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A sluggish start coming out of the break...

Written by Jim Mulligan on Wednesday, 03 March 2010 03:17

Early in the game, the play for both teams was up and down as the effects of the Olympic break was noticable for the players. Early on, the Bruins came out with some good jump but lulled for a while as the Habs took control of the play. Tuukka Rask was called on to make a couple of key saves. While in the process of taking control, a Roman Hamerlik wrist shot was marked for the low corner but Rask did the splits and made a spectacular glove save.

As I said, the tide kept changing and the Bruins wrestled control - and the lead - away from Montreal. With Dominic Moore in the box for inteference, Savvy and Chara led the assault on Carey Price. It was Chara's seeing eye wrist shot that found it's way through Price and settled in the crease. While Marco Sturm was fighting for position with Josh Gorges, he literally fell over Price but was able to get one hand on his stick to push the puck into the center of the open net. Price looked like he wanted to argue Sturm's presence in the crease but it was clear Gorges had a hand in Price's problems with Sturm. Not long after the goal, the Bruins had Ryder and Wheeler execute a two on one where Price made a beautiful save on Blake Wheeler's shot.

While shorthanded to end the period, Tuukka flashed the glove on Andrei Kostitsyn with 6 seconds left to save the lead going into the second period. As nice as the save was, Rask was fortunate that Kostitsyn misfired and sent a bouncing puck at the net instead of burying past the rookie neetminder.

The second period had its share of chances for both teams. The Bruins had a pair of power plays but were unable to capitalize. Marc Savard and Blake Wheeler had the best chances to score in the period. Savvy had a partial breakaway from the red line in and Wheeler's shot went high and wide off of a give and go from Krejci.

Then it all went bad. A four goal outburst in the third period was what did in the Bruins tonight. Ex-Bruin, Glen Metropolit led the charge with a goal and an assist. In the Habs room afterwards Metro said, "Always good to play against your old team. I was fortunate enough to get a couple points and get a win. I think that is huge for us. I mean that is our role (provide energy), if we can score a goal that is a bonus. We got two, and (Maxim) Lapierre got a goal to get us ahead by one, and we went from there."

Goals by Maxim Lapierre, Mathieu Darche and an empty netter by Benoit Pouliot sealed the Bruins fate tonight. As good as Rask was in the first two periods, his rebounds control wasn't great and it led to two Canadien goals. Tuukka didn't get much help from his D corps. Matt Hunwick and Andrew Ference had a couple of glaring mistakes leading to chances the other way.

Be sure to look for Cory Krakower's perspective of the game.

I mentioned before last nights game the Bruins made a couple minor trades.

Next up, the Toronto Maple Leafs come to Boston for Kesselmania III on Thursday. Check out Ben and Mike's thoughts from Leaf Nation

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Bruins / Habs from the Garden

Written by Jim Mulligan on Tuesday, 02 March 2010 20:46

Join me live tonight as the Bruins get back at it at home against the Montreal Canadiens.

Tuukka Rask starts his seventh consecutive game for hte B's and it looks like Carey Price in net for the Habs

The Bruins have made two minor deals leading up to tomorrow's deadline.

First off, the Bruins aquired Steve Kampfer (D) from Anaheim for a conditional 4th round pick.

Kampfer has played 37 games for the U of Michigan and has 2G, 15A and 48PIM this year. For his collegiate career, he's played 139 games with 6G, 51A & 132PIM

He was a 4th rounder for Anaheim in the 2007 draft

Second, the Bruins shipped Matt Marquadt to the Edmonton Oilers for Cody Wild (D).

Wild is another project on the back line. This year he has split time with Springfield (AHL) and the Stockton Thunder (ECHL)

In 37 AHL games he has 14A & 24PIM. For his AHL career, his stats are: 5G, 30A & 74PIM. He's from North Providence, RI, played at Providence College from 2005/08 and had 16G, 41A for his NCAA career.

I sense a new fan favorite at the Dunkin Donut Center for the Providence Bruins...

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Sunshine Sweep

Written by Jim Mulligan on Sunday, 14 February 2010 22:36

This week proved how fragile a playoff position really is if you are sitting in the sixth through twelfth positions in the Eastern conference. Last Sunday, after coming off their tenth straight loss, the Bruins sat in the not so enviable twelfth position. A quick road trip to the cities of Montreal, Buffalo, Tampa and Sunrise was just the thing the B's needed. After the game Bruin rookie net minder Tuukka Rask said, " Definitely a great week for us. That’s what you want after a 10-game losing streak. We wanted to get back on track and get some wins. We had to really battle through it. I think everybody was really tired today. But we really pushed it to the limits and got the win. So it’s a great road trip.’’

Coming into last night's game at the Florida Panthers, the Bruins had run off three straight and had themselves tied for eighth but still looking outside of a playoff position due to tiebreakers.

It was definitely not the best game either team played this season. The Bruins were very lackluster and at times seemed to be not interested. The Panthers took first period leads of 1-0 and 2-1 leads on goals by Nick Tarnasky and Stephen Weiss. Sandwiched in between the two Panther goals was a lucky David Krejci goal. Coming into the game Panther goalie Tomas Vokoun had a save percentage of .930 in spite of a 19-21-9 record. Krejci's goal was scored off a clean breakout led by Dennis Wideman. Wideman hit Krejci on a cross ice pass. Krejci's shot went 5 hole on Vokoun as he came across his crease. It was one I'm sure he should have had. The B's tied the game halfway through the third period when Mark Recchi deflected a shot in just after a Bruin power play expired.

Overtime was pretty entertaining as both teams took penalties so the teams skated 3 vs. 3 for half the OT period.

The gimmick....errr shootout went to eight shooters before the Bruins prevailed. Now the guys not playing in the Olympics are off until February 23. First practice is the 24th in preparation for the Montreal Canadiens at the Garden on March 2nd.

Miroslav Satan was scratched last night due to a laceration on his hand but he says it will not effect his Olympic status.

After the game Adam MacQuaid was sent to Providence. I would guess he will be called up for the Montreal game after the break as the 6th or 7th defenseman. With Johnny Boychuk and Mark Stuart out with injuries, MacQuiad's status is up in the air. With this transaction, he will get regular ice time in the next couple weeks in the AHL.

Last night's three stars:

3 - Nick Tarnasky's goal gave the Panthers an early lead

2 - Stephen Weiss's goal gave the Panthers the last lead of the night

1 - Mark Recchi - scored to force the game into OT and the clinching goal in the gimmick

For a Panthers perspective, see Jack Powell's writeup from last night

Enjoy the Olympic break and as always Go B's!

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Bruins start a new streak

Written by Jim Mulligan on Wednesday, 10 February 2010 01:54

Two "U's"

Two "K's"

Two points.

It's officially Tuukka Time. Tim Thomas hasn't seen game action since the Bruins lost at home to the Washington Capitals last Tuesday. Will he see game action before the Olympics? I'm going to go out and say Thomas will be the third goalie this month for team U.S.A. If Ryan Miller isn't careful, the Olympics will be Jonathan Quick's gig to lose. Will Julien continue to ride the Calder Trophy hopeful?

I said here after the Washington loss last Tuesday, for the Bruins to get into the playoff race, they would need at least eight points out of the twelve potential points available prior to the Olympic break. With consecutive home shootout losses, a shutout win in Montreal and tonight's 3-2 shootout win in Buffalo, the boys in Black and Gold have secured six points in the last four games. With upcoming games at Tampa and Florida I don't see why they can't get to my team established eight point mark.

Tonight's game in Buffalo brought me back twenty years to the old Adams Division days. There were goals, hits and a couple of fights. Led by a ex-Sabre, Daniel Paille, the B's jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period. Paille's first goal was a wrap-around that beat Miller on the far side. The key to this goal was Tyler Myers and Mike Grier both attacked Marc Savard while he had the puck, allowing Paille a free ride behind the net. Seven minutes later, it was Paille once again behind the net. His fed the puck to Derek Morris at the blueline. Morris went over to Zdeno Chara who's slapshot was tipped by an uncovered Paille cutting in front of Ryan Miller.

The Bruins were outshot 17-11 in the first period but it didn't feel like Buffalo controlled the play. The second period, inconsistent play once again reared it's ugly head. It was all Sabres in the second period as they scored two very similar goals to tie it up. Derek Roy and Tyler Myers both scored on long wrist shots between the faceoff circles where they both made a quick drag move to use the Bruins defensemen as screens.

The third period saw both teams have chances but the goalies were not giving in. Once again, the Bruins got a power play in overtime but weren't able to beat Miller. Tuukka Rask was beaten by Jason Pominville on the first shot of the shootout but was perfect after that. For the Bruins, Marco Sturm scored on the Bruins first shot and David Krejci beat Miller above the pad and below the catching glove.

Tonight's three stars - total homer call here

3 - Tyler Myers scored the game tieing goal in the second period. Solid game by the rookie defenseman.

2 - Paul Gaustad assisted on Myers goal. He was credited with 6 hits. I wasn't at the game so all I could seee was what was shown on TV. I didn't see what he did or didn't do behind the play

1 - Daniel Paille scored both Bruin goals. He has been very effective since being moved up to play on the Savard line. I guess they must have thought Paille was still a Sabre

Seriously? Paul Gaustad? I guess they couldn't pick tough luck loser Ryan Miller even though he saved 32/34 Bruin shots.

Tuukka Rask didn't do much to improve his goals against average or save percentage. He only stopped 43/45 shots and stopped 3/4 in the shootout. The only period the Bruins outshot Buffalo was the OT where they benefitted from a four on three power play. Nah. He doesn't deserve a star tonight.

Look for tonight's game by William Brouillette or Kevin Freiheit for a Buffalo Sabre point of view.

The Bruins released some news today concerning the start of next season. On October 9th and 10th the Bruins will play the Phoenix Coyotes in Prague, Czech Republic. The following is from today's Bruins press release:

BOSTON, MA – The National Hockey League (NHL) and National Hockey League
Players Association (NHLPA) announced today that the Bruins will be part
of an unprecedented six NHL® teams – along with the Carolina Hurricanes,
Columbus Blue Jackets, Minnesota Wild, Phoenix Coyotes and San Jose
Sharks – to open the 2010-11 NHL regular season in Europe as part of
2010 Compuware NHL Premiere™ and NHL Face-Off™. It will be the fourth
straight year the NHL will begin the regular-season with games contested
overseas.

The Bruins will open the 2010-2011 NHL regular season against the
Coyotes at O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic, on Saturday, Oct. 9 and
Sunday, Oct. 10. More information on the 2010 Compuware NHL Premiere and
the 2010 Bruins preseason will be released at a later date, including
start times, ticket information, broadcast information, training camp
schedules and preseason schedules.

This will mark the first time in 50 years that the Bruins have played in
Europe. After the 1958-59 season, the Bruins and New York Rangers
embarked on a 10-city, 23-game European tour that included games in
London, Geneva, Paris, Antwerp, Zurich, Berlin and Vienna, among others.

The Bruins roster includes Czech players David Krejci, who will
represent the Czech Republic in the Olympics, and Vladimir Sobotka.
Also, team captain Zdeno Chara and Miroslav Satan hail from nearby
Slovakia.

The Coyotes franchise (then the Winnipeg Jets) last traveled Europe in
September of 1994 when they went to Finland for a preseason tournament
against Finnish club teams. The Coyotes roster boasts Czech Olympian
Zbynek Michalek and countrymen Petr Prucha, Martin Hanzal, Robert Lang
and Radim Vrbata.

The Czech Republic routinely ranks among the top consumers of NHL
content outside of North America. Through the first three months of this
season, the Czech Republic ranked fourth among non-North American
countries in terms of percentage of the Internet population who access
NHL.com. The Czech Republic also ranks among the highest percentage of
visitors who consume video on NHL.com.

The NHL last played regular season games in Prague when the New York
Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning played two games there to open the
2008-09 regular season. A complete overseas history of the NHL is
available on NHL.com.

The other games featured in the 2010 Compuware NHL Premiere™ are: The
Hurricanes and Wild at Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, Finland, on Thursday,
Oct. 7 and Friday, Oct. 8 and the Blue Jackets and Sharks at the
Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden, on Friday, Oct. 8 and
Saturday, Oct. 9.

Look for the Phoenix Coyotes news and info by Matt Schott

Next up - Thursday night in Tampa against the Lightning

As always - Go B's!

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A day of firsts

Written by Jim Mulligan on Monday, 08 February 2010 01:11

Finally. The longest losing streak since the 1920's is over for the Boston Bruins. With today's win against the longtime rival, Montreal Canadiens, the Bruins had several "firsts".

This was the Bruins FIRST win since January 14 when the B's were out in California against the San Jose Sharks

Blake Wheeler dropped the mittens for his FIRST career fighting major in his short career. For the record, I would recommend Blake never do that again as he didn't fare well in the short bout.

Adam MacQuiad scored his FIRST NHL goal - one that proved to be his FIRST game winning goal.

Tuukka Rask pitched his first shutout of the 2009/10 season. Nah, I'm kidding. It was his third shutout this season. I was on a roll there.

Rask started his third consecutive game today having lost his last two starts in consecutive shootouts to these Canadiens and the Canucks in Boston. Going back to the Washington game last Tuesday the Bruins, while losing 4-1, outplayed the Caps, then the Habs and Canucks for a good portions of all three games. In both the Montreal and Vancouver games, the Bruins built two goal leads only to lose both in the shootout. Seeing the glass as half full, Bruins fans could see that while not getting results, the team was doing good things and the rewards would soon follow.

Today, it was Adam MacQuiad opening the scoring with a slap-pass in the direction of Marc Savard that was deflected by a Montreal defenseman past Halak. Later, with only four seconds left in the first period, Marco Sturm tucked home a rebound and the Bruins had another two goal lead.

As I said earlier, the Bruins have been outplaying their opponents "for good portions of the game". Not the whole game but with the team in a serious goal scoring funk, all it was taking was one bad shift and the wheels would fall off the train. Today, the second period could have been their downfall if not for Tuukka Rask. The Bruins stopped making the simple plays. Turnovers at the blueline, not getting the puck in deep on the forecheck and giving up their own blueline way too easily were regular mistakes made in the second period. Mistakes that earlier in the week were goals against, Tuukka was perfect while the Habs outshot the B's 15-3 in the period.

Marco Sturm scored his second of the day halfway through the third period. His wrist shot from between the dots was deflected on the way through past Halak and for the first time since January 16th at Los Angeles, the Bruins scored three goals in a game. The team responded to the bad second period and closed out the game keeping the Habs off the board and finally getting a result they have been looking for since that night in San Jose.

The Bruins are on the road until the Olympic break. Next up the slumping Buffalo Sabres await the Bruins on Tuesday night. Then it's off to Florida for games with the Panthers and Lightning before shutting down until March 2nd.

All isn't perfect with the guys. Yesterday it was Johnny Boychuk taking a shot to the face and from all reports I have heard, he broke his orbital bone and will be out until after the break. David Krejci took three shifts in the first period for a total of 1:46 of ice time and never returned. Hopefully, this isn't a serious problem.

Today's three stars were all from the Black and Gold.

3 - Patrice Bergeron had a pair of assists and in my opinion was the best Bruin on the ice.

2- Marco Sturm had a pair of goals. His first goal with 4 seconds left in the first period was a
killer

1 - Tuukka Rask with his 3rd shutout of the season. Made a couple great saves on Thomas Plekanic when it was 1-0 and 2-0 keeping the Bruins in front of the 8 ball

As always - Go B's

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