this game when he caught Eric Karlsson standing still and tucked the puck between Anderson's leg and the post. As good as that goal was, the fact that Bergeron skated around both Karlsson and Anderson like they were beanbags was truly embarrassing for the Senators.

In fact less than two weeks after they beat the Flyers so bad that their captain called it their most embarrassing game of the year, the Bruins once again drove an opponent to a point where they verbalized their discomfort with the loss.

Jason Spezza called this game "embarrassing" while coach, Paul McLane sternly joked that "we probably owe them some money for the clinic they put on today"

Haha...that's funny, because it is true.

By the end of the second period the Bruins led 4-1. 

Before 5 minutes ticked off the game clock in the 3rd period, that lead had been stretched to 5-1 and by 10 minutes in it was 6-1. Though Ottawa eventually scored again, the "killer instinct" that has been ever present this season in Boston shone through when Carl Soderberg snapped his 9th of the year past Robin Lehner to seal the Bruins' biggest offensive output of the season. 

In their final game before the Sochi break, the Bruins treated their motivation like they would on any other day in any other situation. They came out flaming and scored, hit and fought with a fearsome edge. All season long this Bruins team has won off of a youthful drive like none other and Saturday was no different, well except for the numbers that drive produced.

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While it doesn't work for many the Bruins are one of the most well distributed NHL teams when it comes to scoreing: A look at the distribution of goals scored within the top 5 offensive NHL teams

In the span of about a week, the Boston Bruins went from a team with a mediocre offence laden with stars who can make plays when they need to, to one with a stellar offence and a mediocre defense that could make plays when it had to. Since last Saturday the Bruins have scored 23 times and ridiculously 12 different Bruins have combined to score those goals. Through the years, 30 years has not been a good thing for a player. When Patrice Bergeron scored 30 goals in his second year in the league something was said to him because one year later his assists totals went up and his goals went down. A few years after that, Phil Kessel scored 30 goals and was immediately traded to Toronto. 

If you cannot infer from those statistics, I will say it straight. Claude Jullian does not like selfish goal scorers and frankly, it reflects in the shockingly even distribution of goals on their team. But that does not work for most other teams in the league. Take the St Louis Blues for example...

Fact is, if it were not for a slight mid-season slow down by Alexander Steen than the above pie chart may be very different and even more heavily skewed in favor of the Blues top scorer. But still, without the combination of Alexander Steen, David Backes and Vladimir Tarasenko, the Blues would also be without 36% of their team scoreing. Though they may not be as imbalanced as say the Rick Nash era Blue Jackets, the Blues rely on a very constricted 3 man attack. 

The Pittsburgh Penguins use a 2 man attack with even more success than the Blues...

Responsible for more of his teams scoreing than any other player in the leauge, Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz are great players that at the same time put their team in a rather worrisome place. With only one or two other legitimate scoreing threats if Crosby or Kunitz goes down or is lost to free agency, the Penguins could very rapidly go from being a contender to a pretender. 

That almost happened to the Anaheim Ducks last season and yet, nothing changed...

The Ducks are a team that relies far to much on old talent like Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf. For the Chicago Blachawks however, there is nothing to complain about with Patrick Sharp and Patrick Kane...

But the crown jewel of them all is the distribution enjoyed by the Bruins...

There is no clear cut not scorer on this team. No Bruin is responsible for more than 15% percent of his teams goals and while many are responsible for at least 10% of those goals, you have to go through 8 different players before you get to a guy with a rather small slice of this goal scoreing pie in Carl Soderberg. You see, there are even more names on this list of Bruins scorers that are not even included in this chart. Beyond Johnny Boychuck the Bruins have 6 more players who have scored goals in 2013-2014 and that alone should prove how balanced this team is. 

There is no way to describe it and frankly, it doesn't even work for most NHL teams but in Boston it does and when you are trying to defend them you are in for a treat because unlike any other team, they can and will come at you with 22 guys who can score goals. 

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