2015-16 Boston Bruins Thread... A New Hope...

[BDL]

"Help us Obi-DON Ke-SWEENEY... You're our only hope"

It is a dark time for the New England region. The Boston Bruins had
failed to make the play-offs for the 2014-15 season and subjected their
fans to a seemingly endless Summer of envy, bottom feeding Red Sox team,
learning about the "Ideal Gas Law" and non-stop trolling by Felger the Hutt and
his sidekick Mazz-acious Crumb. And things only seemed to get bleaker with the
departures of a couple of fixture players. Fan favorite Lucic and heir apparent Dougie
Hamilton will be wearing different sweaters this year. But hope has come in the form of
Don Sweeney being promoted to GM to join former teammate Cam Neely front row of the Bruins'
upper-halo box to watch the games and assess the team. So, with the start of the season tonight...

Help us Obi-DON Ke-SWEENEY... You're our only hope
​

Ok... I got my Star Wars out of my system and now it's back to business.

Like a I said in the crawl, the Bruins missed the play-offs last year, in a season that looked like they were skating up a driveway. They had no one to blame but themselves. Peter Chiarelli can assume a brunt of the fire, if you want to cast it that way. But there is no reason why the Bruins should have been beaten out by the "Hamburglar." Seriously? You got beat out by a McDonald's cartoon character. Nor can you say that if it wasn't for the shoot-outs, the Bruins would've made the play-offs. You win in regulation, and the shoot-out isn't and issue.

But this is a new season. Though, lead blue-liners Chara and Seidenberg are already hobbled, the pre-season gave some insight into the upcoming youth movement. To the point where there will have to be hard decisions made in the beginning of the season, about who will start, who will be a black ace and who will be in Providence. The forwards actually seem like a source of stability for the first time in a couple of years. Patrice "Selke" Bergeron will once again partner with the "Lil Ball of Hate" Brad Marchand, and it looks like they will be joined by utility winger Eriksson. Krejci will be winged by new comer Beleskey, and young gun, Pastrnak ( I wish they kept him with Spooner ). The 3rd line is pretty much completely new. It will be anchored by Spooner, and winged by Connelly and Hayes. I believe this will be the line to watch. Either they will out match other teams' 3rd lines or individually, they could move up in the rotation. The 4th line will be comprised of 3 of Kelly, Kemppainen, Rinaldo, Randle and Talbot (thank God he cleared waivers and is on the roster. He can tie a room together). There is a lot of balance up and down the lines. From play makers to scorers to grit and heart guys; Any of them can hop over the boards in just about any situation.

This will also be a big media push season for the Bruins. First and foremost, the Winter Classic. Bruins vs. Habs as the only game on New Year's Day; Outside; Tailgating fan bases; What else could be more perfect (besides having it at Fenway where you are actually close enough to see the game live). Also, the B's will be the featured NBC game on Black Friday again, when they face the Rangers ( I wonder if they will recycle this commercial HERE ). As for the rest of the games, the schedule can be found HERE .

This is the make or break season for Claude. Despite the talk to the contrary, he is on a short leash. I don't know who they would look to, to replace him, but let's hope it doesn't come to that.

As always, I welcome all comments, criticisms and trash talk (as long as it is at least 28% respectful/ 72% funny). If you want to praise or slam the Bruins feel free. If you are 1 of the 'Hawks fans that started following during the play-off run and think they are way better than the B's, great. Back it up with your facts and opinions.

The puck drops for the NHL tonight. And it drops for the B's tomorrow night. I think this will be a fun and eventful season for the Bruins. Hopefully, last sight of the season, will be the B's skating around, hoisting up 35 lbs of silver.

Yub yub.

 

[mandy200587]

Thanks for the new thread! Opening night is tomorrow in Nashville. Ill be curious to see how teams do against Blue jackets this year, they were pretty dang good in preseason.

 

[Skywalker]

Go Leafs Go!

 

[BDL]

It figures...

After years of doing this type of thread, the 1st time I utilize a Star Wars rip-off, I get a Leafs fan named Skywalker. If that doesn't put the iron in irony...

 

[Skywalker]

It figures...

After years of doing this type of thread, the 1st time I utilize a Star Wars rip-off, I get a Leafs fan named Skywalker. If that doesn't put the iron in irony...

Best of luck to your Bruins, my friend. (except when they play the Leafs).

 

[clutter]

Are dreaded Caps fans welcome?!?! Can't wait for our first game on Saturday!

 

[stevea20]

LOVE the opening crawl. Never get SW out of your system, the Force will always be with the B's if we believe.

Clutter, all fans of the greatest sport on Earth are welcome . . . just not "Darth" Holtby. He can pull a groin. (I know, that's mean but after that last preseason game where they couldn't put one by him AGAIN, I think the comment is understandable.)

 

[MickeySP]

Are dreaded Caps fans welcome?!?! Can't wait for our first game on Saturday!

Ok by me, but I own a hockey player who is Ovechkin obsessed. His highlight off skating career was playing at the Verizon Center a couple hours before a Caps game. He kept saying he sat on the bench, was in a locker room Ovie used!!!!

Now can't wait for tomorrow!!! Go B's!!!!!!!!

 

[BDL]

Here it is. Opening night. And the puck hasn't even dropped and the Bruins are already behind the Habs in the standings. But, it is a marathon, not a sprint. And in other news last night, Looch drew a match penalty in his opening game with the Kings, when he expressed his dissatisfaction to Logan Couture, about Couture's low check. No word yet on supplemental punishment. Se the incident HERE .

But tonight is about the current Bruins. As of right now, we live in a world where the Winnipeg Jets (tonight's opponent) are a playoff team and the Boston Bruins are not. And according to all but 1 writer, that I have read, this year's playoffs will be Bruin-less, yet again. I may be blindly naive, or just blatantly stupid, but I see the Bruins finishing in the top 3 of the Atlantic Div (maybe as high as 2nd), and as the 6th or 7th seed in the conference. And from there, anything is possible. With the exception of the Rangers, the Metropolitan Div. is full of Jekyll and Hyde teams that could land anywhere in the rankings. Which brings us to the "Flor-theast" Div.

-Ottawa will not have the same success that they had in the stretch last year. In fact, I can foresee some dressing room problems and goalie controversies emerging during the season.

-With the growing pains that the Wings will have to go through, this could be the 1st year in forever and a day that the Wings don't make the playoffs.

The Bolts and Habs are universally believed to be anchored at the top of the division. And those are good guesses. The only caveat being is that these 2 teams are very top heavy on 3 players each. For TB, you have Bishop, Stralman and Stamkos (I still respect the way he came back against the B's in the same game when his face blew up). For the Habs, it's Price, Subban and Pacioretti. Granted, both teams have very capable players behind these ones. But if you take any 1 of those 3 players from their team for an extended amount of time, it will greatly affect their rankings.

With the Bruins, it wouldn't be as severe a problem. There is balance up and down the line-up. And as we saw in pre-season, not only is there talent down on the farm, but Claude is actually willing to utilize it. Which will come in very handy as the season progresses. Whether it's injuries, resting some of the senior players or spelling a player who is in the middle of a cold streak, the drop in skill won't be as drastic.

The biggest hurdle that I see facing the Bruins from cracking the top 8 in the Eastern Conf. would be the FLA Panthers. They have great mix of veteran leadership and young talent. That, and the fact that THE Jagr has stated that he will be growing his mullet back. So the whole league is on notice.

In the spirit of the start of the new season, here's a blast from the past. Hoping we get to hear an updated version next Summer. CLICK HERE

 

[stevea20]

All I've been listening to on 98.5 today is the tough start the B's have (Jets, Habs and Bolts) with a defense where Tory Krug is your #1 D-man. Mazz is expecting a disaster to start. I see this as a big test for Claude. Will he let the offence go or try to play all hands back to compensate for Chara not being there.

 

[BDL]

All I've been listening to on 98.5 today is the tough start the B's have (Jets, Habs and Bolts) with a defense where Tory Krug is your #1 D-man. Mazz is expecting a disaster to start. I see this as a big test for Claude. Will he let the offence go or try to play all hands back to compensate for Chara not being there.

Hopefully Claude remembers how bare the D cubbards were last year, when he started utilizing a 3-1-1 and relied on keeping the puck in the O-zone to exhaust the opposition, so there was no worries about break outs.

ETA:

And I love how everyone seems to forget the lines and pairs that Claude put together when he first got here. You know... When the B's were among the top scoring teams

 

[MickeySP]

Watching season ticket holders, but we are that house with an early flu hit. DSO is a hurting center right now.

 

[kimblebee]

What a great game so far : D

 

[CdnCarrie]

GO JETS GO!! Great first game for our much beloved Winnipeg Jets!

 

[kimblebee]

When even Burmi is scoring on ya....

lol all in good fun of course

 

[BDL]

WOW!!!!!

Abysmal. That's all that comes to mind. Abysmal. A huge black hole.

The B's LITERALLY too the whole 2nd period off. Skating up and down the ice, their shoulders were always slouched. It was like watching 1 of the teams last year when their whole roster had the flu. The 1st period, I am shocked that the Bruins didn't go into intermission, with 5 goals. And legitimately, they should have had at least 3. A brutal whiff by Kelly and a puck that went from 1 end of the crease to the other, prevented that. Now, the 1st 2 Jets goals were team efforts. Not the Jets' effort. The Bruins worked hard to give up those goals. Brain fart turn overs and then Tuuk giving up bunnies. But the galactic proof that the Bruins were destined to lose this game, no matter how hard they fought in the 3rd per, came compliments of Alex Burmistrov. He harmlessly flipped the puck out of his own zone, to clear it and it ends up in the back of an empty Bruins net. That led to the mass exodus of the Garden.

The lone highlight of the night came in the first couple of mins. of the 3rd period. Now, I have heard of a no look pass. But until last night, I had never even known of the existence of the no look wrist shot. Pastrnak was drifting along the boards, and everyone KNEW that he was going to pass it in front of the Jets' net in the hopes of a tip in. Everyone, except Pastrnak. He looked off Pavelec, like Brady looking of a linebacker, and just snapped it. Pavelec didn't even move. That got the Bruins within 1, 3-2. After this, the onslaught resumed.

A positive note, was, despite the stat sheet, the 3rd and 4th lines actually played pretty well. Connolly and Hayes skated really well. Kempainnan stepped into his role, pretty well, as a poor man's Campbell. And Rinaldo demonstrated that he can show off his TNS attitude without crossing the line. But that leaves Kelly and Spooner. I would not lose 1 sec. of sleep if Claude sat 1 of them for Talbot.

The next test is the equivalent of a college mid-term that counts for 35% of your final grade. That will be the Habs tomorrow night for the HNIC game of the week. The Bruins have to demonstrate that they've taken notes and studied what they screwed up. And it won't be easy. As most people can testify, when the B's/Habs games are on Sat, you can count on the crowd being at least bleu, blanc et rouge.

Face-off tomorrow at 7. Let's go Bruins!!!!!!

 

[Babs Johnson]

What a great game so far : D

Congratulations Jets fans. I'm rooting for your team tonight at well. DW is a Devils fan; I'm not.

 

[kimblebee]

WOW!!!!!

Abysmal. That's all that comes to mind. Abysmal. A huge black hole.

The B's LITERALLY too the whole 2nd period off. Skating up and down the ice, their shoulders were always slouched. It was like watching 1 of the teams last year when their whole roster had the flu. The 1st period, I am shocked that the Bruins didn't go into intermission, with 5 goals. And legitimately, they should have had at least 3. A brutal whiff by Kelly and a puck that went from 1 end of the crease to the other, prevented that. Now, the 1st 2 Jets goals were team efforts. Not the Jets' effort. The Bruins worked hard to give up those goals. Brain fart turn overs and then Tuuk giving up bunnies. But the galactic proof that the Bruins were destined to lose this game, no matter how hard they fought in the 3rd per, came compliments of Alex Burmistrov. He harmlessly flipped the puck out of his own zone, to clear it and it ends up in the back of an empty Bruins net. That led to the mass exodus of the Garden.

The lone highlight of the night came in the first couple of mins. of the 3rd period. Now, I have heard of a no look pass. But until last night, I had never even known of the existence of the no look wrist shot. Pastrnak was drifting along the boards, and everyone KNEW that he was going to pass it in front of the Jets' net in the hopes of a tip in. Everyone, except Pastrnak. He looked off Pavelec, like Brady looking of a linebacker, and just snapped it. Pavelec didn't even move. That got the Bruins within 1, 3-2. After this, the onslaught resumed.

A positive note, was, despite the stat sheet, the 3rd and 4th lines actually played pretty well. Connolly and Hayes skated really well. Kempainnan stepped into his role, pretty well, as a poor man's Campbell. And Rinaldo demonstrated that he can show off his TNS attitude without crossing the line. But that leaves Kelly and Spooner. I would not lose 1 sec. of sleep if Claude sat 1 of them for Talbot.

The next test is the equivalent of a college mid-term that counts for 35% of your final grade. That will be the Habs tomorrow night for the HNIC game of the week. The Bruins have to demonstrate that they've taken notes and studied what they screwed up. And it won't be easy. As most people can testify, when the B's/Habs games are on Sat, you can count on the crowd being at least bleu, blanc et rouge.

Face-off tomorrow at 7. Let's go Bruins!!!!!!

I take exception to this. It wasn`t just because the Bruins sucked that the Jets won. We do have some skill too, even though you wouldn`t think so to read this recap. I know you`re biased but geez....

 

[stevea20]

Felger has been going insane because Pasternak wasn't on the PP and had the same number of shifts as his yearly whipping boy Chris Kelly. He's willing to give Claude a pass for the team he has but not for playing Kelly too much, which for him is more than 1 shift a night.

kimblebee; I agree that the Jets are a good team but I don't think it's biased to say that game was as much the B's laying down as the Jets playing well. The two combined is how you get 6 goals against

 

[mandy200587]

Well we just played against the oilers, mcdavid is fast but otherwise I didn't see much from him. The goalie was more of the star, it was a battle of goalies. I will say I'm dang happy to get our first goo goo goal of the season.