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.

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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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2014 in 8 Days: Top Bruins Moments

(Photo by USA Today Sports)

by Dakota Antelman

2014 for the Bruins started off great got rough in the middle months and ended even rougher. They ended the regular season with their second ever Presidents Trophy by virtue of their clinching the best record in the NHL. 

They rolled into the playoffs and promptly defeated the Detroit Redwings to move to the second round where, after seven games, the Bruins season ended in a game seven loss. 

From there the Bruins blew it up in the offseason. They did not pay Jarome Iginla and thereby lost him to the outbidding Avalanche. They drafted Czech forward David Pastrnak and then promptly traded Johnny Boychuck to the Islanders. 

What has that gotten them? Well, whatever way you put it, with just four days left in 2014, the Bruins are 18-14-3 and out of the playoff mix...

1) Bruins fall to Canadians in second round

After their dominant dispatching of Detroit in the first round, many favored the league best Bruins to easily topple their French Canadian rivals.

The long and the short is that many were wrong. 

The Bruins and Canadians split the first four games of the series. Though the Bruins then won game five to take a 3-2 lead, Montreal used superior speed and puck smarts to win Games Six and Seven.

2) Bruins trade Johnny Boychuck

On October Fourth, just days before the season began, the Bruins traded longtime defensive rock, Johnny Boychuck to the New York Islanders. Though they snagged a pair of second round picks and a conditional third round pick in either the 2016 or 2017 draft, many within the team and the fan base were unhappy with the departure of Boychuck. 

A Bostonian of six years, Boychuck brought physical defense to the top of the defensive zone and played smart up against his own net. Without him, the Bruins defense has been marked with youngsters and penalty kill misalignments. 

3) Zdeno Chara goes down with PCL tear

Without Boychuck, the Bruins needed their few experienced blue-liners to stay healthy. They took their first blow in trying to do that when Zdeno Chara delivered a hit on John Tavares and, in doing so tore his PCL, a ligament in his knee.

Chara missed over 7 weeks of play with the injury and even once he returned, he was nowhere near top shape

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Bruins unsatisfied with lacking December effort

(Photo courtesy of the AP)

By Dakota Antelman

After going 1-1-1 on a three game road trip, the Bruins return home bedraggled and questioned. Things have not gone well for the Black and Gold this month and as we near the NHL Christmas break, they find themselves on the outside looking in on the playoff picture.

33 games into the season they have accrued just 35 points. They sit a point behind the Rangers for the final Eastern Conference Wild Card spot and nine points behind the Canadians in the divisional race that they were favored to win back in the preseason. Big losses in marquee games against the Ducks, Blackhawks and Sharks this month have decimated what little momentum they built with their five game win streak back in November.

This free-fall has them angry but dangerously non-productive. Also, it is beginning to solicit anger and discontent from the fans.

Said discontent, if defended before this most recent road trip, was painfully validated by the 1-1-1 finish.

"I'm not happy,” said Bruins coach Claude Julian after the trip’s final game, a 2-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets. “Because we could have came back - the way we were playing - we could have came back with five out of six."

He extrapolated saying, "And if we're happy with that (three out of six points), we're going to be on vacation there in the beginning of April. We're going to need more than that, to be honest with you. We've got to string some wins together here and this was an opportunity that we missed [Friday night]."

The Bruins were outscored 6-7 on the trip; an unimposing deficit until the shot totals are noticed. In 190 minutes of play on the road trip, the Bruins were outshot 104-91. They struggled to sustain zone pressure and failed to capitalize on goal scoring opportunities directly in front of the net.

"You just have to look at the scoresheet - there's guys that end up with no shots and all that stuff and you say, with the amount of ice and positions they're put in, they should be getting shots at the net," said Julien of the lack of opportunistic play. "We need more out of certain players, no ifs or buts about that."

One image that will likely be a lasting one of this road trip shows Loui Eriksson with complete separation from the Winnipeg defense late in a then 2-1 game. He had the puck on his stick, one on one with the goaltender, yet he held onto the puck and simply never took the shot.

"I had too much time to do something there. I should keep it simple and try to get a shot quick there," Eriksson defended. 

Too much time, too many opportunities; with the exception of the Predators really, the three teams the Bruins played on their road trip were ones they had huge opportunities to beat. But they did not beat them, getting, in the words of many players, “too cute” with the puck.

"…the biggest thing for me is that we passed up on so many shot opportunities and looked for the cute plays and that's not our team," said Julien.

This lack of simplicity in play is evident across the board.

On the back end, Zdeno Chara, rather than elevating the play of the defensive unit in his return from injury, has taken a long time to get his timing back and cost the team any number of goals. The defense has struggled to clear pucks out of the crease leaving their goaltenders, who have not played half bad, to pick up the slack and steal the few games they have won this month.

Weak forechecking and lackadaisical coverage has forced the goalies to be perfect. That is simply not a good strategy.

For a team that prides itself in smart plays and logical strategy, loosing this kind of identity has been a talking point and omnipresent point of sadness for the team and its coach.

“Costly mistakes end up in our net and then the lack of wanting to put pucks at the net with a purpose versus trying to be cute, which is not our team, is what we struggled with," Coach Julian said.

The Bruins have been confessing their problems and confessing them again for weeks now but very little is changing in regards to the effort recognized by coaching. Goals are not coming for the Bruins and neither is timely shut down defense.

Things need to change for the Bruins who will be starting the second half of their season soon; because this is not the kind of team that misses the playoffs. 

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

November 28, 2014

by Dakota Antelman

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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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Bruins survive without Chara, Hamilton ties career high in points

October 26th, 2014

By Dakota Antelman

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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.

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Series even: In rough and tumble game, Bruins even series with Detroit at 1-1

Game One was a small hiccup for the Bruins that took place where the eyes of the league were on their backs. The Bruins were and still are tentative favorites to win the Stanley Cup this year. That accolade by definition makes them clear cut favorites to win their series with Detroit in this first round.

But Game One threatened to change that. The Bruins were bested by the Redwings via a last second goal that very well should have been saved by Tuukka Rask and at times were made to look confused and unorganized in the face of the omnipresent-in-the-playoffs Redwings.

But the Bruin did not panic. In fact they handled their defeat very well minimizing the loss while at the same time stressing the importance of getting a win in Game Two. They lived in the moment and accepted that the past was the past. 

“We’re fine,” Coach Julien said. “It’s a seven-game series. You certainly don’t get down on yourself because of a 1-0 loss; it could have gone either way. It just shows you how close and tight it is. We just have to be better in certain areas that we talked about this morning and hopefully we’ll be able to bring it to the game tomorrow, and if we do that hopefully the outcome will change.”

Other players on the team seemed more focused on how important it would be to avoid going down by 2 games in the series. The Bruins have proved to be a resilient team in recent years, most notably overcoming 0-2 series deficits against the Canadians and Chanuks in their 2011 cup run. But even that does not make 0-2 a favorable position for Boston as the series shifts to Detroit on Tuesday. 

“We’ve got to do a better job of playing our game, establishing more time in the offensive zone,” Milan Lucic said Saturday. “A lot of the times, what we talk about throughout the season that has made us successful is puck management and obviously that’s going to be an important part of this series for both teams, and that needs to get better heading into tomorrow.”

And not only did they understand the importance of Game Two but they also worked to find what went wrong in that Game One and what they could improve upon. 

“I think we were physical enough [Friday],” said Bruins coach Claude Julien. “We still had a lot of good hits, but they do a good job when it comes to our forecheck. They get there and like to have bodies in front of us on the forecheck to kind of slow us down, and we’ve got to find ways to get through that. There’s no question about that."

“That’s one of the reasons that we weren’t as effective on our forecheck [Friday] as we have in the past, so we’ve got to find ways to get through that," he added. "And if they’re going to slow us down, if we’re skating hopefully they’ll end up taking penalties. But we’ve got to work through those kinds of things and establish the forecheck that we feel is an important part of our game.”

Physicality wise, the Bruins were dull in game one failing to exploit that 'edge play' that intimidates opponents. Just 3 penalties were committed in Game One.

But none of that was the case in Game Two as the Bruins beat up the Redwings intimidating their first round foes and leveling the playing field in the series. They mashed 33 hits and took 7 penalties in a game that frustrated and humiliated the Redwings. At times it seemed that one of the few teams with more playoff experience than the Bruins were completely petrified by them. 

The Bruins outscored the Redwings 4-1 with at least 3 of their 4 goals coming in the worst ways. They included goals off giveaways by Jimmy Howard and cheap five hole poke shots from the front of the net that all brought the play of the entire Detroit defense under question. 

But perhaps the most humiliating aspect of Game Two for the Redwings was the incident that took place at the 20 minute mark of the first period. Frustrated at the state of the game, pint sized forward Brendan Smith tried to pick a fight with Bruin monster Zdeno Chara. While they did not actually fight, Chara basically made the Detroit star look like a graceless kid with no care for his own well-being. 

And the humiliation for Smith did not end at the end with the game. After the game his Boston Bruin brother, Reily Smith told reporters that it was "probobly not the best decision" his brother had made and soon after that, photos of Chara's demonic smile as he pummeled Smith's face circulated the internet and furthers this delegitimasation of the Redwing's physical presence.  

All and all, with a stunning 4-1 demolition of the Redwings, the Bruins climbed back into the series and seized momentum as the battle shifts west to Detroit for games 3 and 4. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Boston Bruins vs. New York Rangers game preview: Bruins still seek their first win since the Olympic break

Boston Bruins (37-17-5, 79 points) at New York Rangers (33-25-3, 69 points)
7:00PM. March 2nd, 2014. 
Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York

Now is the time that Bruins fans, coaches and players all stand up and say 'enough is enough'.

In a month of March that holds more games than off days than the Bruins, losing two straight games at its start, both because of terrible defense by the team, warns of spiraling into a serious problem. In two games now, the Bruins have allowed 9 goals and scored just 6. They have on at least 3 occasions surrendered crippling breakaways that on all 3 occasions resulted in goals for the other team and in several others left the opponent's best players with time and space to blast laser shots past whatever goalie the Bruins decide to dress. Also, the Bruins have struggled to stay out of the penalty box in these games, setting up 12 power plays for the other team and on 3 occasions failing to kill them.

Though two games really is just a small sample size compared to the magnitude of the much larger 82 game season, these Bruins come into their 3rd game since the Sochi Olympics desperate to sustain the 4 point lead on the rest of the Atlantic division that they managed to give themselves in their final few games BEFORE the break. This is a game they really want to win.

But in order to do that they cannot play as a bad defensive games as they have against the Sabers and Capitals respectively. Bruin captain Zdeno Chara who was held accountable for the final goal in Wednesday's OT loss in Buffalo knows this.

"For sure that wasn't our best game," captain Zdeno Chara said. "We could have done a number of things differently and better. We have to learn from games like this."

Claude Jullian spoke more specifically. 

"We're getting caught cheating too much in the offensive side and it's ending up in the back of the net," Claude said. "It's something we need to fix because we're giving up too many goals." 

The Bruins are having no problem scoring goals, it is preventing them that has troubled Boston of late. In this game against the Rangers, it may be safe to predict that against a Rangers offence that bases it's offence mainly off of complicated passing schemes in their own zone and then sneaky plays that float a forward out behind an opponent's defenders the Bruins blue liners stay back a bit more than usual. 

On the other side of things though, it seems that the Rangers may need a win just as much as the Bruins do. Sitting just 2 points secure of a playoff spot in the highly contested Metropolitin division, the Rangers also have struggled in their first two games most recently dropping a 4-2 contest in Philadelphia Saturday afternoon.

All and all, this will be a fun game between two big teams with playoff intentions and it will be a game the Bruins want desperately to win.

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The break thats not a break: While fighting for gold sure is a thrilling experience for a player, the Sochi Olympics throw a wrench in the NHL's interworkings

The Bruins play their last game before the Olympic break on February 8th. That game will be their 57th game of the year meaning that as they must eventually get to 82, the fact that for 2 weeks there will be no additional games played stinks. As a result of that, the 5 Bruins going over the Russia this month will return to Boston facing a slate of 25 games in 49 days. They will play 8 back to back sets between February 26th and the end of the season and will never have a break longer than 2 days.

For a team that has been forced to deal with as many injuries to key players as the Bruins, this inconceivable workload could be greatly detrimental to the teams position going into the playoffs. One of the biggest reasons this may be true is that that the Bruins are a team that every year they have made a cup run with this team they have had a star goaltender playing star caliber goalie. However, when you are sitting there in thick pads for hours that are punctuated by saves that demand groin ripping flexibility fatigue becomes a very noticeable thing and has shown that it is already getting to Boston goalie, Tuukka Rask.

As we look ahead though, the Bruins cannot have that. Not only will Rask need to fight through the hectic month of March that follows the Olympic break but he himself will be playing in Sochi during that break and will likely log massive minutes on his goalie oriented Finnish Olympic team.

The Bruins know this though and are smart not to pretend that the Olympic break is actually a break. For Tuukka Rask who has been slowly slipping statistically, his coach has been giving him some time off as he was hastily pulled from the game against Montreal and played fewer games in the month of January than he has in any other month this season.

But what has also changed in this run up to the break is the play of the Bruins backup goalie, Chad Johnson.

"You need two good goalies throughout the season, because the season is so long." B's coach Claude Jullian said when asked about Johnson's play. "With March coming up, it's going to be a crazy, crazy month, so you're going to need two goalies. It's been good to see him get into this groove and helping us get the wins."

Excluding the game against Montreal, each of the last 4 games Johnson has appeared in have been wins as he has also effectively lowered his GAA down to a respectable 2.14. Secondly, it has now been 7 games since Johnson's season was seemingly thrown off course via a 4 goal shellacking by the Buffalo Sabers back in December and since that day, Johnson has allowed just 8 goals on 131 shots fired his way. 

"His record speaks for itself," Julien said. "The way he played tonight, even though people are going to say he didn't get tested, we know that's as big of a challenge for a goaltender as any, especially when you're playing a team that has a lot of skill. He's been playing well. It's been great."

"It allows me to go about what I expect, as far as playing time for a goaltender, so you certainly haven't been forced to overutilize a goaltender, and that way it makes it real comfortable."

But Chad Johnson's emergence and the conservative approach used when dealing with Tuukka's playing time has not been the only thing that has come out of this pre-Oylmpics drama. 

After he was named to the Slovakian Olympic team earlier in January, Bruins captain, Zdeno Chara was told recently that Slovakia would love for him to carry their flag in the opening ceremony set to take place before the NHL season is suspended. In a greatly commendable gesture on the part of the Bruins, they allowed their star deference to forgo games against the Blues and Senators so that he can accept such an honor. 

"What this guy has done for our organization and the honor that it represents to carry the flag for your country, how can you not support that opportunity," Claude Julien said. "So we're doing a job here, it wouldn't be different if he was injured, I'd rather send him there knowing that he's healthy and he's getting rest versus having a guy injured in your lineup not knowing when he's going to come back. So we're not under bad circumstances, we're under good circumstances with him."

Chara who leads the entire team in power play goals among other things will be sorely missed especially against the speedy Blues where a strong figure defending the blue line would go a long way towards halting the attacks of guys like David Backus or Alexander Steen. But nevertheless, if you are going to allow your players to go to Sochi than you cannot prevent them from taking part in the opening ceremony if they so please. 

The Bruins know this but ought to be feeling at least a little irritated by this whole thing. 

For 2 weeks in the middle of a professional sports season, that season will go into hibernation mode leaving its players to go play in the Olympics as they will move from being under the jurisdiction of the NHL to that of the IOC. What if someone is hurt? What if someone has trouble regaining chemistry after the layoff or what if one of the 5 Bruins going to Sochi gets tired playing up to 15 more games in a season than they usually would? 

Well frankly we do not know but what we do is that this does not work and come the 2016 Olympics the NHL will likely play on right through those games. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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