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.”

Read More

3 takeaways from Bruins 3-1 loss to Columbus Blue Jackets

by Dakota Antelman

The Bruins were dealt a painful loss Saturday night, losing by a score of 3-1. Carl Soderberg scored Boston's only goal while Tuukka Rask was good for much of the game.

Below are some takeaways from the loss...

Winning streak over

The Bruins were riding high going into this game. They had won five straight contests and taken points out of their last 13 games.

Though they played similarly to the way they have been throughout this streak, Saturday's loss ruined the absoluteness of their early 2015 run. The Bruins, having also watched as the Rangers beat the Blue Jackets the night before to reclaim the first wild card spot, now have their record drop to 24-16-6 on the season and will have to wait until Tuesday to get their next chance at leapfrogging New York.

Bruins absorb loss of Marchand

One of the biggest storylines going into Saturday's game was that surrounding the suspension of Brad Marchand for slew-footing Rangers forward Derick Brassard. Marchand was suspended two games by the Department of Player Safety Friday and spoke to media Saturday morning on the topic.

While there was little opposition to the suspension within the Bruins or even Boston as a whole, there was much to be said about how the team would absorb the loss of him vs Columbus.

Very simply, the Bruins seemed to play seamlessly without the grit of Marchand. Fourth line winger Danial Pallie was promoted to Marchand's normal line consisting of Patrice Bergeron and Reilly Smith. He and his line rattled off 10 shots and played normal ice time.

Though the Bruins definitely missed Marchand, Saturday's game seemed to settle some fluttering fears that his absence would devastate the team's momentum.

Milan Lucic dominates finesse game

Milan Lucic, who already had three goals in the new year, played one of his best fundamental games fans have seen out of him in a while.

He and linemates, David Krejci and David Pastrnak, were connecting on passes with showstopping consistency Saturday. Furthermore, Lucic himself put up five shots in the loss, more than he had in any game this season. Though he did not factor into the score sheet in a major way, Lucic was arguably the Bruins best offensive player vs the Blue Jackets; something that has not been true for a long time.

Read More

Thoughts on Bruins farm players: Anthony Camara, Zach Trotman, Jeremy Smith highlighted

(Photo by Rosina Vacchiano)

by Dakota Antelman

Recently, the Bruins AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins, faced off against the Worcester Sharks, the San Jose Sharks affiliate, in a regular season meeting at the DCU Center in Worcester.

Go Titletown was there to observe. Below are a few thoughts on three Bruins prospects that fans might not have been given the opportunity to observe yet...

Anthony Camara 

- Most like...Brad Marchand

Overview...

Anthony Camara, a 21 year old Bruins prospect out of Toronto, is playing his second season in Providence after being drafted in the third round of the 2013 draft. In 92 starts with the team, Camara has scored 12 goals and has brought an intense style of play to the neutral and offensive zone game of the Providence Bruins.

At first look, Camara plays a very similar game to current Bruin, Brad Marchand. He is a sneaky, almost pest-like player who seems to get away with the kinds of arrant elbows and malicious forearm jabs that some of the best do with ease and satisfaction. Beyond that Camara, like Marchand, utilizes a high hockey IQ combined with his incendiary sped to help move the puck through the neutral zone swiftly and without effective resistance from an opponent.

The latter of those traits could benefit the Boston Bruins greatly in the future. Throughout this season a sore point for these Bruins has been their ability to gain and sustain pressure offensively. The fluidity with which Camara moves could remedy that.

Zach Trotman

 - Most like...former Bruin Andrew Ference

Overview...

Bruins fans got a look at Zach Trotman earlier in the year when he came up to the Bruins in the wake of Zdeno Chara's PCL tear. He returned to Providence after just 17 games though meaning fans did not get to see him settle into a lineup on a big stage.

As reflected by his performance in the AHL, a place where he has settled in, Trotman is a shutdown defenseman. He is a positional player who can make plays without putting his stick on the puck. Nevertheless, when he does step up on a forward, Trotman unleashes a devastating body check as well as pinpoint stickwork.

 Perhaps  the one shortcoming in his game however is his shot. Trotman lacks the power behind his slapshot that most Bruins fans are accustom to after watching the likes of Dennis Sidenberg, Zdeno Chara and even Torey Krug on a nightly basis.

Regardless though, Trotman adds immense depth to an already well stocked Bruins defensive core while also giving Peter Chiarelli a superior bargaining chip in the trade market.

Jeremy Smith

 - Most like...former Bruin Tim Thomas


Overview...

The name of Jeremy Smith is one Bruins fans have not heard much since he signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Bruins this offseason.

However, playing backup for the Providence Bruins behind Malcom Subban, Smith has amassed a GAA of 2.15 and a save percentage of .929. He has won 10 of the 20 games he has played in and has a pair of shutouts in those games.

But perhaps the most interesting thing about Jeremy Smith is the stark similarity his style has with that of former Bruin great and current Dallas Stars goalie, Tim Thomas. Technically, Smith is a "butterfly" goalie meaning he drops to his knees to play shots. But even so, he often loses that form as rebounds are given up or shots are taken from close range. He becomes the kind of unorthodox goalie that Thomas is as, in such cases, Smith can be seen frantically diving across the crease to cover pucks and glove rebounds.

While the Bruins currently have little need for such a goaltender within their system (goalie depth chart currently has 3 capable starters on it in Subban, Tuukka Rask and Niklas Svedberg), like Trotman, Smith serves as an uncontested bargaining chip on the trade market as the Bruins seek the kind of goal scoring forward that could elevate their play.

Read More

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.

Read More

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. 

Read More

Tuukka Rask bails out slow Bruins offense: Bruins beat Jets 2-1 on Hamilton OT winner

November 29, 2014

by Dakota Antelman

The Boston Bruins and Winnipeg Jets engaged in a gritty, up and down game Friday night that ultimately culminated in an overtime decision in favor of the Bruins.

The Bruins, fresh off back to back losses to Montreal and Pittsburgh entered the game rested and revamped after a week of tough practice.

But after all their preparation, things did not get off on the right foot for Boston. An early penalty kill situation in the first period was not executed adequately by the Bruins and resulted in Jets forward, Dustin Byfuglien scoring with just four minutes left in the opening frame.

The late goal served as a bit of a slap in the face for the Bruins. They had spent most of the week addressing their scoring problems and stressing the need to work harder defensively in the middle portions of the ice. Of course, none of that happened.

“Everything we talked about (yesterday) morning didn’t happen in the first period,” said Julien.

The Bruins did manage to turn things around following the Byfuglien goal however. Bruins goalie, Tuukka Rask stopped a seemingly endless quartet of breakaways while stuffing countless shots on any number of the ensuing power plays that the Jets got.

“Tuukka’s one of the best goalies, if not the best goalie, in the league,” said forward Reilly Smith. “Sometimes we rely on him too much, but he does a good job handling the pressure that’s put on him.”

Rask ended the game with 35 saves, several of which came in some key moments during a four minute penalty kill at the end of regulation and the beginning of overtime. 

As for the goal that got the Bruins to overtime; that came from big bodied left winger, Milan Lucic.

After Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli said earlier this week that the Bruins needed more size and physicality in front of the net, Lucic demolished Jets forward Mark Scheifele by skating hard to tip teammate Carl Soderberg’s pass into the net.

Finally, something they had worked on in practice paid off for Boston.

“We worked on that this week – going D-to-D and up, and that’s what we did,” Soderberg said. 

“Looch skated to the middle and left the puck for me, and I drove the net. So that’s how we scored.”

With the game tied, the onus was put back on Rask to at the very least keep it that way. Things were complicated in the final three minutes of the game though when Bruins pest, Brad Marchand, took a double minor penalty for high sticking.

Even then though, Rask stood tall once even gloving the puck down to his stick and clearing it out of the zone on his own.

“You’re just in survival mode there,” laughed Rask after the game. “You’re trying to secure that point.”

His work was finally rewarded by the rest of the team roughly four minutes later when defensemen Dougie Hamilton smacked a wrist shot from the hash marks into the net to win the game for Boston.

The goal was yet another product of a Bruins odd man rush that seemed to get better and better as the game went on. Carl Soderberg took the puck in the neutral zone and skated with it into the Jets end as Lucic and rookie David Pastrnak curled in towards the net. Rather than passing it to them though, Soderberg turned towards a trailing Hamilton and slid the puck to his stick.

Hamilton, using the screen of Pastrnak and Lucic let rip a screaming shot that decisively ended the game for Boston.

“Obviously, it felt pretty good. I don't know if I ever scored an overtime goal before, so a pretty — pretty good feeling, and a pretty good feeling to get the win after the start that we had.”

Read More

Analyzing the Bruins recent struggles against Montreal

November 23rd, 2014
by Dakota Antelman

The Bruins faced the Montreal Canadians Saturday night in a marquee game in Boston. The matchup, which ultimately ended in a 2-0 loss served as yet another renewal of an old rivalry and featured strong emotions . Like the hundreds of games before it, the hatred felt in the game was one fueled by emotion and long engraved memories of triumph and sadness.

But something is changing with this rivalry and it was only made more real by the loss handed to the Bruins Saturday night. 

Very simply, the Canadians have the Bruins number; they know how to reliably beat Boston. As hard as it is to face, the result of that game was predicatble,

In the 21 games in which the two teams have met since the 2011 Bruins Stanley Cup victory (including last year’s playoff series) the Canadians have beaten the Bruins 14 times. They have outscored the Bruins 70-42 and are averaging nearly 3.33 goals per game. In stark contrast, the Bruins have put up a much lesser scoring output averaging exactly 2 goals per game.

From top to bottom, these past few years, as they pertain to the Bruins’ meetings with Montreal, have been marred with goaltending miscues and offensive deficiencies.

Tuukka Rask is a perfect example of the former of those two.

Rask, who, since the beginning of the 2010-2011 season has produced a GAA of 2.11, has allowed a much less impressive average of 3.10 goals per game in 13 starts against the Canadians during that time. What is worse is that before Saturday's holding the Canadians to two goals, Rask had a GAA of over 6 this season vs Montreal.

After recognizing Rask’s struggles, the Bruins benched him for last week’s meeting with the Canadians where rookie backup goaltender Niklas Svedberg went in and promptly allowed five goals.

But the goalies are not the only ones at fault in what has since spiraled into a four year parade of problems with Montreal. As said before, the Bruins have scored just 2.1 goals in each of the games they have played against Montreal. That, when matched with the 3.5 goals per game that the Canadians are scoring has the majority of these affairs going decisively in favor of Montreal.

Furthermore, 2.00 goals is not a level of goal scoring the Bruins normally fall to. As of Saturday November 22^nd, the Bruins and Canadians had both played 233 games since 2011. In that time, the Bruins had actually outscored them by over 100 goals. They were averaging 3.07 goals per game while Montreal was putting up just under 2.74.

Some of the Bruins best and brightest forwards are struggling to make their mark against the Canadians As a result, we are seeing angrier, lopsided games that ultimately end with the Bruins going home empty handed.

This is a problem for a Bruins team that once elevated its play when the schedule put them up against their most hated foe. Now as excited and pumped up as they get, the Bruins keep losing in a growing trend that is noticeably diminishing the magic of one of the greatest rivalries in sports.

*All statistics from ESPN.com. All statistics valid as of November 23nd, 2014 at 11:30 AM.

**Thank you to everyone who has viewed this blog since it went live on July 4th, 2012. Earlier today Go Titletown received its 10,000th page view almost exactly two and a half years into its existence. This blog means a lot to me and I appreciate any and all who have taken the time to watch and help it grow. Here's to many more years of Boston sports blogging in the ever changing business that is 21st century journalism! Thank you!

Read More

Seth Griffith excels as Bruins snap two game skid: Bruins top Hurricanes 2-1

November 15th, 2014

by Dakota Antelman

After a disastrous two game Canadian road trip in which the Bruins were outscored 11-2, the team came home to Boston with a sense of urgency. In their matinee game Saturday, the Bruins made good on their urgency, beating the Carolina Hurricanes by a score of 2-1.

The Bruins had fallen from grace this week after their five game win streak was snapped and soured by 6-1 and 5-1 losses to the Maple Leafs and Canadians respectively. They played soft making mistakes by the dozen and watching as their goalie, Tuukka Rask uncharacteristically fell apart vs the Maple Leafs.  

They understood the mistakes they made in those games and came home with a brand new will to win.

"I think it's probably the most important part of going into today's game, was upping our competitive level, emotional level and physical play," said Bruins winger Milan Lucic.

Coach Claude Jullian eluded to a subliminal reigniting of the competitive flame after those losses.

"What you've gone through the last two games, I don't think you're automatically going to turn the page. We've got to build ourselves back up there, and today was a good start."

Yet with all their preparations, things seemed to get off on the wrong foot for the Bruins. They were outshot for most of the first period and eventually fell behind when Juri Tlusty banked in his 7^th goal of the year.

"We started on time for sure. But for whatever reason, we didn't have 60,"said Carolina head coach Bill Peters.

As he suggested, the Bruins turned things around soon after the Tlusty goal. They killed a near two minute 5 on 3 man advantage for the Hurricanes that started mere seconds after the goal.

"That always comes back to haunt you. It gives you momentum if you can kill it, and it hurts you a little bit mentally if you don't score," Peters said of his team’s losing momentum from the 5-3 failure. "It would have been nice to get one."

Eight minutes after the 5 on 3, a strong hustle play by Bruin rookie forward Seth Griffith combined with a weak pass in front of the net by Andrej Sekera led to an awkward goal for the Bruins that tied the game at one. The goal was Griffith’s fourth of the season and signified yet another moment where a younger Bruin stepped up to make a huge play for the team

“These games are about the veterans leading the way,” said Bruin center Patrice Bergeron. “But with all the injuries, the young guys have to seize the moment and come up huge; and that’s what they did today.”

Bergeron himself scored with 49 seconds left in the first period giving the Bruins a 2-1 lead.

From there the team managed to hold down the fort. Rask made 33 saves and the Bruins hit hard and often to keep the Hurricanes out of the zone for much of the second and third periods.

 All and all Saturday was a much better effort for the Bruins as it also featured the 60 minute consistency that was lacking on their recent road trip.

“It was good,” Bergeron said. “Everything was a step in the right direction. The second was one of them as well. It wasn’t perfect, but it’s definitely better. It’s definitely something we can build from and keep working on, but that being said, we’ve been able to keep the lead and that’s something that you can definitely build from.”

Read More

Bruins extend head coach Claude Jullian

November 3rd, 2014
by Dakota Antelman

Late Sunday night the Bruins came to a contractual agreement with their head coach, Claude Julian. The deal will keep the long tenured Boston boss with the team for at least the next three seasons.

In eight seasons with the team, Julian has gone 310 and 163. He has led Boston to seven straight playoff berths and two Stanley Cup Final appearances. Furthermore, his leading the team to their 2011 Stanley Cup victory was the first time such a thing had happened in Boston for 39 years.

As a result of the success his team has had under his rule, Julian has earned team wide respect and loyalty.

"We have worked at this for a few months, but there was never any doubt in my mind that this would get done," Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli said in a statement today. "Claude is one of the top coaches in the NHL and has consistently shown a passion for winning through his coaching.”

Julian has developed a “pass-first” mantra that he has in turn passed onto his players. Under him, the Bruins have consistently been one of the NHL’s top 10 teams in terms of goal scoring. Furthermore, the team has balanced their offensive abilities with defensive prowess. The latter is reflected by two the Norris trophy nominations for Bruins captain Zdeno Chara as well as the pair of Selke Trophy wins for defensive forward Patrice Bergeron.

“Coaching is a difficult profession at the best of times and what Claude does in implementing structure in his systems, and having a solid defensive foundation while allowing freedom in offensive play is no easy task,” Chiarelli said later in his statement.

This extension is Julian’s third in the Bruins organization. As with the other two extensions, Jullian’s actual salary has not and will not be disclosed.

Needless to say, the Bruins are willing to keep their coach at any cost. Up and down the lineup and beyond, his work is recognized.

"He's a great coach, obviously," said Bruins forward Brad Marchand. "His record shows it, and he really makes it easy out there.”

Marchand has improved statistically in each new season under Julian and is now among the Bruins top goal scorers. He is one of the biggest stories of Julian managed player development.

“He's always working with guys and trying to improve players' game,” Marchand said. “I get along with him really well, and we have a good working and personal relationship, so it's been great."

The Bruins are appreciative of how Julian has managed their team’s day to day proceedings. They understand what good things he has brought to Boston, both material and conceptual, and are a big reason why Julian has since climbed close to the likes of Mike Babcock for the title of longest tenured coach in hockey.

“We've had success, and it didn't take too long to get his system going, and it's paid off over the years,” said Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask. “If that's the case, that's he's going to be here longer, it's good for the Bruins."

Read More

Bruins survive without Chara, Hamilton ties career high in points

October 26th, 2014

By Dakota Antelman

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read More

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. 

Read More

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.

Read More

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. 

Read More

Whats ahead for Zdeno Chara: With the second round loss partly on the shoulders of the B's captain questions about his longevity in the league must be asked

Wednesday's Game Seven loss in Montreal was the 1273rd game of Zdeno Chara's career. It was the final game in a season 15 years removed from the one that contained his debut. In those 15 years Big Z has been a huge role player on every team he has played for and yet, as the 37 year old defencemen recovers from a finger fracture suffered in Game Seven it is time to ask the question: it is time that the Bruins move on from their monster captain.  

Since he was signed to the Bruins back in the summer of 2006, Chara has lived out his behemoth 37 million dollar 5 year contract with the team and signed an even larger 7 year 45 million dollar contract with Boston. As of now he has played 8 seasons with Boston and if the Bruins choose to honor the contract or at least keep him on the team he will be in Beantown for 4 more years at the very least. But is that for the best?

Chara provides a huge presence on the back end especially when games turn physical. He is a game manager as well who can orchestrate the movements of everyone on the ice and put the puck exactly where he wants to. Furthermore, Chara can play a key role on the power play or in any offensive situation for that matter whenever he is asked to. To understand the brutal extent of Chara's offensive perfection from the blue line, one must look only to the statistics he has accumulated. In 8 seasons with Boston, Chara has ripped 104 shots past opposing goaltenders the large majority of which were scored using his world best 108 mile per hour slap shot. On top of the goals he scored that were untouched, countless Chara shots were shot on goal and either tipped or rebounded off of a goaltender and then punched home. His 239 assists since 2006-2007 are the best among Bruins blue liners during that time period. Also what cannot be overlooked is the fact that the mighty Zdeno Chara has been one of the most important Bruins in terms of ice time in almost 2 decades routinely shouldering close to 30 minutes of ice time per regular season game and closer to 40 during the playoffs. 

But as he has aged, Chara's production in terms of statistics and defensive presence has declined greatly. After logging back to back seasons involving 15 or more goals from 2007 to 2009, Chara had, before this season seen 3 of 4 seasons end with less than 12 goals to his name. But even though this 2013-2014 season re-upped Chara's goal scoring reputation with its 17 scores by the big man, 10 of those goals came on the power play where Chara would often score from positions mere feet from the net. In the past few years Chara has drifted ever so slightly away from the slap shot that made him great relying more on a more accurate but less powerful wrist shot to get his lessening pile of goals.

So why this decline? 

I think the answer is apparent to all who are familiar with Zdeno Chara's history. In just 3 years he will turn 40; that is very old for hockey players. But even at his age, Chara's ice time has not declined at all and so, it has become widely apparent that he is beginning to feel the effects of fatigue. 

Chara however, insists that he is as vibrant as ever and it a-okay with his workload.

"I felt fine, physically and mentally," Chara said. "Obviously, losing Dennis and Adam throughout the regular season maybe put more of a load on certain guys, and for sure maybe even on me. But it's not something that we were not handling, or we were getting caught off guard. It's just the way it happens sometimes. You lose guys throughout the season, and you have to pick up more minutes. It was a great chance for our guys to step up and play well, and they did play very well."

Claude Jullian had similar words proclaiming that we are not to underestimate the veteran. He was asked about whether or not he thought Chara was tired at the end of Game Seven and quickly responded with words that solidified his opinion.

"Anybody who thinks he was tired at the end, you're wrong," Julien said. "He wasn't tired and he was fresh and we shouldn't underestimate Zdeno because of his age, because he's a real fine-tuned athlete and he's capable of taking a lot. He takes good care of himself." 

Tuukka Rask however was more cautious with his words about Chara's ice time. He hinted that the time has come for the Bruins organization to take a step back with the frequency to which they are deploying Chara.

"Well, he's not going to get younger, but he works so hard to stay in shape that I don't think the conditioning is going to be an issue," Rask said. "But when your body gets older, he can't be logging 30 minutes a night five years from now, obviously. Maybe he has to realize that playing less minutes might be [to] his advantage at some point. That's going to be tough for him because, knowing the person he is, he wants to be out there the whole time, but I think it's good to have these young D and them learning from him and growing into a role that Z doesn't have to play half an hour, 35 minutes every night. He can trust five other guys out there."

No matter how well you take care of yourself, Zdeno Chara's body is 40 years old and at 40 years old things begin to break down. If the Bruins want to make their star captain last much longer, they have to recognize the need to rest him. If they do not feel that they can tell him to take a seat, if Chara is unwilling to do so, it is time to move on.

It is as simple as that.

Read More

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.

 

Read More

Fraser's fairytale: Call-up scores OT winner for Bruins...ties series with Montreal

The goal itself was simple. It was scored Carl Soderberg dug the puck loose from the right pad of Carey Price, as big bodied Matt Fraser pushed past a pair of Canadians and as he fell to the ice, blindly whacked the puck through Price's five hole. But in all its grit and lack of finesse, the goal served as a whacky, cheesy, Hollywood ending to a game described by those same adjectives. 

Since the Bruins started their death-match second round series with Montreal back on the first day of May, they had made a habit of starting slow as through those 3 games, 8 of the team's 10 goals had been scored in the 3rd period of later. While that sure makes for some exciting 3rd period hockey, it also evolved into 2 losses in the first 3 games of the series with the only victory for Boston coming out of a game that held a one in a million 4 goal 3rd period.

A game like that was not going to happen again and so, as the Bruins went into the Bell Centre for Game Four, they did so knowing that they could not fall behind early in this game. If Game Four was a game to be won by the Bruins it was one that had to be won with decisiveness and execution. Among the biggest factors that had prevented that from happening in the first 3 games and would try to do the same in Game Four was PK Subban. 

Subban, a 4 year veteran of the league came into the series already known as a Bruins killer. He only solidified his reputation for dominating Bruins defenders in the first games of this 2014 series. After logging a goal in regulation as well as the double OT winner against the Bruins in Game One, PK would assist on 3 more goals and score another in games two and three playing a near reckless offensive minded defense. However, the Bruins were soft and never exploited the many times in the first 3 games where Subban was caught momentarily out of position after a reckless pinch or hard shot.

To stop him from getting into the offensive side of the game, Boston would have to send their forwards right at him as well as simply sky the puck out of their zone whenever Subban was able to get into a shooting position. Much of the Bruins game plan was tailored to the threat of PK Subban's shot.  

Their tailoring paid off. The Bruins limited Subban to just 2 shots in the game one of which was a lackluster roller Subban bounced in on Tuukka Rask from the half line. However in their obsession with eliminating Subban's role in the Canadians attack, the Bruins stymied their own attack. Though the game was very fluid in its gradual shifts in momentum as well as highly tactical moves made by the coaches on both teams, both teams focused on defense and body contact. Not many of the 68 shots taken in the game were taken from anywhere but the blue line or the boards. 

                                                                                       

However, what did happen almost constantly in this game was body contact...big body contact. In 61 minutes and 19 seconds of game play, the Bruins and Canadians launched 72 hits or an average of 1.2 hits per minute. From the first puck drop to the end of the game, every time a player whering any sweater of any sort crossed the blue line a player of the opposite team was there to cave in his rib cage. At one point in the 3rd period even, Canadians defender Douglass Murray delivered 3 hits in under 7 seconds of game play decking Carl Soderberg, Reily Smith and then Soderberg again in the Canadians corner. 

"We're working tough enough to get that next goal," Daniel Paille had told 98.5 The Sports Hub after the end of regulation. "What it's going to take is someone outbattling the other, so that has to be us." 

In the end it was the battle that won out. In the most magical of finishes, Matt Fraser poked in the OT winner that also served as his first goal as a Bruin and his first career playoff goal.

For the newest Bruin to step up, Thursday was one of the greatest days of his life.

Read More

Bruins wreck Canadians with 4 goal 3rd period comeback: Recap of Game Two

Grandma and Grandpa, in your day, you cheered for Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito. But in ours, we get to cheer for players just as good. In our day, we get to watch Patrice Bergeron, Milan Lucic and Zdeno Chara shred the hockey world and prove that Boston might finally be the greatest town in hockey. 

After falling down in Game One of their second round, semifinals series with Montreal, the Bruins were a little lost. Though they out-hit the Canadians 56-45 and out-shot them 51-33, the Bruins were undisciplined taking 4 penalties one of which would cost the Bruins the game when PK Subban scored the overtime winner on the power play. Also during the game, the Bruins struggled to actually notch quality shots on goal and for that reason they scored just 3 goals. Finally, they started slow and though 3 goals may have been okay, they were down 2-0 after one period and had to work through an unfathomably exhausting 3rd period comeback to even get the game to overtime. 

After the game ended Tuukka Rask stated with harsh reality "when you suck, you suck". He was of course speaking of his own play in the lackluster game. Furthermore, players like David Krejci tried to address more finite aspects of the loss. "I thought we had so many chances, we could have scored like 10 goals [in Game 1]," Krejci said. "But we didn't and hopefully we're saving it for the next game."

Milan Lucic also talked about how to capitalize on the goal scoring opportunities the Bruins were generating "Going into next game, I guess the main focus is you don't want to grip your stick too tight and bury those opportunities when you get them, it sucks losing the way that we did, it was a tough loss to swallow, but you've got to have short-term memory and forget about it as quick as you can and focus on the next one because it's coming soon with a 12:30 game tomorrow. We're excited about it." 

But once again, things did not go as planned as Game Two kicked off. Though they got through the first period with a 1-0 lead that came off of a Danial Pallie snapshot 13 minutes into the game, the Canadians pulled their Bostonian rivals back with two goals in the second period scored by Mike Weaver and Thomas Vanak respectively. 

Down by a goal after 40 minutes, the Bruins were once again showing signs of collapse that were prevalent in Game One. They had allowed uncontested shots from all over the ice and were failing to clear bodies away from their net. They skated with neither force nor direction and were caught out of play far to many times for fans to be happy with the game at that point and above all they simply were not breaking out of their own zone with nearly enough efficacy. After the Canadians extended their lead to two goals at the start of the 3rd period, the Bruins finally got their heads on straight and got to work. 10 minutes and 56 into the period, Patrice Bergeron finally launched a clean cross ice pass over to Brad Marchand who then dug his skates into the ice and pulled off an ankle breaking pivot turn that shock off any defender who tried to cover him. With nobody in sight, Dougie Hamilton skated into the offensive zone and took the pass from Marchand with not a single Canadian within 20 feet of him. Hamilton then skated with the puck for a second thus drawing those defenders whom Marchand had lost into a blinding crossing pattern in front of their own net. With ease, he then pushed his wrist shot into the net. But the game was not tied yet. No way. 

But less than 4 minutes after the Hamilton goal, the game was tied. Brad Marchand dug the puck out of the corner and Patrice Bergeron skated with his back turned towards the net over to the hash marks. Once the pass did come however, Bergeron had turned towards the net and proceeded to rip a wrist shot towards the goal that skipped ridiculously off the ice over the shoulder of Carey Price. 

It was that goal that not only tied the game but ignited a fire in the team and the fans that gave you a feel that the Bruins were not done scoring. After a furious attack that spanned several shifts, Reiley Smith shot a long pass up to Zdeno Chara at the point. As Chara moved the puck down to the opposite side of the offensive zone, Brad Marchand got taken down in front of the net but in doing so got tangled up with Alex Galchenyuk dragging him awkwardly into the crease thus obstructing Cary Price's view of Reily Smith as he was once again delivered the puck. When he shot a top corner stab at the open part of the net, Carey Price had no chance. The puck beat him by a mile and the Boston Bruins had once again harnessed their playoff magic by obliterating a team that was so sure they had the game won. 

"It was a fun last part of the third period," said Torey Krug, who set up Smith's goal. "We're very excited with how things turned out, but we've got to move along from it pretty soon." 

That last part his brutally true. The Bruins will fly out to Montreal for games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Thursday where they will try to win both games and get home with a chance to keep this a short series. But in all likelihood, that will not happen because we all know how these stories go. When the Bruins and Canadians meet 7 is a number fans know they will have to befriend. 

Read More