2013-14 Boston Bruins Thread (the offseason)

[BDL]

Welcome to Homecoming Week

For 3 straight games this week, we welcome back some prominent ex-Bruins. Tonight Tyler Seguin and Rich Peverley with the Stars (Seguin is 1st in pts, Pevs 5th in pts). Thursday night, Timmy Thomas returns from the trainers' room just in time to come back to the Garden (dispite his personality or facebook posts, no one here SHOULD be boo-ing him). And on Saturday, the always anticipated return of Phil Kessel (no more thank you Kessel chant ). And tonight, might be the return of Ericksson as well.

Speaking of tonight, no matter who is on the team, I LOVE when the Stars come to the Garden. Always a great and entertaining game. And usually the PIM exceeds the game clock. Can't wait. (especially to see Bergy take Seguin to school in the face-off dot)

Second, and most important, I finally get to watch a game. I have had such bad withdrawal with these new work hours, and while listening to the radio is OK it just doesn't match up with seeing the team play. So this is almost like Opening Night for me.

Side note: It must be great BDL, to have those skills allowing you to bring up the WS for your co-workers. Reminds me of the year of the Bruins cup run. I missed most of the first two rounds because I was on a Hawaiian cruise. But there was a guy who, working with the ships IT officer, was able to tap into a satellite feed and project it onto a large screen in one of the lounges to show playoff games. The place was packed with screaming fans everytime. The only problem was most of the people on the ship were Canucks fans and those were the games being shown. Later the irony in that made me laugh particularly when I kept hearing people talking that they didn't think the Bruins would go too far.

Well, break out the pizza. Time for hockey.

Glad you get to see the game live. And that is funny about the cruise ship. And thank you for the compliment about my skills. Never really had any formal training. I just keep "MacGyver"-ing until I can get something to work the way I want.

 

[stevea20]

Well don't that figure. Seguin and Peverley get the shootout goals to beat the Bruins.

 

[SkaGoat]

And on Saturday, the always anticipated return of Phil Kessel (no more thank you Kessel chant ).

His play last year in the playoffs kinda silenced those chants. He's also top 5 in the league for goals (9) and top 10 for points (18) so far this season.

Leafs fans at ACC will be sad they can't thank Seguin anymore when the Bruins come to town, but the maids at the Toronto Four Seasons will be happy Dallas only comes to town 1 once this year.

 

[BDL]

Well don't that figure. Seguin and Peverley get the shootout goals to beat the Bruins.

In all honesty... After the penalty shot, didn't we all think that it WOULD end that way? Maybe not Pevs. But going into a shootout, how many 2nd points did Seguin snag for the B's because of his 1 on 1 skill? But Pevs getting the game winner was just the salt in the wound. And I don't blame Seidenberg for what he did. On way or another, Fiddler was going to be going in on Tuuk 1 on 1. If there is 1 positive to take from the Dallas game (still feel jipped of a line brawl), it's that Lucic got his linebacker frame in front of the goalie and redirected a goal. We need more of that from Looch

Tonight the Panthers come to the Garden. Unfortunately, Timmy won't be playing. But found out an interesting fact listening to Toucher and Rich this morning. The Tim Thomas Florida Panthers sweater is the #5 best selling, so far this season. Behind Toews, Kane, Crosby and Datsyuk.

His play last year in the playoffs kinda silenced those chants. He's also top 5 in the league for goals (9) and top 10 for points (18) so far this season.

Leafs fans at ACC will be sad they can't thank Seguin anymore when the Bruins come to town, but the maids at the Toronto Four Seasons will be happy Dallas only comes to town 1 once this year.

Kessel DEFINITELY came into his own in the playoffs last year. No one can take that away from him. And his numbers and team are doing better than the Bruins this season. It's going to be fun watching the Leafs/B's games.

As for Seguin, did anyone else see the Jack Edwards' interviews with him the other night? I'm not going into what Tyler said, but something I noticed. Either no one in Dallas is telling him to brush his teeth, or he is smoking like 2 packs a day. Cuz those teeth were discolored.

 

[BDL]

Last night's game was the epitome of "it's not how, it's how many." For the 1st period and a half, the B's showed almost no sign of life. That is with the exception of Greg Campbell stepping up for his team mate, when Winchester threw a Macho Man Savage elbow at Kelly. Just look at how the goals were scored. 2 of them clanged iron, 1 trickled under the pillows and 1 was off of a spoon feeding right in front of the net. But that's what you have to do. When opportunity knocks you have to answer.

Hopefully Mr. Opportunity will be having dinner at The Fours tomorrow night and take in the B's/Leaf's game.

 

[BDL]

Alright folks. Who remembers taking their SAT's? True or false: The following analogy is accurate...

Vanek is to the Bruins, as Bergeron is to the Maple Leafs

I'm inclined to say TRUE. Vanek never has a 0 on the stat sheet when he plays the B's and Bergy now has 2 consecutive GWG's against the Leafs, plus an empty netter.

Also, no longer is the Bruins PP viewed as just a way to "take it easy and don't give up a goal" for 2 minutes. They were 2 for 3 on Saturday night. And Z is really making a name for himself with his quick hands in front of the net (also the 20' reach doesn't hurt either).

We all know that when we think of new faces here, we all think Iginla and Eriksson. But quietly making a name for himself is Reilly Smith. The throw-in player in the Seguin deal, already has 9 assists (2nd on the B's) and is a +6. Last year with Dallas, he had 9 pts in the season. This season is still young, but it might be interesting to see what his contract status is. Getting back to Iggy, he had a pretty good scrap, to pick up his 3rd fighting major of the season.

Today the Bruins have a matinee against the 1st place Bolts (The C's play tonight and I love seeing the time lapse video of the Bull Gang on the news). The bad news is that the Lightning only have 4 losses this year. The good news, is that the B's account for 50% of those losses. It will be a tougher game for the B's though, with Quaider on the shelf with a leg injury.

In closing, I don't know if any of you have seen how NBC is promoting the Bruins' Black Friday game against the Rangers yet, but if you haven't seen it, prepare to laugh HERE . You'll love the cameos

Face-off is at 1pm today.

Let's go B's

 

[BDL]

With the win on Monday, the bruins are now tied 2nd place in the division and the conference. But the victory was bittersweet. No one wants to see someone get injured the way Stamkos was. Watching him struggle to lift himself up, brought back memories of Campbell in the playoffs, but worse. Instantaneously, every Lightning fan started fearing for the future. Both of them were inconsolable (just kidding). But to that point, there was more outrage that Stamkos would not be ready for the Olympics, as opposed to not being on the Bolts. But, Stamkos is a trooper. My sister texted me asking if I saw the injury (I was at work and was listening to the radio. Had to wait for Bruins in 2). She said in her text that his career was over. My sister is not the most dedicated fan. Before the 2011 Stanley Cup run, she kept referring to the start of the games as "tip off." But, it was because of the 2011 playoffs that I was able to reassure her that Steven Stamkos would be fine. I said, do you remember that guy that took a puck to the face and you thought he was dead, and I said that he'd be back the next period? She said "yeah." And later in the game, he came back out with a bird cage on his face. "Yeah." It's the same guy. "Oh..."

As for the game itself, isn't it amazing how much easier scoring chances are when you surround the net? On Bergeron's goal, that puck must've changed hands at least a few times from the second that Krug shot it to when it hit the back of the net (Yahoo sports even credited Krug with the goal for a while). As it stands now, the B's have outscored the Bolts 11 to 1 in 3 games with 1 game remaining.

In tonight's game against the Blue Jackets, the Bruins will have to ONCE AGAIN step up their game after an extended break. Not only that, but the Blue Jackets seem to be getting scoring from all over. Dubinsky, Gaborik, Umberger and even former BC product, Atkinson. Combine that with last yr's Vezina winner, makes for a sleeper team. Also, next month, Horton should be back, and that can onlyu make them better.

Now, I'd like to share with you a scary thought I had about Buffalo. Not that they fired their coach and GM. Not that Scott only got 7 games. But what really scares me, is that they will "blow-up" the team, and ship Ryan Miller to Pitt. NHL Network and NBCSports are bothe speculating that Miller MAY NOT be with the Sabres at the end of the season.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr... Scary.

 

[BDL]

The Bruins were LUCKY to escape last night with 2 pts. The B's definitely did not bring their defensive A-game. The goals did seem a little too soft to be let in by a Bruins goalie, but the fact that Jackets were allowed to occupy that space was a crime. That 2nd goal... Foligno was allowed to just walk in. When it got time for OT, I fully thought that the B's were going to lose in a shootout. Both teams were playing lockdown hockey. Then when Looch deflected the puck, I never would've thought that he could outskate his pursuers, nevermind win the game going 5 hole. And this point had been brought up, do you think Bobrovsky might have had the Ryan Miller incident on the brain and that's why he didn't challenge Looch?

Chad "Tr3sCer0" looked pretty good in his home debut (They should still change his number to 85). He definitely had his moments. Most of them in the 3rd period. Quick glove; Throwing his body out there like he was trying to turn the spoked B into a bullseye. The first 2 periods, he reminded me a lot of Reimer in the playoffs last year. There were a lot of juicy rebounds going 15'-20' in front of the goal.

Tonight the B's face the Ottawa Senators. The Sens are currently on the outside of the playoff picture and looking in. A lot of people have said that if you can't crack the top 8 by American Thanksgiving, it is that much more difficult to make the playoffs. So this could be the spark game that the Sens need.

And for those that like to play the "I told you so..." game, all you had to do was watch the highlights of last night's Stars/Flames game. Where Seguin had 4 goals and an assist. It does seem that Dallas has struck a cord by teaming Seguin with Jamie Benn (who had 1 G and 5 A's himself). I'm still glad the B's made the deal though. This should go down as a win/win.

 

[stevea20]

Didn't see or hear tonight's loss to the Sens, but that's always a downer.

The Columbus game sounded as tight as it was. I was pacing in work during that third period.

Seguin got 4? I really couldn't care less.

 

[BDL]

Friday's game was just not a good game, at all. The bruins were skating in circles again. And I don't know if Tuukka is calling out when he's getting screened or not, but someone has to take the Chara role and push them out out of the way, and give Tuuk a chance to even see the puck coming in. The Sens found out in the 3rd period, that if they wove (I believe that is the past tense of wheave) around the ice and were patient with the puck, they could manfacture opprtunities. And to top it all off, Bartkowski was denied scoring his 1st NHL goal because the puck BARELY grazed Eriksson's stick on the way in. He originally got the credit, then they took it down. Poor guy.

But the past is prologue. Tonight the B's get back on the horse against the Carolina Whalers. Who also suffered a late game loss over the weekend. It will be the Bruins vs. 13 of 87 the Staal brothers tonight.

So... ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?!?!?!?!?!

Whoops... That's the other game that's on tonight (in Carolina as well).

Let's Go Bruins!!!

 

[BDL]

It's good to see Soderberg get involved with the win. He perfectly redirected a Seidenberg slap shot into the net. Granted the game winning goal was scored with 10 min to go in the 1st period. But it is still a game winning goal. And if weren't for a flubbed shot that ssssssslllllllllooooooowwwwww-ly trickled past Tuukka and Z, Soderberg would've still gotten an assist on the game winning goal (by Smith) and Tuuk would've gotten a shutout. But like Brick said, with the exception of the last 30 sec of the 1st period, this was probably the best complete performance by the B's in a while.

That's not to say there weren't a couple of "Hunh?" moments last night. 1st, why was Caron in the line-up instead of Thornton? Could have definitely used the Shawn-father the last 10 min of the game. There was just a smidge of chippyness by the Whalers. Also in the "Hunh?" department, what's up with Marshmont? His Jekyll and Hyde routine from game to game is really starting to get on Claude's nerves. And Claude bumped him down to the 4th line by the 3rd period. But this does not bode well for the Rangers tonight. Because this means that the wrist shooting Woody Woodpecker will be causing chaos all over the MSG ice.

5 hours till face-off

Ha ha ha ha haaa... Ha ha ha ha haaa... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

 

[stevea20]

Last night was a nail biter. Good thing Tuukka was on his game because the rest weren't.

I'm concerned that this is the second time overall that Seidenberg has had to leave a game after one shift. It will be very tough to replace him for any period with McQuaid already out.

 

[BDL]

It was a close 1 last night. Thankfully, Tuuk tied his career high for saves. Of course, being without Seidenberg for 90% of the game and missing Bartkowski for over a period didn't help matters. There was a LOT of miscommunication last night that led to a LOT of break-aways and odd man rushes. But the Rangers were guilty of allowing break-aways and odd man rushes as well. Which the "Fribble" line capitalized on. First was Thornton's shot, just ove Hank's glove and under the bar. Then Paille beat Hank on SH bid with a break-away and going 5-hole backhanded. By the way, anyone that watches NHL On The Fly on the NHL Network knows exactly how much respect they give Shawn Thornton. They raved about how the Bruins have the best 4th line in the league and about how great a shot "Scott" Thornton had on his goal. Huh ?! But I'll give the network a pass on this 1. I think they had their B-team on the desk last night. In any case, they did bare some good news. With the Bolts getting beat by the Kings, The Bruins are now in 1st place in the Atlantic Div (aka The Flor-theast) and the conference. Though they are still 9th overall in the league. In fact, the B's will be playing 1 of the teams ahead of them tomorrow night. The St. Louis Blues. They've played 1 less game than the Bruins but have 2 more points. The Blues present a special problem for the Bruins. They have a lot of balance between their lines. This will be multiplied if Seids is going to miss the game. The B's will be forced to dress, at the blue line, a perrenial part-timer, a 2nd yr player, a rookie and whoever they pick to join them from Providence. Maybe even Morrow or Marshfield's own Warsofsky.

Speaking of Providence, HERE is something for your viewing pleasure. A line brawl between the Baby B's and Hartford Wolfpack. Enjoy...

 

[BDL]

The B's will be forced to dress, at the blue line, a perrenial part-timer, a 2nd yr player, a rookie and whoever they pick to join them from Providence. Maybe even Morrow or Marshfield's own Warsofsky.

Looks like I missed on both counts. The B's have called up Kevan Miller. A stay at home D-man that is not afraid to mix it up.

HERE is the link to his Prov. Bruins page

HERE and HERE is the link to him in action

 

[BDL]

It was a nail biter of a game on Thursday. It was a case of 2 teams that were so evenly matched, that when 1 team took the lead, the other didn't give them any time to enjoy it. The B's got on the board with 100 sec remaining in the 1st, when Campbell got his 1st goal of the year. No sooner than when you heard "WOOOOO", did the Blues tie it up 30 sec later. And, for a long time, that's how it would stay. For all of the 2nd and most of the thrid, it was a battle of wills just to gain the zone. There would be the odd breadk-aways, but for the most part, the D's would recover pretty well. With 4 minutes left in the game, Backes said "I've had enough of this", and perfectly deflected a shot from the point, bast Tuukka. He just parked himself in front of the net and dropped his stick just enough, to not only redirect the puck, but slip it past 1 of the best G's, this season. Oh well. Game over, right? Not so fast. The "angry, giant, 1-eyed Swede" stepped up to put the game into OT. Soderberg took a feed, right in front of the net and tied up the game with barely more than a minute to go. No goals were scored in OT, but there was an amazing break-away by the Blues. In the end, the Blues won the shootout, and got the 2 pts. Leaving the Bruins with a pt streak instead of a winning streak.

As for Saturday's game... What would you say if the only goals the Bruins let up were on special teams? Would it be something like, "Well, you can't stop every power play."? What would you say if 1 of those goals was a short-handed goal to tie the game up with 9 min left in the 3rd? I'll let you answer that 1 yourselves. Because that's what happened against the Canes. Now, I can't testify to everything that happened. BDLsgal and I were putting our lights on the bushes this day (we're waiting til Turkey Day to put out the inflatables and the countdown clock), so we opened the windows and blared the livingroom TV so we could hear Jack & Brick. Carolina scored 1st with with a knuckle puck from Sekera. And to be honest, all the abuse that he took this game, he deserved something good to happen to him. Later in the 1st period was further proof that the "Great Wall of Chara" should be permanently parked in front of the net during the power play. Not only does he block out the sun, but his skating and stick handling ability make him a scoring threat. Like he was on Sat when he tied up the game. In the 2nd per, Reilly Lowell gave the Bruins the lead, thanks to a lot of motion and weaving by his line mates. Now we get to the dark point. When Dwyer takes advantage of the B's getting lazy on the PP and then he does his best Paille impersonation and scores an unassisted SHG to tie up the game. Regulation ended in a tie. Now, for those of you that figured that, like most games, "both teams will just play conservative to get to the shootout", and went to make supper, you missed out on a great play from start to finish, seen HERE . Soderberg fought for the puck along the boards and, from lying on his stomach, was able to swipe it loose to Boychuk. Who sent an outlet pass to an in-stride Iginla, who was able to knock it down and gain the zone. He then took the D and Ward with him, while he was able to pass to a wide open Krejci in front of the net. Krejci then dangled past the over compensating Ward and he get the game winner. Hopefully, this will silence all of the OT reformists for a while.

I've really got to hand it to the 3rd line so far this year. They have really stepped up. From Kelly providing leadership and winning face-offs, to Smith finding open teammates to bang home the goals, to Soderberg showing his grit and putting his strength to work. They are a bona fide asset. And something that should be considered, odds are that none of them will be playing in the Olympics (Sweden is bitter Soderberg is playing in the NHL). This means that they will be instrumental down the stretch, to the playoffs, while the top 2 lines try to get their wind and get re-acclimated to the game.

Tonight will be the Sidney Crosby show, guest starring the Boston Bruins. Thankfully it is on NESN. I was actually surprised to see that the game wasn't going to be on NBCSports.

***Breaking News*** Seidenberg and McQuaid were on the ice for morning skate. It is unknown if they will play tonight. So far, I've liked what Miller has to offer. He is a much better passer than I thought he would be.

 

[BDL]

It's 5 min til face-off and that leaves very little time to talk about what a great game it was on Monday. Once again Soderberg justified the faith the Bruins had in him by retaining his rights. Being "Johnny on the spot" when the B's needed him. Sure... The highlight for most of the country was his royal hockeyness, Sid Crosby banging in the tying goal with .2 sec left in the game. This secured the Pens at least 1pt. But Krug secured the 2nd pt by taking his left-handed shot and going high over Flower's shoulder. Why did Torey Calder went undrafted, again?

Oh well...

The B's are playing Detroit tonight, and you'll notice that I did not make 1 single "wing-turkey-Thanksgiving" joke. The biggest downside of the night is that the Shawn-father and Miller are sitting in favor of Caron and McQuaid. I'm glad Quaider is back (though I was really impressed with Miller's game), but Thornton is just shy of wearing a letter on his left chest, and needs to be on the ice.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Recent family medical events have reminded me to appreciate my loved ones, and I hope you can all look across the table and feel how blessed you are. Also, Happy 1st night of Chanukah.


PS: BDLsgal and I will be at the Black Friday game. We sit 10rows behind the net the B's shoot at twice. Hopefully you'll see a lot of us in the 1st and 3rd.

Have a great weekend all. And count your blessings.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

 

[stevea20]

The game is about half over, it's 3 - 0 and THIS is why I didn't want the Wings in our division.

Playing that old game of, "if the playoffs started today", the Bruins would get the Wings first. Can anyone really feel confident about that?

 

[BDL]

The game is about half over, it's 3 - 0 and THIS is why I didn't want the Wings in our division.

Playing that old game of, "if the playoffs started today", the Bruins would get the Wings first. Can anyone really feel confident about that?

That Wednesday night game was a pure abomination. The ONLY positive thing that you could say about that game for the Bruins was that they didn't fold in the tent poles and just accept that they were going to be shutout. This game was so ugly that the only thought I could come up with, describing the play, was "boys playing against men." And it wasn't like Detroit's headliners were lighting the lamp. They were getting points from up and down the bench. Just a very discouraging game going into Turkey Day.

But, we can all give thanks that the B's screwed their head on straight for the well publicized Discover Showdown (btw... Did anyone else think that Cam looked uncomfortable on the float during the Macy's parade?). Now, I don't know how close those near goal opportunities, in the 1st 5min, looked on the TV, but being there, they looked SOOOOOOOOOO much closer. In any case, Marshmont got the B's on the board 1st with an improbable angle shot that hit the roof of the net. But the joy was short lived. The next 3 min were all Rangers. First a dribbler off of Nash's stick went into the far corner behind Tuukka. Then McDonough fires a wrist shot after he skated nonchalantly into the lane untouched. 75% of the 2nd per was uneventful. But, then... Do you remember the scene in Tombstone? "You called down the thunder, well now you've got it! You tell 'em I'M coming... and hell's coming with me!" Now imagine that being said with a Slovakian accent. Brian Boyle was playing the role of "Ike Clanton". The whole time, you could read Chara's lips. "You want to go...? You want to go...?" And eventually, I guess Boyle said yes. SEEN HERE You tell me... How fast did Boyle regret his decision? After that, it was all Bruins. Within the 1st 100 sec of the 3rd period, Bergy tied it up. With 9 min left in the game, Z completed the Gordie Howe hat trick, with the game winner, by blasting 1 past Lundqvist, from 10' inside the blue line.

Next up, came the Blue Jackets. And we almost got to see back to back games where a Bruin got a Gordie Howe hat trick. Bergy got the 1st goal of the game 9min in. At the 15min mark, Looch deflected a pinballed Krug slap shot in for the 2nd goal. Then in the 2nd, the fireworks were starting up again. 30sec in, Marshmont and Calvert were pecking at each other non-stop. 8min later, Looch and Prout go at it. And there was more than just pecking. SEEN HERE 2min into the 3rd, Looch blasted 1 that got deflected straight into the air, and was coming down behind McElhinney and Iginla was there to bang home the goal. YES!!!! Looch got the Gordie Howe hat trick! Umm... Not so fast. It's going to the review. The goal counted. But it was Lucic's goal, not Iggy's. Oh well... HEY!!! There's still a shot for a REAL hat trick for Looch. Sadly, was not to be. Looch would just have to be happy with a 2 goal night and we're all happy cuz the B's got the 2pts.

Now for 1 of my pet peeves. 1 thing I can't stand is people that give a hard time to other people because they are wearing a t-shirt or sweater of a player that is no longer with the team. So much to the point where they are practically heckling the people. As was the case at Sat's game. This led to several people to tell the vocal idiot to shut the Hell up. If you have a problem with the shirt that someone is wearing, to support the same team, then YOU give them the $30 to buy a new t-shirt, or $200 to buy a new sweater. These things are expensive. And furthermore, as a vocal idiot, you prove yourself not a true fan. 1) you are paying more attention to what someone is wearing vs. play on the ice. And 2) you are ignoring the cardinal rule of all team sports. The name on the front is ALWAYS more important than the 1 on the back.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, are having a great Chanukah, that no one got hurt on Black Friday and none of you get viruses on Cyber Monday. Next few games are big ones. Thursday night at the Habs, Saturday vs. the Pens and Sunday at the Leafs. Tough run coming up.

Let's go B's

 

[lori24]

I was at the game Saturday Night!! We really enjoyed it! Was the "heckler" escorted out? We saw a few people that were led out by security and was wondering what was happening. I still have a Thomas Jersey that I wear once in a while. The guys on the back of the shirts/ jersey helped the team out while they were there and I appreciate that.

 

[stevea20]

Now for 1 of my pet peeves. 1 thing I can't stand is people that give a hard time to other people because they are wearing a t-shirt or sweater of a player that is no longer with the team. So much to the point where they are practically heckling the people. As was the case at Sat's game. This led to several people to tell the vocal idiot to shut the Hell up. If you have a problem with the shirt that someone is wearing, to support the same team, then YOU give them the $30 to buy a new t-shirt, or $200 to buy a new sweater. These things are expensive. And furthermore, as a vocal idiot, you prove yourself not a true fan. 1) you are paying more attention to what someone is wearing vs. play on the ice. And 2) you are ignoring the cardinal rule of all team sports. The name on the front is ALWAYS more important than the 1 on the back.

I agree completely. My Bruins sweater is blank, partially for that very reason but also so only the style gets out of date. But there is nothing wrong with honoring a past favorite. My wife still has her Welker Patriots jersey.