Late game lapse sends Bruins into All-Star weekend on loosing note

(Photo by AP)

by Dakota Antelman

The Bruins lost their final game before the All-Star break, a matchup with the Colorado Avalanche, by virtue of something that has become a regular occurrence in the Bruins recent meetings with the Colorado; the late goal.

The Bruins allowed two goals in the last two minutes of periods Wednesday night. Ultimately, they squandered a 2-1 lead in the third period when they allowed Ryan O’Reilly to score for Colorado with the goalie pulled and 1:45 left on the game clock.

The Avalanche, invigorated by their comeback, dominated overtime and scored the only goal in the ensuing shootout, winning the game.

“We played a good 58 minutes of hockey and killed a lot of good penalties,” said Bruins defensemen, Torey Krug. “(Rask) came up big for us in some key moments. They just out-battled us at the end and they scored the only goal in the shootout that mattered.”

The Bruins out-hit the Avalanche for all three periods of the game. They held onto the puck with ease, recording 0 giveaways and were gritty in the defensive zone with 27 blocked shots.

Their goalie, Tuukka Rask played well and, for the near entirety of the first period, held the Avalanche off the board. It was not until former Bruin, Jarome Iginla, batted in a rebound with 0.4 seconds left in the period that Colorado managed to draw blood.

The Bruins responded 4:47 into the second period when David Pastrnak’s shot ricocheted to Krug who proceeded to score his ninth goal of the season.

The Bruins played “competent” hockey Wednesday night but struggled with discipline. Even as they eventually took a 2-1 lead off of Brad Marchand’s first goal since his suspension, they were called for penalties. By night’s end, seven Bruins went to the penalty box.

“I thought  we played well the first two periods. We were moving the puck well and skating well for a back-to-back games and again, those penalties took their toll on us,” said Bruins coach Claude Julien.

Julien expressed frustration at an apparent discrepancy in penalty calling. Notably, Jarome Iginla, seemed to get away with an overt trip of Brad Marchand early in the game. No penalties were called and in fact, the Avalanche were called for just three minor penalties Wednesday.

“It's too bad. It's such a close game and to have an edge on us in power-plays is unbelievable,” Julien complained. “There were some blatant missed calls out there and its' getting frustrating. Because at the end of the day, guys work hard they kill penalties, they get burnt out and run out of gas at the end. That took its toll."

Still though, the Bruins seemed displeased mainly with the fundamental issues that took place within their own team; especially on O’Reilly’s game tying goal in the third period.

“We have to look at ourselves here,” Julian said. “It's poor management. We had the puck at least three maybe four times with 27 seconds left where we could have done something much better and we didn't. That's our own fault. And at the end of the game, we need to be a little more aware of when they pull their goalie, we have to collapse a little better and we allowed a guy to come into the slot there and score.”

With the NHL’s All-Stars competing in the All-Star game this weekend in Columbus, the Bruins are off for the next week. Though a loss to Colorado stings, they can seek solace in the fact that they enter the break having taken at least a point out of 12 of their last 13 games.

“It's pretty disappointing obviously but we battled hard and we had a lot of good penalty kills there,” said Tuukka Rask. “It's too bad we got scored on in the last two minutes, but we played a good game today.”

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Bruins in a free-fall as shots are taken from within

(Photo by Jared Wilkerman/Getty Images)

by Dakota Antelman

The Bruins sit outside the playoff picture. Their season has been marred with miscues and the alarm has long since been sounded. After a tumultuous sequence of days, following their most recent OT loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, though, the Bruins have begun taking shots at themselves.

The statement is both literal and in part a sports metaphor. The two days between Sunday’s 2-1 loss in Carolina and Tuesday’s meeting with the Penguins featured some pointed comments by GM Peter Chiarelli and CEO Charlie Jacobs as well as a literal fight between teammates Torey Krug and Brad Marchand.   

Ticket sales are stalling, fans have begun raining “boos” down not upon the opponent but the lackadaisical Bruin struggling in the neutral zone. Calls of “Tuuuuukk” uttered for Tuukka Rask have at times been drowned out by satirical cheers while the media has begun to intermix their highlight reels with statements like “this was the best spin we could put on this.”

Frustration is commonplace within the Bruins system today as it has been for much of the season. As the team continues to stumble, even at the halfway mark of the season, the frustration within the team has permeated into the stands.

Fans who are still watching this team are doing so not for goals or playoff victories but for trades, firings and gritty overhauls that will help revert the organization to the state that delivered such things.

As they do so though, the byproducts of this systematic frustration are scrutinized and elevated to a platform of media focus as talk of division titles was in years past.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, January fifth, sixth and seventh, were days on which that scrutiny was revealed.

Tuesday morning in Boston, Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli addressed the Boston Globe saying that players should “absolutely be uncomfortable about their job security.”

“It impacts the rest of the game,” Chiarelli said specifically of the Bruins flat first period vs Carolina. “We’ve seen a few those of periods in this three-game stretch. It’s disappointing. We’re still treading water, and that’s not acceptable. That’s the common denominator in those three games.”

He went on to say “It’s never fun to be in this situation — to try and improve your roster when you’re not in a real position of strength, there’s not a lot of activity going around. But you try and peck away and try to improve your team. At the same time, you hope these guys can string a couple games together. We have to watch this closely.”

Chiarelli certainly had faith in his team when he spoke. But saying that his players should absolutely be uncomfortable does not bode well for team confidence and or trust in one another. It blatantly tells players they could be on the move soon. “So don’t get to comfortable!”

Though some may argue it is a motivational tactic, the statement seemed more like an honest assessment that need not be vocalized.

Mere hours later, newly appointed Bruins CEO Charlie Jacobs came out with much stronger words.

Describing a scenario in which the Bruins miss the playoffs as an “utter failure”, Jacobs said “I’d say without question this has been a very disappointing year. It’s unacceptable the way that this team has performed given the amount of time, money and effort that’s been spent on this team,” said Jacobs. 

“To see it delivered the way it has is unacceptable. I can tell you that at the moment it’s a very fluid situation that’s being monitored closely. I don’t have any answers for why we’re underperforming because if I did I would have tried them long ago.”

It is as if the Bruins are a distracted private school student whose parents are frustrated with his or her plummeting grades.

Needless to say, when your supreme boss says he is disgusted with your performance the result is a DIRECT shot to your confidence.

But the Bruins are professionals right? They would not be shaken by a little tough love. More so, they surely have their priorities straight.

They made it harder to believe those statements in turn mere hours after Jacobs’ chastisement.

During “battle drills” at Bruins practice, a fight broke out between teammates Torey Krug and Brad Marchand. The scuffle apparently arose after Marchand made a joke about Krug’s height to a friend.

Krug gave a behind the scenes look minutes later at media availability time.

“He told one of my buddies that he was taller than me, and it pissed me off,” he said. “It’s just competing in practice, you don’t like something and tempers flare a little bit. It’s nothing crazy, and you saw afterwards that we’re fine with each other. Who knows? Maybe that is what this team needed a little bit.”

He then soured.

“I think it’s no secret that guys aren’t happy with where we’re at. It’s got to start somewhere, so why not in practice. I thought after that you noticed the guys were a little more intense, and having some fun. We’ll see. Maybe we can use that.”

Intensity is a good thing but a rare fight in practice does not seem so positive. There is a line between the good teams and the bad teams in the NHL and in recent years these types of practice fights have always occurred within teams on the wrong side of that line.

While it would be unfair to judge the entire roster on the occurrence of a hot tempered shoving match during a rough patch in the season, the trend is there and it definitely adds to this general perception that the Bruins are taking shots at themselves.

They face the Penguins Wednesday night Pittsburgh eager for a win against one of the NHL’s best teams. They do so motivated and positive; but perhaps they are not quite motivated enough.

The team has the players to win. The team has the coaches to win; yet they fail to.

Is it motivation? Possibly. But more, so these recent losses could be the product of incorrect priorities. The specter beseeching these priorities stands as the Bruins taking shots at one another.

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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 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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Bruins blue liners target November returns: Zdeno Chara, Tory Krug have both been out since late October

November 8th, 2014
by Dakota Antelman

Bruins defensemen Tory Krug and Zdeno Chara have been absent from the Boston blue line for over a week now with various injuries.

Chara has missed seven games since he tore his PCL on October 23^rd but was reportedly in good spirits when he was made available to the media Tuesday. Chara claimed to be alright and despite wearing a brace on his knee said he had been able to keep up with upper body workouts during the week.

As for when he might return, Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli ‘conservatively’ estimated between four to six weeks from the date of the injury as being a possible time for Chara’s. In calendar dates that translates to a return anywhere between Thanksgiving weekend and the first week of December.

On Tuesday, Chara refused to detail any recovery plan or recalculated return day.

“I wish I could tell you guys exactly when I'm going to return," said Chara. "But as this point, it's really such a slow process, that who knows when the day is going to be."

The obvious good news that came out of Chara’s recent interactions with the media has been the reassurance that he still will likely not need surgery.

“It's always nice to be able to avoid surgery, so we'll see how it goes and obviously it was good news," he said.

The Bruins have been indecisive about Chara’s condition and what they tell the media about it. Understandably, his situation is fluid. Knee injuries like his, especially at his age have been known to take very long stretches of time to heal.

Krug’s injury however is much simpler from a medical standpoint. Krug was injured in an October 28^th game against the Wild when a hard slash broke his left pinky finger. He was seen with the finger immobilized for roughly a week after the injury before he was able to practice with the team Friday.

"It's doing well. It's coming along nicely, made some good progress the last couple days," Krug said. "And it's great to be back on the ice with my teammates, and competing and everything like that, so it's feeling better, that's for sure."  

He was seen in immense pain after the slash but was laughing it all off Friday evening.

"It's not a good feeling - obviously you could see my reaction on the ice, but it's alright. It's feeling good, feeling better and hopefully I'll be back soon,” he said.

One possible reason for his mirth might be the fact that he could very well be active for Monday’s game against the New Jersey Devils. What it will come down will be if the Bruins trainers felt confident enough in Krug’s recovery after Friday’s practice to let him play.

“…if he's given the OK by the medical staff, I'll be more than happy to put him in,” Bruins coach Claude Jullian said. “But I haven't been given the OK yet. I keep saying that - I don't anticipate anything until somebody tells me something."

If Krug does not manage to sneak into the lineup Saturday, it will actually be partially good because, as he detailed Friday, he is still struggling to get a good grip on his stick without a fully healed pinky.

“You never realize what big part your fingers play I guess, but it's just one of those things you have to get comfortable with moving on and taking those baby steps," Krug said.  

He said that most of Friday’s practice was just him trying to get his skating game back up to speed no matter when he returns.

"A couple of drills today, there was a lot more skating for the forwards and obviously being out for a week, they wanted me to get my skating legs underneath me," Krug said. "But yeah, maybe work on the hands a little bit more [too]."

The Bruins injury ridden defenders are working relentlessly to get back into game shape in the shortest time possible. The team needs that now more than ever as, not even one quarter of the way through the season, their players are suddenly getting bitten by the injury bug.

Beyond Chara and Krug, Warsofsky, Kevin Miller and center David Krejci are all battling injuries.

“Those injuries don’t always come at the greatest of times,” Julien said. “[But] we’ve just got to live with it, and adjust.”

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Zdeno Chara to miss 4-6 weeks with PCL tear

October 24th, 2014
by Dakota Antelman

The Boston Bruins will be without their captain Zdeno Chara for the next four to six weeks. The veteran blue liner suffered an “isolated” tear to his Posterior Cruciate Ligament Thursday against the Islanders.

The injury was suffered when Chara laid a hard but clean hit on Islanders star John Tavares. At the time, Chara showed no signs of distress and played out the remainder of his late first period shift. However, immediately after getting to the bench, he was escorted back to the locker room from which he would not emerge for the rest of the game.

Late Friday morning, Peter Chiarelli announced that Chara had suffered an injury to his PCL, a ligament located in the back of the knee, opposite the ACL.

"Good news is it's isolated to that ligament. Bad news is he's out four to six weeks," Chiarelli said. "It might be a little bit earlier than four weeks, but a conservative time frame would be four to six weeks."

The 37 year old Chara will be sorely missed on the Bruins blue line. His high ice time and league renowned slap shot are appreciated by the Bruins meaning that their absence will be painfully felt.

As a result the Bruins are well aware of the fact that they will need to up their game to fill the void left by Chara. The play of defenders like veteran, Dennis Sidenberg as well as young blue liners like Zach Trotman, Tory Krug and Dougie Hamilton will be crucial in the coming weeks.

Furthermore, the Bruins front office, one that takes pride in the depth it creates at each position insists that the many players remaining will be able to make things work for the next month or so.

"There's no discouragement in that room. There's no issues there at all, to be honest," coach Claude Julien said. "It's more about it's opportunities for players, and if we become that bad of a team because of one player, it's not a real good sign for our hockey club. ... You've got to hope that your team is strong enough as a whole to overcome these things. Did we lose a good player? We did. Is he a big part of our team? Yes, he is. But I'd like to think we're better than that, than feeling sorry for ourselves, or be discouraged. That's not the case in our dressing room right now."

Chara’s injury comes as a big blow to a Bruins team that had just this week gotten back to a .500 winning percentage. But the Bruins believe that they can fill his role until he returns and are appreciative of the quick diagnosis.

Speaking in regards to his personal logic regarding time missed, Chiarelli said, "He's one of the premier defensemen in the league, but I'd rather have it four to six weeks than four to six months."

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Bruins get back on track with 4-0 win in Buffalo

October 19th, 2014
by Dakota Antelman

The Bruins who currently sit in last place in their division nabbed a reassuring win Saturday night in Buffalo.

Just a few days after getting humiliated in Montreal, the Bruins downed the Sabers by a score of four to zero with goals coming from Bruin’s youngsters like Tory Krug, Dougie Hamilton and Carl Soderberg. Their defense played better than they had all season and their goalie Niklas Svedberg atoned for a shaky performance in his debut with a 32 save shutout.

Svedberg, who allowed 2 goals vs Colorado last week, replaced Rask late in Thursday’s loss to Montreal. After attracting the attention of the coaching staff, he was given the start Sunday.

"He came in [against Montreal on Friday] cold and had to make some saves,” Said coach Claude Jullian, “I'm pretty happy with the way he's handled himself. In that first game that he lost, he was really good as well. It was tough to give up that goal with half a second left, and we know it wasn't his fault, so been pretty happy. We've been fortunate that we've got a good goaltender in Tuukka, and everybody that seems to come in continues to do the job, so that's great."

Svedberg made 32 stops Saturday. In doing so, he logged his first NHL shutout and also gained considerable support from fans who roasted him after the Avalanche game in which he allowed a goal in the final second.

In his postgame interviews Svedberg was assuredly happy with his play.

"It's a great feeling," he said. "Most of all, to get the win for us was huge today, and of course, I'm happy with the shutout, too."

Zdeno Chara, an observer of countless all-star Bruins goalies commented on Svedberg’s improvement in the past week alone.

"He's working really hard. He's making great steps forward, and everybody was really happy for him.” He said. “…If you look back, he made some really big saves in the game. Buffalo had some chances and actually could have made it a tighter game than it was."

Chara himself was decent in the game. He became one of three Bruins defenders who scored in this game when he put in a dribbling snap shot late in the first period. Among the other Bruins blue liners who scored were Tory Krug and Dougie Hamilton.

Hamilton’s 60 foot wrist shot early in the game served at the eventual game winning goal while Krug’s first of the year which came midway through the second period effectively put the game out of reach for Buffalo.

All of the shots came from positions far from the net and were only squeezed past goalie Jonus Enroth because of intense screen plays and thick clogging of the front of the net by the Bruins forwards.

"It's something that you don't see very often," Chara said. "When you have good traffic and guys are driving to the net and staying in front of the net, it makes it hard on the goalies to see the puck. It creates a lot of good things, offensively."

Carl Soderberg added his second goal of the season in the dying minutes of the game contributing to a two point night for his line.

The Bruins got back on track Saturday. Their win was convincing and answered several questions regarding the Bruins defense, their involvement of said defense in the attack and the strength of their trusted backup Niklas Svedberg.

Needless to say however, the Bruins still sit in last place and will have to do more than win one game to get where they want to be. Confidence is a good thing though, its importance being something that cannot be understated.

“It made a big difference, and it gives you an opportunity to go home feeling much better about yourself as a team, knowing you got four out of six points [on a 3 game road trip] and our game is starting to come around,” Jullian said. 

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Bruins veterans shine in 6-1 demolition of Flyers: Iginla, Chara both score twice proving that the young call ups are not the only thing that helps this team

Zdeno Chara looks real big in that picture not only because the man on his right stands at just 5 feet 9 inches but also because his 2 goals had his team and he flying high en route to a win labeled by many as their best of the season.

Fact is for many veteran guys on this team, the shocking, unexpected work of guys like Ryan Spooner, Kevin Millar, Reilly Smith, Torey Krug, and Matt Bartowski has stolen their thunder this season as well as steeling their points. Reilly Smith leads the team in goals scored, while Kevin Millar has outhit, massive Johnny Boychuck himself. Even guys like Matt Fraser have made their mark in Boston as that 23 year old right winger helped provide a much needed aspect of physicality for the team especially during last month's Shawn Thornton suspension.

Fact is with all these injures to top players like Dennis Sidenberg and Adam McQuaid, the unexpected talents of these rookie call ups and 1st year starters has been one of the biggest reasons the Bruins are the best team in the Atlantic Division this season, but nevertheless, they are not all of it. Through the first 50 games of this season, Chara has quietly assembled quite a goal tally. He is on pace to tie his career high in goals of 19 and actually leads the Bruins in power play goals with 8. At 37 years old, Chara is playing 25 minutes per game and yet he is taking the fewest penalties of his career. If one were to call Zdeno Chara a star than they would have seen him shining Saturday afternoon in Philly. The 6 foot 9 inch defencemen assembled his best statistical game of the season scoreing 2 goals, taking 4 shots while blocking 4 more. For Big Zee, his 10th and 11th goals of the year snapped a 15 game goalless streak and undoubtedly provided backing to his being named the CCzechoslovakian flag bearer for the 2014 Winter Olympics but he was not the only veteran snapping streaks during Saturday's game.

Like Chara, 36 year old Jarome Iginla who has been praised this year for his rookie like drive to win his first Stanley Cup of his carrer had, despite logging 15 goals in this season not scored since January first and was caught in his longest scoreing drought as a Bruin. However, in true Iginla fashion, he snapped that trend via his 21st carrer 4 point game scoreing 2 goals and assisting on 2 more. Of those 4 points 3 of them were logged on the power play scoreing 1 of Boston's 3 power play goals midway through the 3rd period. Even David Krejci was a huge force in this game assisting on 3 out of 6 goals each one better than the last.

"I thought, right from the drop, every single guy was ready to go," said Iginla "And it was a fun game to play, for sure."

As Iginla hinted at, the Bruins were almost constantly scoreing distributing their 6 goals evenly over all 3 periods and never going more than 15 minutes between goals. Late in the 3rd, when Jordan Caron took a brutal high stick to the jaw, chipping a tooth and knocking out another the Bruins scored twice on the ensuing double minor penalty. Those goals were separated by just 55 seconds and effectively turned this game from a convincing win to a full out obliteration of the struggling Flyers. 

But back to the story of veteran contributions. While the works of Zdeno Chara, Jarome Iginla and David Krejci were all offensive, Tuukka Rask proved to the world that while last season was great and while he has struggled at times this season he is still having a career year in 2013-2014. He stopped 25 out of 26 shots, held a shutout through the first 47:55 of the game and overall, lead the team to their 23rd win of the season with him between the pipes. In this his 39th start of the season, he has already topped his career high in wins set back in 2009 and furthermore is on pace to up that total to nearly 38 wins by years end. 

"Yeah, it was great," Rask said as he was swarmed by reporters following the game, "Really kept it going the whole 60 minutes. I think the first period was the most even, both teams had chances, and we ended up scoring. And the good thing is, that we never let our guard down, we just kept pushing and getting more goals."

"Great game."

In a game that Philadelphia captain Claude Giroux labeled as "the most embarrassing" of his carrer, the Bruins distributed their wealth across 8 different players, snapping streaks and reviving memories of the kind of dominant routs powered by veterans that the Bruins so artfully enjoyed back in their Championship winning 2011 season. For 3 hours Saturday afternoon, the Bruins never quit, never stopped pressing and never stopped working. All of those qualities are ones that can only be fully mastered by those who know this league like the back of their hand and that was shown Saturday vs. the Flyers. 

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Bruins 4-1 win over Winnipeg followed formula from the days of Orr: Krug scores twice, Rask rebounds with strong effort

Through 90 years of wins losses and thousands of fights, the Boston Bruins have been one of the most timeless teams in the NHL. No matter who is under contract, no matter how much skill they hold on their roster, no matter the situation to be a Boston Bruin you must be tough, and tough not only in the sense of dropping the gloves and fighting but also controlling your emotions and not fighting when the situation does not necessitate that. To be a Bruin you must put the teams needs ahead of your own and focus not on any personal statistic but entirely on the only one that counts. The score. 

The Bruins have been this way for each and every season and yet in each and every one of their 2759 wins since season number one, that kind of grit and fearsome intimidation has been amplified to a whole new level but even that is not the limit to the Bruins levels of historic game play. They follow that formula and no matter the opponent refuse to be beaten at their own game. That was the case Saturday afternoon in Boston as a 3 fight, 4 goal thrashing of the Winnipeg Jets was one of the best showings of the Bruin's timeless grit we have seen this season.

Just over 20 seconds into the game, the Bruins kicked things off as an immediate fore-check pinned the Jets deep in their own zone. The Bruins would be penalized for a hit that occurred during that early game charge as a result of a supposed hit to the head by Zdeno Chara but in the end such a hit was of no malicious intent. Chara was going for the puck and in his attempt to make the legal bear hug hit his hand slipped up and made contact with the head of his target. While this was surely a penalty it was not one the Bruins could avoid without sacrificing on ice performance and frankly those are the kind of penalties you have to take. This game like very few nowadays was a perfect one per se when it came to penalties as while Boston did amass a rather gargantuan 21 penalty minutes, 15 of those were assessed as a result of a fight and so therefore did not amount to a manpower difference while 4 more were taken as a result of plays not deemed dirty but rather gritty and will driven.

First of course was that Chara penalty and then second was an even more questionable call made on Danial Pallie for his colliding with Ondrej Pavelech after crashing towards the paint to try to get a stick on a cross crease feed from Jarome Iginla. While the Bruins have always been a rough and tumble team they have never been an undisciplined one. In some of Boston's best games in this past decade, a minuscule amount of time spent playing a man down has been a constant theme throughout. Game Seven of the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals for example, no penalties were called and yet the Bruins pounded 23 hits and won the game in thrilling fashion. Roughly a month after that, when Boston won the Stanley Cup, the Bruins were whistled for just 2 penalties in their 4-0 Game Seven win over Vancouver.

Serving as one last thought on the physical aspects of this game however is the prevalence of that physical play. In Thursday's game Boston hurled 22 hits and connected huge on 2 of them. Early in the 3rd period, defencemen, Johnny Boychuck seemed to snag Winnipeg forward Mark Schefile in his sights and as the charging puck carrier neared the Jets blue line, Boychuck did his best to make sure that his opponent did not make it any farther than that. Boychuck laid down a clean strong hit to the chest of Schifile there was nothing more to it than that and yet in a way, there was. In the days of Orr, the days where Boston captured 2 Championships in 3 seasons there were smashers like John Bucyk and Terry O'Reilly and yet there were no enforcers. On a team now devoid of Shawn Thornton, the same can be said about this team that routed the Jets Saturday afternoon.

Some of the best days in Bruins history were those that made up the years 1970-72 as the magic of Bobby Orr, Phill Espisito and Terry O'Reilly made Boston the best team in hockey. 40+ years later this team of Boston Bruins seems to be doing their best to emulate those heroes of the 70's and all of that was showcased Saturday. Following the age old formula of winning in Boston, the Bruins road the excellence of their goaltender, the energy of meaningful fights, the turnovers caused by hits and a scoring touch that was balanced equally between both defense and offence to victory and made things happen just as they always have.

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2013 in 8 Days: Top plays of 2013

Christmas has come and gone and New Years Day is just around the corner. During the 8 days spanning from Christmas morning to New Years morning Go, Titletown will add daily updates to an 8 part series remembering the highs lows and all around heartwarming moments of 2013 in Boston Sports as well as a look ahead to what we might see in 2014. This is not a statistical analysis of these 298 professional sporting events that took place in Boston in 2013, this is a written rehashing and a reminder that we are the greatest sports town on the planet. 

Complete Schedule 

December 25th- A Year of Leaders

December 26th - Best Patriots Moments 

December 27th - Best Red Sox Moments

December 28th - Best Bruins Moments

December 29th - Top Plays 

December 30th - Top Games

December 31st - [To be determined] Is the Boston Athlete of 2013

January 1st - The Promise of 2014

The top plays of 2013 in Boston sports...

1)  December 8th: Stephan Gostkowski recovers onside kick



It seems strange to say that the greatest play in Boston sports this year was one as reliant on luck as Goskowski's onside kick an yet this play really was as good as it gets. With the game on the line, Goskowski bounced the ball along the ground desperate for that nearly impossible balance of hitting it the minimum 10 yards while not hitting it so hard that the opponent recovers it. In many cases finding such a balance is hopeless and yet with time ticking away, all the chips fell in the right way and as Stephan Goskowski showed with his reaction, the Patriots recovered the football.

2) October 13th: Kenbrell Thompkins wins game with 6 seconds remaining



Thompkin's catch was just fun.

To that point Patriots fans had not been shown the capabilities that this team had when it comes to comebacks and so we were all but contempt with the looming loss until...Tom Brady out of nowhere started off a 70 yard 61 second drive with no timeouts and a touchdown being the only result that would give New England a win. It all came down to one final play where, with 6 seconds left, the ball was tossed 18 yards to a wide open Thompkins in the back corner of the end-zone.

3) May 19th: Torey Krug between the legs goal



1 year after a tiny kid named Torey Krug failed in his first stint with Boston back in 2011-2012 he was called upon during the second round this season vs New York and delivered better than ever. With 4 goals in 5 games, Krug netted one of the primer tallies of the entire Bruins season when he received a David Krejci pass between his legs and slung the puck around his leg to pound it into the net. What makes this goal even better is the fact that such a dart was used to beat mighty Henrik Lundquvist himself. 

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Bruins get what they needed most in win over Panthers: 4-1 final

Going into the 3rd period of Thursday night's home clash with the struggling Florida Panthers the Bruins held a 1-0 lead that they knew they needed to retain. The mood was tense but by the end of that final 20 minute set that was not the case.

The Bruins walked out of TD Garden that night victorious for only the second time in almost 3 weeks and unlike some of their most recent games they earned every goal they scored against the Panthers and worked from puck drop to the final horn. That last part of their game has been lacking of late as they have surrendered late game leads in 2 of their last 6 games. They pounded the Panthers net with 30 shots but managed to get back and almost every play. Goaltender: Tuukka Rask was never hung out to dry.

But regardless of that, he got back to his backstopping ways by saving 23 out of 24 shots en route to a nice win that dropped his season GAA to an Eastern Conference best, 1.68.

“I think the consequences of me not being on top of my game might be a little different than in the past,” Rask said. “I just try to stop every puck and keep the game tight. If we’re not playing our best, you know -- it’s been a little unusual situation for us, giving up chances, and what kind of chances we’ve been giving up but it’s part of the game and we just have to battle through that.”

To elaborate on the details of those consequences Rask has outlined one simply needs to look back at the score sheet. Tuukka had allowed 11 goals in his previous 4 starts but above all was seeing more shots as a whole. In that same 4 game span, Bruins opponents blasted a total of 122 shots on Rask, when you look back on the 4 starts prior to this stretch those 122 bombs were nearly 25 more that those accrued in the sequence in which the Bruins went 3-1. In short, more shots equals more goals and for the Bruins that is a bad thing.

What is worse is the fact that in coalition with the struggles of his goal-tender, normally perfect defense-men: Zedeno Chara had been feeling the effects of upped ice time and came into Thursday night withering under two games of negative points in the plus minus category.

“I don’t know what you want to call it, but I call it not good enough,” Coach Julien said following last Saturday's 3-1 loss to the Islanders. “There’s no way in the world you should come in here and play the way you play. We’re not competing hard enough. We’re just not good enough right now. You see the difference in the team that beat you tonight — the energy and the effort that was put in compared to us. Sometimes you think you’re working hard, but you’re not.”

Claude Julian voiced all of the shortcomings felt by this Bruins team of late with that quote. Tuukka has seen too many shots, Zdeno Chara has flopped under the pressure of advanced ice time and above all the Boston Bruins just were not scoring goals.

They reversed all of those negative aspects of their game against the Panthers and despite the subordinate nature of their opponent, each of the 4 goals Boston scored were crucial in the win all be it only one of them would be credited with the title of the one that won the game.

Early on, there was David Krejci who, just over 7 minutes into the 2nd period broke up a 0-0 tie via a bomb of a shot from the point. What is better is the fact that on that play, lovable captain Chara was credited with the assist. Krejci said he did not remember much about that play but for the rest of the Bruins, they sure did. For a team that had only led for about 20 total minutes since the New Jersey game, getting the first goal here was crucial. The game was not over and yes the tension was still there but the Bruins had the lead and that was the fact that mattered the most.

Regardless of that, the Bruins piled on in the third kicking off the final frame action with an uplifting Brad Marchad goal just over 4 minutes in. Marchand snapped the longest goalless streak of his career with that goal but the Bruins were still not satisfied yet. Next up we had Torey Krug, the second year D-man who banged in his league leading 6th goal of the year as a defencemen.

Those 2 goals seemed to break and then pulverize the hearts of the Florida Panthers and their goalie seconded that notion.

"That was obviously a turning point of the game, that second goal for them," he said regarding the Marchand goal. "And it gave them some momentum and it puts us back on our heels with just 13 minutes or 14 minutes -- whatever it was -- left to play. So, obviously, that was just the turning point."

The Bruins would add on their 4th tally of the night with just under 2 minutes to go in the game and that just about sealed it.

The Bruins skated off the ice Thursday night with their heads held high finally doing what that had not been able to do in so long. They strung shifts together, banging in goals and never losing sight of their goal, to score goals.

*Note: The Bruins play the Toronto Maple Leafs in a rematch of Game Seven of last years Eastern Conference Quarterfinals at 7PM tonight. They will be looking for their 10th win of the year while Jarome Iginla and Torey Krug will each be gunning for their 10th points of the season. 

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Whats wrong with the Boston Bruins: A look at the red flags raised by the past week of Boston losses

After starting the season 7-2, the Bruins came into an October 26th game against the Devils looking to retain their spot at the top of the Atlantic Division. Prior to that game they had won 4 straight and as they retained a 3-2 lead late in the 3rd they found themselves just minutes away from their longest win streak since late last February. They were just over 3 minutes away from the win when it all fell apart.

Tory Krug committed a high stick that sent him to the penalty box for a 4 minute double minor and then, just seconds later, down went Patrice Bergeron who skied the puck over the glass and put the Devils on a 5 on 3 power play for the rest of the game. New Jersey soon pulled their goalie scored once and then scored again to not only tie the game but win it in regulation.

The Bruins have now played 3 games since that crushing loss and through that span of time; things have rapidly spiraled out of control. They have lost 2 of 3 and have been beating 8-6 on aggregate scouring. Even after the New Jersey game, the Big Bad Bruins still retained the top spot in the Atlantic division but after this recent dry spell they have fallen 4 points back of the division leading Lightning.

As you look into it, the various factors that have befallen the Bruins in their recent losses have been here all year. First and foremost, the Bruins need more out of their 2nd through 4th lines as 36% of the 94 points scored by Bruins players this season have come out of the Krejci, Lucic, Iginla line. By comparison that is 18 points higher than the 18% of team points smacked in by the Bergeron, Smith, Marchand line and 28 percentage points higher than the 10% held by the 3rd line.

As you look back it was noted early on how much the dependency on the top line was dangerous and it seems that through these last 3 games we have been shown that danger not just told about it. Krejci, Iginla and Lucic have combined for just 1 goal leaving a gaping hole in the Bruins attack. With the exception of Carl Soderberg no one has stepped up and for that reason, down the Bruins go.

But as you examine the box score it is the situation in goal that, however strange, has shot the Bruins in the feet. Now there is no doubt about current starter Tuukka Rask. Rask is 7 and 4 with a GAA of 1.73. He has accumulated a save percentage of .940 and above all allowed more than 3 goals just 3 times all year. Tuukka has been playing like a Vesna candidate and there has never been a question regarding in the excellence of his play. No the guy who has killed the Bruins is the man who has come in when Tuukka simply needs a day off.

In the minds of Bruins fans, Chad Johnson was never the answer to the question of who to fill the role of backup goalie and he has shown it in the 2 games he has appeared in this year. He has allowed 5 goals in 2 games of action and after posting a saver percentage of just .900 in Saturday's 3-1 loss to the Islanders it may be time to test out Niklas Svedberg once again. 

The Bruins have played 3 fewer games than any other team in hockey this season but that is no excuse. They are just 4 points secure of a playoff spot and need to get going. Good news Bruins fans, we might be in for a surge in the coming weeks as 6 of their next 8 opponents are currently out of the playoff picture.

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The Not so Big Three: How Matt Bartowski, Dougie Hamilton, and Torey Krug will be huge role players in 2013-2014

Not all perfect trifectas need to keep with them with them future hall of famers. Not all super heroes need to weigh 250 pounds an look like steroid users. In fact, not all super heroes or big three’s even need their names to be known among their city of Boston, Gothum or Krypton. 

No, sometimes, those groups of heroes can include guys who are 5 foot 9 and like to blast little chunks rubber into twine backed squares of iron.  

Before this Bruin season, that would not have been the case but with the departure of the big three of Kevin Garnett, Paul Piece and Ray Allen over the past few seasons, in has come a new batch of super hero athletes. And those three men have names: Torey Krug, Dougie Hamilton, and Matt Bartowski. 

Torey Krug: a 22 year old left handed defender came to the Bruins on March 25th 2012.

At that point Krug had never played a professional game yet in 3 years with Michigan, he had already made a name for himself as a high scoring defense man. Torey Krug never missed a single one of the 114 games his Spartans team played from 2009-2010 to 2011-2012 and in 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 at least, he was a huge factor in each and every one of the games he took part in. In just those 2 seasons alone, a total of 76 games, Krug scored 23 times. (11 in 10'-11' and 12 in 11'-12')  

In those final two seasons of NCAA excellence, it seemed that Krug was going to be a perennial role player on that Spartans team for at least one more year. But in the blink of an eye, that all changed. 

"Torey has had an outstanding collegiate career at Michigan State," Boston General Manager Peter Chiarelli said after signing Krug. "He is a very intelligent player who is a terrific skater and shooter. But what stands out the most with Torey is his character. He is a two-time captain and a tremendous competitor. We are thrilled to have signed him and look forward to a seeing him contribute to the Bruins." 

"I would also like to thank the Boston Bruins organization for this tremendous opportunity." Krug then said 2 days after the signing. "Every hockey player has the dream to play in the National Hockey League, and I am excited about my chance to prove myself at the next level." 

Fact is Krug was an amazingly gifted offensive defense man in college averaging nearly .75 points per game. But once he came to the Bruins organization, those Bobby Orr esque skills did not immediately follow him. In the 2 games Krug played with Boston in that 2011-2012 season, the Bruins went 1 and 1 with Krug logging just over 34 minutes of ice time, mustering 3 shots on net and putting through 1 assist for his first NHL point. He was not good, but he was not all that bad. 

Nonetheless, the Bruins were determined to develop this kid and even if the fans did not see it immediately, Peter Charalli did, so, instead of dropping him or dishing him back to NCAA hockey, Krug was soon moved down to the AHL. He would spend the majority of this past season down in Providence and in the 63 games he played, his scoring touch soon returned. Through those few months of play, he shot up 45 points on 13 goals all while seeing his Providence Bruins skate to their first division title in over 5 years. 

Yet as Providence collapsed in the second round of the AHL playoffs, they were no more than a side story as the big Bruins captured the minds of the world with a late May tilt with the storied Toronto Maple Leafs. In the blink of an eye, Boston erased a 4-2 Toronto lead to beat the Leafs in OT and march into the second round.  But amidst all the celebration, there was a problem in Boston. Dennis Sidenberg had been hurt on the very play that won Boston into the semifinals, and, going into that crucial series with New York, the Bruins were one D-man short. 

So along came Torey Krug. 

Its seems like one of those go lucky sports movies when you talk, write about or watch the highlights from that series. Over the span of just over a week and a half, everything went right for Boston and in turn for little 5 foot 9 Torey Krug. He scored 4 times in those 5 games and added an assist to bring his points total to 5 in the series and 7 in his career. 

But Krug was not the only bright light that looked shine in that series. No there was another... and his name was, Dougie Hamilton

Dougie Hamilton: picked up as the final piece of the trade that sent Phil Kessel to Toronto, the Bruins exercised their 2011, 9th overall pick in the draft by selecting a Toronto born D-man with some serious promise. 

Unlike his now teammate Krug, Hamilton: a Canadian with hockey woven into his veins never played in the US's NCAA hockey leagues. In fact he spent 4 years not even going to college and playing OHL hockey for his home town Niagara Ice Dogs. When playing in Canada, he sure didn't have the perfect attendance record of Tory Krug but still was even more productive in the 213 games he did play. He averaged .88 points per game and scored 12 or more goals twice in his career as he led his Ice Dogs to a Memorial Cup championship in the spring of 2012. 

He sure caught eyes and in truth that was why the Bruins drafted him. Like Krug he was a offensive defense men, and with Zdeno Chara regularly patching in 10 goals a year it is all but obvious that defense is not all that a Bruin defender needs to worry about doing. 

"He's a big strong kid with a good offencive skill set." GM Peter Charelli said about his new pick.  "Honestly, we didn't think he would fall this far." 

"We didn't think he would fall this far." Charelli said but nevertheless, he did, 8 teams passed up on Hamilton all for different reasons, and while in the end Boston would get their hands on him, he still was not NHL ready. So back to juniors he went. 

But unlike the 3 years of OHL hockey he had already partook in, in that final season, Hamilton had a goal, and that goal would be achieved on Saturday, January 19th 2013 when he made his NHL debut. On that day, Hamilton was the only rookie on the ice and all the attention was on him, and he did not disappoint. While he may have got off to a relatively goalless start, Hamilton finished the month of January with 4 NHL points and a professional contract with the Boston Bruins.

So, with goal one was crossed off the list on he went to his next major pursuit: actually scoring a goal. Now in the end, the pursuit of THAT particular piece of glory would not take long as on February 15th he finally broke through with a tally against one of the best goaltenders in hockey: Ryan Miller. 

Over the next few months, Hamilton would add 4 more regular season goals along with a point total of 16. Now he, like Krug saw his team into the playoffs but that is where the similarities end. Once Hamilton got to the postseason any hint of his offensive skills dried up in a shriveled mess of nerves and shining performances by mighty Krug. 

Hamilton still had the skills, he still had the future but after 7 playoff games over 2 different series, his postseason was done long before those of his teammates were. 

But still there is more. 

 Matt Bartowski. After coming to the Bruins alongside now star D-man Dennis Sidenberg, Bartowski signed with Boston on April 29th 2010.

As for semi pro hockey, well, Bartowski followed a path similar to that of Tory Krug all be it with some less frequent burst of goal scoring and instant glory.

Fact is, Matt Bartowski is a D-Man of far more intangible skills, meaning that the illustrious facets of his game are all that more difficult to illustrate. In 20 games over 3 seasons with Boston, Bartowski was yet to put one in offensively, until an almost forgotten play in a game that is all but forgotten. Just under 5 minutes and 35 seconds into Game Seven of the Toronto series, Bartowski took a weak pass off the stick of Phill Kessell before moving into the center of the ice and blasting the shot past James Reimer to give Boston the 1-0 lead. 

Matt Bartowski was never the super star that many believed him to be but in the end, he could easily become a key role player in years to come. 

The not so big three: between the 3 of them, their average age is just 22 years 4 months but they have all done so much. Between the three of them, only 34 points have been scored but they have all done so much more that runs up a list far longer than that one of just 34 tics. Fact is, in just a matter of years, Zdeno Chara will be done, and so will Dennis Seidenberg. Andrew Ferance has already gone and with Adem McQuiad beginning to show singes of a concussion problem, his days of play but begin to become numbered as well. 

Long story short, even while the Bruins list of veterans begins to shorten, their list of prime 1st and second year players is beginning to grow handing their club a hope for a future almost as bright as the one Chara, Seidenberg, and company have already given them. 

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