Game 82: Another Season In The Books

Several seasons have come and gone, but the 2014-15 campaign has been a roller coaster to say the least. 

From a roster that contained the youngest player in the league to being decimated with season-ending injuries, and from fraudulent contract extensions to jabbing at each other to the media, the Boston Bruins is not the same franchise that we used to know.

With all of that being said, the Bruins still had one last gasp of hope entering Saturday night because if certain miraculous events unfolded, they would still make the playoffs.  

Since the Pittsburgh Penguins fells to the New York Islanders on Friday night, that made things a little bit more interesting heading into the final day of the regular season. The Ottawa Senators won their game in the afternoon, clinching a playoff spot. So, the Bruins or the Penguins would be heading to the postseason. Earlier in the night, Pittsburgh knocked off the Buffalo Sabres and eliminated the Bruins from playoff contention. 

Who would have thought that this team would miss the playoffs? After eight seasons at the helm, Head Coach Claude Julien and General Manager Peter Chiarelli could be out of Boston come Monday morning. 

In the meantime, Boston played its final game of the season against the Tampa Bay Lightning to end the week.

Once again, the B's got off to a sluggish start in the neutral zone. The back-and-forth action normally would favor a team like Tampa Bay due to the speed and young guns that they have up front, but the Bruins got more chances to climb ahead and pull away. 

After a scoreless first period, the teams traded goals in the second period. The score ended up tied at two goals a piece after regulation. In the shootout, the Lightning took the full two points by netting the only goal. Not a very eventful game from either side despite what was on the line. Boston ended the year on a three-game losing streak and emerged up with only one point on the road trip. 

With 96 points on the year, the Bruins failed to make the postseason. This is going to be a very interesting offseason. It is too bad that is comes two months early this year. We will see what happens. Enjoy the playoffs and we will see everyone in October. 

Gold Star: Brad Marchand...He showed the heart and fortitude to play hard until the very end. His goal at the end of regulation gave the Bruins a burst of energy, even though it was short lived. 

Black Star: Tuukka Rask...It is time to hold him accountable. He looked lazy in the shootout when his team still had a chance to win, but this whole road trip was forgettable for the netminder.

Game Eighty-Two Box Score

*This will be the last season of the game-for-game blog. Everything else will be through Inside Hockey going forward. 

Games 80-81: Final Week Of The Regular Season

The race for the final two playoff spots could not be more convoluted than it is at this point in time. Over the course of the past week, the Eastern Conference has broken down to officially only nine teams competing for eight spots. 

Welcome to the push for postseason positioning. 

The Boston Bruins got launched into seventh place (third in the Atlantic Division) on Sunday night without even playing a game; the Detroit Red Wings dropped two points to the Washington Capitals. After the Ottawa Senators knocked off the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday, the B's were right back to where they entered the week (eighth place). 

Speaking of the Caps, that was the team that the B's faced off against on Wednesday night to begin this final three-game road trip to end the year. This was also the first game of their 16th back-to-back set of the season. 

Not only were the B's looking for their first win of the season against Washington, but also their first goal; they were shut out in the previous two meetings. This was going to be a herculean task for Boston on this night, but there was no more room for letting up. The Black and Gold could easily fall out of the playoff picture if they do not take care of business this week.

Dougie Hamilton skated before practice all week since suffering an "upper-body" injury on March 21. However, he did not make the trip. Joe Morrow was recalled from Providence on an emergency basis. 

With shuffled lines and tweaked defensive pairs, the game started off sloppy for the Bruins. There were turnovers galore and multiple defensive breakdowns in front of Tuukka Rask. The Caps blasted in two quick goals as a result of the B's play. The second period was a little bit more like the B's as they broke down the Caps defense with some great scoring chances. However, Braden Holtby continued to be a B's killer. 

After the Caps recorded another goal in the second period, that was more than enough for them to hold on. It was easily forgettable that Washington was playing for playoff positioning, so the intensity that was brought was justified. Patrice Bergeron, Brett Connolly, and Milan Lucic all had golden opportunities to put the puck in the goal, but nothing to it. The puck possession and face-offs won were in the B's favor (39-24), but that does not translate to goals or points. The Capitals took this game by a final score of 3-0. Holtby became the first goaltender to shut out the Bruins for the entire season, stopping all 27 shots he faced on this night. 

Boston's five-game winning streak was snapped with this loss and it also signified a season sweep by the Capitals. 

The Bruins were also in action on Thursday night against the Florida Panthers, a team that was recently eliminated from playoff contention. Their mission? Spoiler. On a side note, Boston and Ottawa entered Thursday tied with 95 points each and two games remaining on the schedule. 

Boston came out on fire to begin the game. The Panthers did not get a quality scoring chance on Rask until after the midway point of the opening 20 minutes. Even though the first period was scoreless, the B's clearly came out with a purpose. Both sides got a chance on the power play and both sides were in rare form with the man advantage.

The B's and Panthers entered the second period playing four-on-four hockey due to matching minors at the end of the previous period. At that point, Florida was the team in control...which was absolutely baffling. The physical aspect of the game was definitely there, so much so that we witnessed a lengthy fight between Adam McQuaid and Alex Petrovic. We finally did manage to get some scoring in this game. Bergeron and Aleksander Barkov--two fine young top-line centers--each recorded a power-play goal for their respective teams, setting up a wild third period. 

Even though the B's showed signs of life, the Panthers just wanted the two points more. They scored three goals in the final 20 minutes while Roberto Luongo had a solid night in net for Florida. In stunning fashion, the Bruins fell by a final score of 4-2 to the Panthers. 

Since the Senators knocked off the New York Rangers earlier in the night, they leapfrogged the B's right into the playoff picture. There is so much on the line with one game left on the schedule. 

The Bruins will play their regular-season finale on Saturday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Gold Star (combined): Adam McQuaid...He actually put together a decent start to the road trip. He took meaningful shots as well as shutting down the best players on the opposition. Above all else, he was consistent. 

Black Star (combined): David Krejci...He was down on the fourth line for Thursday after being invisible on Wednesday. The knee injury has clearly taken its toll on the veteran center and messed with his confidence out on the ice.

Game Eighty Box Score

Game Eighty-One Box Score

Game 79: Last Home Game

It is already that time of year. The Boston Bruins played their final home game of the regular season on Saturday night. 

At the TD Garden this year, the B's posted a record of 23-10-7 (not including Saturday), a very modest record on home ice. They would have loved nothing more than to send the Boston faithful home happy one last time this year, and they had an excellent chance to do just that.

On Saturday night, the Bruins played host to the Toronto Maple Leafs. 

What an awful disaster that has gone on north of the border this season. But shockingly enough, the Maple Leafs own two victories over the Black and Gold this year--one of them being a 6-1 shellacking up in Toronto. It was just tough to reminiscence about this team because these two teams last met back in December. With a team that has as many skilled players as the Maple Leafs, they had no problem attempting to play spoiler against the Bruins.

Max Talbot was back in the lineup for Boston as Gregory Campbell was the healthy scratch. Tuukka Rask got his 67th appearance between the pipes. 

The first period was scoreless, but what we took from the opening 20 minutes is that the Bruins were not productive on the power play. However, the B's were the dominant team during five-on-five play. Boston out-shot Toronto 19-6 over the course of the first period.

In the second frame, the Leafs were forced to play defense early...and that is something that they never were able to do. Patrice Bergeron opened the scoring just 19 seconds into the second period. From there, Toronto seemed to stand up to the Bruins from a physical standpoint. The Maple Leafs worked their way back into it by tying the game on the stick of James van Riemsdyk. Similar to how Rask was dominant in period one, Leafs netminder James Reimer was the man in period two as he stopped all 12 shots he face. 

The third period was a stalemate, even though the B's racked up 47 shots on goal in regulation. This game eventually went into overtime and then into a shootout. Bergeron ended up coming through yet again by scoring the only goal in the shootout while Rask stopped all three Leafs. Boston defeated Toronto by a final score of 2-1 and improve its winning streak to five games. 

The Ottawa Senators also played simultaneously with the B's on this night as well. The Sens were three points behind Boston for the second wild card spot. They knocked off the Washington Capitals in overtime, so the lead is still three points for the Bruins in the Atlantic Division. 

The Bruins will begin a three-game road trip to end the season next week, starting on Wednesday when they take on those very same Capitals.

Gold Star: Patrice Bergeron...He totaled six shots on net. At least one of them ended up going in the net. In all seriousness, this guy in money. We should expect nothing less.

Black Star: Torey Krug...Not a very effective game for the young blue liner. The size of the Leafs forwards did not bode well for him when it came time to hit.

Game Seventy-Nine Box Score

List of Boston Bruins Team Awards

Game 78: Chasing The Teams Ahead

Thursday night was actually a more important night than this past Tuesday. Yes, the Boston Bruins completed the comeback in the third period of the game against the Florida Panthers to take two points and increase their lead in the wild card hunt.

With the win, the B's put themselves in a spot to do more than just settle for eighth place in the Eastern Conference. 

The Detroit Red Wings were on the slate for Thursday, the final meeting of the regular season between these two "Original Six" squads (Boston leads the season series 3-1 with Thursday being the fifth game of the year). Only two points separated Detroit and Boston heading into this game, so the winner could jump to third place in the Atlantic Division. 

The Bruins were heading into this one poised to face an incredibly hot goaltender in Petr Mrazek, but unhealthy players like Pavel Datsyuk were watching from the press box. To counter that, Brett Connolly finally made his B's debut after missing four weeks with a broken finger. David Krejci moved to his natural position at center between Carl Soderberg and Loui Eriksson. The stakes were high and both sides were prepared to reap the results. 

Joe Morrow was recalled from Providence and joined the team in Detroit. He did not end up playing in this game. Tuukka Rask was in goal yet again for Boston while Maxime Talbot was a healthy scratch. 

In the first period, Detroit came out with a purpose. Despite being undermanned, the Red Wings were just too quick for the Bruins in the opening 20 minutes. The B's had a couple of bad turnovers and Rask saw way too many pucks thrown his way--the Red Wings racked up 14 shots on goal. The bottom line here is that the Bruins were lucky that the period was scoreless...especially when the Red Wings got two chances to demonstrate the second-best power play in the league. 

Boston switched up all four lines in order to get something going in the second period. They did get an opportunity on the power play, but failed to capitalize even with four shots on net. After strong pressure in front of Rask, Detroit was able to poke the puck into the goal to start the scoring. The Red Wings targeted David Pastrnak all night long with the physical play. During that time, Patrice Bergeron left the game with an apparent head injury, but later returned. Thank goodness. Nothing was going right for Boston at that point in the game.

In the third period, Detroit added another goal on the power play to increase the lead. The Bruins managed to get the next two tallies to tie the game. The final 20 minutes was such a back-and-forth affair that nothing was predictable. In fact, what was unbelievable is that Zach Trotman scored the game-winning goal (his first career NHL goal as well) late in the period in front of his home state of Michigan. What a feel-good story this game turned out to be for the Bruins. 

With the win, Boston and Detroit are tied at 93 points for third place in the Atlantic Division. Connolly and Reilly Smith each racked up two assists. 

The Bruins will be in action on Saturday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Gold Star: Tuukka Rask...He made 35 big saves throughout the game. He was vital to keeping his team in the game until the very end. 

Black Star: Zdeno Chara...He took two penalties in the opening period and was sloppy with the puck in the defensive zone. Usually his heavy shot can make up for his lapses, but not on this night.

Game Seventy-Eight Box Score

Game 77: Nearing The End

Can you believe that playoff tickets are already going on sale this coming Friday? Perhaps everyone (management included) should not be so overzealous about the postseason. The Boston Bruins have yet to clinch that wild card spot.

The Bruins, however, do only have six games remaining and this two-week push to the end of the regular season will be beyond grueling. 

Once again, this team has put themselves in a position where they control their own playoff destiny...so much so that they have a chance to catch the teams in front of them within the Atlantic Division. Is it wise to concern themselves with that fact? Nope. As cliche as it sounds, they need to take things one game at a time.

On Tuesday night, the B's played host to the Florida Panthers. The Panthers are still battling to get into the playoff picture; they were four points behind the Bruins in the standings. These two teams also have one more meeting next week, but the goal was to get the two points on this night.

Prior to the game, NESN announced that David Pastrnak was the recipient of the Seventh Player Award for performing above and beyond expectations this year (10 goals, 15 assists, plus-13 rating through 40 games). This was a well-deserved honor. Take notes, Claude Julien and keep on playing the kids. 

Brett Connolly took part in the team warm-ups prior to the game, but did not play. He is getting really close to making his B's debut. Tuukka Rask made his 62nd start of the season between the pipes for this one. Now, let's talk about the game.

In the first period, there was a pretty good pace out there through several minutes of continuous play. As the period went along, both teams committed bad turnovers that led to scoring chances for the opposition. There were also phases of sloppiness out there. The Panthers blew a chance with the power play and committed a bad penalty to negate the man advantage. It was on the ensuing four-on-four that Loui Eriksson netted a nifty back hander into the net for his 20th goal of the season (fifth time in his career that he reached the 20-goal mark). 

With the Bruins possessing a 1-0 lead in the second period, Florida erased that deficit under one minute into the second frame (a power-play tally). That was the jump start that the Panthers needed in this game. From that point forward, the B's were smothered by Florida and that rushed Boston into making some plays that it would otherwise not make. A fanned shot by Matt Bartkowski combined with a shot that should have been saved by Rask, the Panthers grabbed the lead midway through the second on a goal by Brad Boyes. 

Florida started to leave doubts in the minds of the Bruins. In the third period, the B's started to get some of their confidence back. The defensive mindset became a precedent. When you play smart, good things happen. The Bruins tied the game on the stick of Ryan Spooner. Pastrnak got an assist on the play as he adds to his numbers on what has been an impressive rookie year--a more impressive rookie year statistically than Tyler Seguin. 

As time winded down, Milan Lucic blasted home the game-winning goal to seal the very important victory and all but end the playoff hopes of the Panthers. They are now six points behind Boston for the final playoff spot. Now, the Black and Gold can just worry about the Ottawa Senators.  

The Bruins will play their next game on Thursday night against the Detroit Red Wings. 

Gold Star: Dennis Seidenberg...He has really picked up his game lately. All of the criticism that he has been receiving is starting to go away with his gritty and physical style. 

Black Star: Matt Bartkowski...Another tough night out there for him. You think that he would have cleaned up some of the sloppy play that he brings to the ice on a consistent basis.

Game Seventy-Seven Box Score

Games 75-76: This Is More Like It

Thank goodness for the New York Rangers. If it were not for them, the Boston Bruins would still be out of the playoff picture.

Due to a very debatable non-call on Thursday night, the B's blew a late third period lead and eventually fell to the Anaheim Ducks. Meanwhile, the Rangers blew out the Ottawa Senators a couple of hundred miles across the country on that same night. Therefore, the B's and Sens were tied for eighth place in the Eastern Conference heading into the weekend.  

That would be the only time that Boston fans would be cheering for the Rangers down the stretch because the Bruins faced that very team on Saturday afternoon to begin a back-to-back set. 

New York is chasing the very overrated Presents' Trophy for best team in the NHL. Remember that feeling, B's fans? Our team won the thing last year....and look where that got them. Either way, both sides had something to play for on this day. The importance of each end goal lies with the fans of the respective teams. This vital third meeting of the year would determine the season series. 

The lineup remained the same for Boston, but New York got goaltender Henrik Lundqvist back from injury....as if things did not get any more challenging. 

The Bruins, however, did not let that stop them. They jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, two of those goals came from Milan Lucic. They were also battling hard in every zone and along the boards. It seems that when they do get out to an early lead, they play with a chip on their shoulder. Man, if they only possessed that mentality at all times. The Rangers were looking for answers very often because Tuukka Rask kept them stymied.

The Rangers got on the board in the second period, but it was on Niklas Svedberg in relief. Rask left 10 seconds into the period for possible dehydration, leaving everyone at the TD Garden scratching their heads. With that said, Boston still was one relentless team. The B's out-shot the Rangers 13-7 in the period and totaled 24 hits through 40 minutes on the opposition. Heck, even Reilly Smith netted a goal. Everything was clicking for this team on Saturday afternoon. New York did get a late goal in the third period, but the B's knew they needed this one and did not lose sight of the two points. The final score was 4-2 in favor of Boston. 

The Bruins ended the weekend by traveling to Raleigh to take on the Carolina Hurricanes.

With the lineup remaining the same as the previous game (Rask back between the pipes included), the Black and Gold picked up right where they left off. Ryan Spooner opened the scoring by blasting a shot home off a nifty pass from David Pastrnak. As the game went along, the Hurricanes forced the Bruins to chase the puck a lot more than they would have liked. It got to a point where the B's were so sloppy that Rask had to save their skin and make some big stops on key scoring chances by the Hurricanes. However, he was not invincible. Nathan Gerbe put Carolina on the board with 20 seconds left in the second period.  

In the third period, the Canes again put lots of pressure on the Boston blue liners. Rask ended up making 28 saves in regulation to keep his team in the race for two points. The game ended up going into overtime, a spot where Pastrnak slapped the game winner into the net with seconds left in overtime. The youth movement continues in Boston as the B's won this game by a final score of 2-1.

Out of 16 back-to-backs this season, the Bruins (so far) have five wins in the second game of back-to-backs. With the two points, they now lead the Senators by three points for eighth place in the Eastern Conference. 

The Bruins will play their next game on Tuesday night at home against the Florida Panthers. 

Gold Star (combined): Milan Lucic...He was the offensive production leader in the first game and the tone setter for the second game. That line is clicking right now and he is one of the main reasons why that is the case.

Black Star (combined): David Krejci...The experiment with him playing at wing has not really worked. He should move back to his natural position sooner than later.

Game Seventy-Five Box Score

Game Seventy-Six Box Score

Game 74: Is It Time To Give Up?

^

No, not just yet...even though they are currently outside the playoff picture because of the hot streak of the Ottawa Senators. 

Although the regular season is dwindling down to its final two weeks, the Boston Bruins have gone from having aspirations of making the playoffs to praying for a miracle. However, no one should feel sorry for them.

They still have a fighting chance. David Krejci was supposed to return at some point during that three-game road trip. The coaching staff must have felt that the time was not right, so they held him out until Thursday's game against the Anaheim Ducks. After he notches a few games back from injury, then we can get a better understanding of where this team is going. Brett Connolly is also close to making his team debut after taking part in the morning skate for the first time since breaking his finger in his second practice with the team. 

With that being said, the Ducks are always one of those teams that play a heavy game. Perhaps a stiff test is not exactly what this team was hoping for with the way things have gone since losing five in a row. Let's see what the three off days did for this team.

Dougie Hamilton will be out of the lineup indefinitely due to an upper-body injury, another huge blow for this team. Get used to seeing Zach Trotman a lot more in the coming games. Tuukka Rask continued his impressive workload on Thursday as well. 

Although the first period was scoreless, it was certainly physical and chippy. There were two separate four-on-four opportunities due to matching slashing penalties. No one ever said that the Ducks would back down; they are the top team in the Western Conference. The Bruins looked lazy at times, especially when they did get the puck into the offensive zone. All in all, a pretty evenly matched opening 20 minutes. For what it is worth, boy was it strange seeing Krejci skate on the wing.

In the second period, both teams picked up some momentum. Rask was huge for the B's early on in the period, but thanks to a defensive letdown, the Ducks got on the board first thanks to Patrick Maroon. That did not last long as Ryan Spooner netted a power-play goal to even things up. Boston had plenty of chances with the man advantage on this night and they capitalized on 50% of those opportunities (two-for-four).

To make things even more promising, Boston kicked off the scoring in the third period with one of those power-play tallies. Loui Eriksson was the goal scorer, his 19th of the season. With the pressure that the Ducks put on since that point, it was just a matter of time that they would net the equalizer. Corey Perry tipped a shot past Rask with seconds left in regulation. 

Sure enough, Ryan Getzlaf blasted the game winner over the glove of Rask. The top guns of Anaheim took down the Bruins on this night. They fell by a score of 3-2 in overtime. Krejci posted two assists in his return game. With the overtime loss and accumulating one point on Thursday, the Bruins are now tied in points with Ottawa for eighth place in the Eastern Conference. 

Boston will play its final weekend back-to-back of the year in the coming days. The New York Rangers and the Carolina Hurricanes will be on the slate. 

Gold Star: Torey Krug...He had such a solid night. He pushed the puck up ice when necessary, but was physical and aggressive in all three zones. 

Black Star: Matt Bartkowski...He had a couple of decent moments, but he was struggling for most of the night. He is usually a good skater, but he was flat-footed on several occasions and was responsible for the first goal allowed.

Game Seventy-Four Box Score 

Games 72-73: Slumping Out of Contention

The Boston Bruins are slipping, while the NHL's hottest team continues to gain ground on them for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.

Coming off a horrendous loss to the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night, the B's looked to right the ship over the weekend with this back-to-back set through the state of Florida. Up first was the previously mentioned scorching team, the Panthers.

You know, the Bruins still controlled their own playoff destiny heading into Saturday evening. They had to possess the mindset that if they lost both games, they would no longer be in control of such fate. Please win a meaningful game for once. The Panthers were only five points back of Boston heading into this upcoming game. 

What was ironic about Thursday is that we gripe about this team not scoring enough goals, yet they popped in four against the best goaltender in the NHL right now in Andrew Hammond. The problem was that they allowed six goals, so the defense/goaltending was the issue. It is like they choose on any random night to focus on one aspect of their game. Just be more consistent all around. 

Anyway, David Krejci could have been the answer to this mess of a week. We are still waiting on his return. What was encouraging is that B's head coach Claude Julien stated that Ryan Spooner will not be heading back to Providence due to his stellar play as of late--he has posted four goals and five assists in the month of March. Here is the brief story:

Ryan Spooner Staying With Team

As if there was any doubt, Tuukka Rask was between the pipes for Boston as he opposed old friend Roberto Luongo. Reilly Smith was scratched for this one after an absolutely horrible week. He was replaced by Brian Ferlin. 

After the Panthers jumped out to an early lead, the Bruins decided to play the physical card. The Panthers did one heck of a job matching that type of intensity because Florida knew that it needed this game to save the season. Patrice Bergeron netted the tying goal in the second period on the power play, setting up one heck of a final 20 minutes. Bergeron's goal was the 20th of the season, the sixth time in his career that he has reached that plateau. 

In the third period, Rask was out of his mind and stopped six humongous goal scoring opportunities by the Panthers. It was because of him that the game was tied at the end of regulation, especially with Dougie Hamilton leaving the game at the end of the second period. By night's end, this game belonged to the Panthers. They took the full two points by winning this one in the shootout. Silver lining: the B's picked up a point. 

To close out the weekend and this three-game road trip, the Black and Gold took on the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Bruins had a choice here: Should they focus on playing spoiler to a team chasing the division crown or try to increase their lead in the quest for the second wild card spot? How about both? 

The team had to recall Zach Trotman from Providence on an emergency basis and inserted him into the lineup due to the status of Hamilton. Smith was back in as well, but it did not help on this day. 

If you look at the stat sheet, you will see that shots, scoring chances, and hits will appear to be the same for each team. That is incredibly deceiving. The Lightning made the Bruins look like this was a one-sided affair. The Bolts scored four unanswered goals through the first two periods, chasing Rask from goal. Costly mistakes combined with a lack of effort made for an embarrassing 5-3 loss to conclude the road trip. The Bruins have put themselves in a spot where they can fall out of the playoff picture in the coming days. 

We have now hit the single-digit mark in remaining games left on the schedule. The Bruins will not play again until Thursday when they play host to the Anaheim Ducks. 

Gold Star (combined): Patrice Bergeron....Two goals over the weekend to accompany a solid couple of games at the face-off dot. He was one of the few players who played hard for every minute. 

Black Star (combined): Carl Soderberg...He reverted back to his old ways and did not produce any solid scoring chances. He could be the next one watching the games from the press box.

Game Seventy-Two Box Score

Game Seventy-Three Box Score

Game 71: Matchup of Significance

It was as if the past two weeks had not existed. The Boston Bruins have put themselves and their playoff hopes in jeopardy.

After back-to-back losses--one of them coming against the worst team in the NHL in the Buffalo Sabres--the B's are only four points ahead of the ninth place team. It is going to be a battle every step of the way for the rest of the regular season. This is what we get for supporting a maddeningly inconsistent team.  

Ironically, the Bruins faced off against the team that is right on their heels for that final playoff spot; Boston traveled to Ottawa on Thursday night to take on the Senators. Because the Black and Gold lost on Tuesday night, that made this game here of grave importance. This is the toughest way to start off a three-game road trip. 

Over the course of the season, we have covered lots of background heading into certain games. There is no need to dwell or repeat. With the points being at such a premium, talking about the game itself should suffice. 

Tuukka Rask was back in net for Boston. David Krejci made the trip with the team, but did not play in this game. 

The first period was one of the wildest and most entertaining starts to a game you will ever see. Both teams each netted a goal within the first 60 seconds. The Bruins actually beat Senators netminder Andrew Hammond for two goals, the same amount of goals he has allowed in any start during his NHL career (12 games). One of those tallies belonged to Carl Soderberg, which was his first goal in 25 games. You can clearly see the weight of the world lifted off his shoulders once that puck hit the net. The B's lone (and failed) power play opportunity of the period looked incredible as Coach Claude Julien loaded up with offensive weapons in order to put the puck in the net. And of course, the hits were aplenty (11-7 in favor of Ottawa). Truly entertaining opening period.

With the score tied at two after Boston shut down an Ottawa power play, the second period moved along quite quickly. The action continued to run rampant because of the players' will to win this game. Ryan Spooner recorded his second goal of the night, this time on the power play. Meanwhile, the Sens beat Rask for a short-handed tally at the other end of the ice. This was a more well-rounded period for Boston offensively, but there were occasions when the Bruins had some serious mental breakdowns. The youth of Ottawa definitely reigned supreme at particular points. With Torey Krug scoring his 12th goal of the year later in the period, the game was tied at four at the end of 40 minutes. 

In the third period, both teams took a cautious approach with neither side wanting to make a mistake. Boston was the team to do just that after Bruins killer Bobby Ryan blasted a shot that deflected off Zdeno Chara and into the goal. That moment eventually decided the game. The final score was 6-4 in favor of the Senators after a late empty netter by Kyle Turris. 

The Bruins are now ahead of the Senators by only two points and Ottawa has a game in hand. Wow.

The weekend is approaching, which equates to another back-to-back set for the B's. Why have it any other way, right? Their opponents will be the Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning. 

Gold Star: Ryan Spooner...This was a great night offensively for the young center. Two goals in a big game will surely get you playing time in crucial moments. 

Black Star: Tuukka Rask/Reilly Smith....It was impossible to pick between these two for this game. Rask played awful and allowed five pucks past him, which is way more goals than he is used to letting in. As for Smith, a minus-three rating with a grueling turnover that led to a goal. He was nowhere to be found during the final period.

Game Seventy-One Box Score

Game 70: Perfect Rebound Game

Everyone knows the expression "It is not the size of the dog in the fight; it is the size of the fight in the dog." That phrase clearly applied to Tuesday night. 

The Boston Bruins returned to the TD Garden for their only home game of the week to take on the Buffalo Sabres, and they were looking to make it four straight wins this season against this struggling franchise. The Sabres always play the Bruins tough, so a defeat from the worst team in the entire league was not out of the question for the home crowd. 

The previous statement is even more valid after what happened on Sunday night. The Bruins squandered a chance to take over sole possession of seventh place in the Eastern Conference. Because of the 2-0 loss to the Washington Capitals, Boston fell back into eighth place (only by two points). They still have the chance to control their own playoff destiny, but it had to begin with this game on Tuesday. Buffalo played on Monday, so there was no sympathy shared by the Bruins as they have had a plethora of back-to-back sets in this month alone. 

Niklas Svedberg was between the pipes for Boston, giving Tuukka Rask a much-need breather. Other than that, the lineup remained the same.

One other piece of great news for this team: David Krejci announced on Tuesday that he is close to returning to the lineup after spraining his MCL over a month ago. Also, Brett Connolly started skating on Tuesday. Here is the full release....

Updates on Krejci and Connolly

In the first period, the Bruins ran circles around the Sabres. For 20 minutes, the better team definitely demonstrated the dominance. The B's out-shot Buffalo 14-3 in a fast-moving opening period. Loui Eriksson recorded the opening goal (18th of the season) after cleaning up a loose puck in front of the net. However, they failed to capitalize on the power play throughout the game. They are now 0-for-16 with the man advantage over the last four games. 

After a scoreless second period, the Sabres begun the third period with the man advantage. That was a great opportunity for Buffalo to get back into this game...and they did not throw away that chance. Rasmus Ristolainen pulled his team even after a blast from the point. Honestly, the Bruins should have capitalized on several other scoring chances. Anders Lindback (the netminder for Buffalo) just so happened to be the best player on the ice--he made 44 saves on the night. The third period featured both teams exchanging great opportunities at both ends of the ice. Neither team could get the go-ahead goal in regulation, so this one went into overtime. 

The game went goalless in the extra five minutes, hence a shootout was eminent. This was Buffalo's second consecutive game in which it went into a shootout. Although this time, the result went positive. The Bruins fell by a final score of 2-1 and fail to sweep the season series. Another opportunity wasted. 

The Bruins will play their next game on Thursday night against the Ottawa Senators.

Gold Star: Loui Eriksson....His play as of late is making fans forget about Tyler Seguin. He was tied for the team lead in shots and recorded a goal to put his team in a position to win. 

Black Star: Carl Soderberg...It may be time to sit this guy. He has not scored a goal in over 20 games. Assists are fine, but the team needs his goal output in the playoffs.

Game Seventy Box Score

Games 68-69: Another Back-To-Back

Is everyone back on the bandwagon yet? With a record of 6-0-1 in seven games, a number of players with point streaks, and not having lost in regulation this month, our team is looking reminiscent of previous teams that we are proud to call our own. 

We were not joking around when we said that the Boston Bruins would have a busy month of March. 

Including this weekend, the B's will play four weekend back-to-back sets, which literally equates to every weekend being jam packed with hockey. As a fan, that is great stuff. Seeing the Bruins involved in playoff-like games this late in the year will fully prepare for what is in store for them once the postseason starts. 

The hectic part about this particular one was that both games were played on the road.

The action began on Saturday afternoon when Boston concluded its season series against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The teams split the first two meetings of the season. 

Prior to the weekend, the Bruins recalled defenseman Zach Trotman from Providence on an emergency basis and traveled with the team. He did not end up playing, though.

Sidney Crosby (injured in warm-ups) was scratched for the Penguins. That was definitely a strange start to the afternoon. The Penguins looked out of sorts early on because of the B's strong pressure along the boards. A tight penalty kill immediately led to a quick goal by Milan Lucic. With Tuukka Rask Rask making 12 stops in the first period, not a bad start for Boston. Physical, strong pushes, and smart with the puck. 

In the second period, the pace quickened. Remember that the Penguins are one of the worst teams in the league when allowing the first goal. Boston has done that now for 11 straight games. Pittsburgh kept that in mind as they jumped out to a fast start. However, Evgeni Malkin (hit by Chris Kelly in his opening shift) missed the rest of the game with a lower-body injury. How about that for a lucky break for the REAL Black and Gold? 

Blake Comeau and Christian Ehroff were thorns in the side of the B's, racking up about half of the scoring chances for Pittsburgh. Since the Pens had to commit players forward, the Bruins got some decent looks themselves. In the end, Rask was a wall in net as he recorded his third shutout of the season. Zdeno Chara added a late empty netter to grab the 2-0 victory for Boston. 

On Sunday night, the Bruins took on the Washington Capitals. Don't look now, but the B's were now tied with the Caps in points for seventh place in the Eastern Conference heading into Sunday. The teams ahead of Boston are now more important than the teams in the rear view mirror. 

As for this one, the Bruins were swarmed by the Capitals early on. Tom Wilson (not Alex Ovechkin) was the one making the physical impact on the game for Washington. Because of that, the B's streak of scoring first in 11 straight games was snapped as John Carlson netted a power play goal to give the Capitals the lead. In the meantime, the tempers and hits continued to escalate.

For some reason, the B's did not seem to be in tune with each other on this night. Boston failed to convert a power play goal in back-to-back games, going 0-for-8 with the man advantage. As this game went on, scoring chances were negated by great goaltending at each end of the ice. Since Washington was able to get out to an early lead, the Bruins could not dig themselves out of that hole. They fell in this game by a score of 2-0 and split the weekend back-to-back set.

The Bruins will return home on Tuesday night when they host the Buffalo Sabres.

Gold Star (combined): Chris Kelly...No, the points were not there. However, he showed hustle and a relentless pace to his game all weekend. He did not show any heavy legs. 

Black Star (combined): Reilly Smith...Turnovers, lackluster effort, no offensive contribution....again. Why is he in the lineup?

Game Sixty-Eight Box Score

Game Sixty-Nine Box Score

Game 67: Winning Always Leads To Controversy

Do you know what is funny? How quickly fans forget.

The reference here is that all of a sudden, young Ryan Spooner has emerged. Having accumulated points in six-straight games, the "Let's trade David Krejci" talks have already begun to surface. 

Really? Patience everyone. In all likelihood, the Boston Bruins are grooming Spooner to replace Carl Soderberg next year on the third line since Soderberg will become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year. That is an entirely different topic for a different day. 

On a somewhat related note, Krejci has now skated before practice for three consecutive days after injuring his knee three weeks ago. He is still on pace to return before the end of the season. As for the rest of the week, more divisional opponents for the B's. They were in action on Thursday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning. 

This was only the second meeting of the year between these two teams--the Bruins emerged with a 4-3 win back in January. Coming off a huge win against the Montreal Canadiens, Steven Stamkos and company were looking to make their push into taking the Eastern Conference crown. The Bruins, 5-0-1 in their last six games, had other ideas. 

Tuukka Rask was back in net for Boston. Tyler Johnson (who missed the first meeting between the teams) did skate in this game for Tampa Bay. 

The opening 20 minutes was quite auspicious for the Bruins. Gregory Campbell and Daniel Paille each took a puck to the face, drawing blood from both men. The B's just could not get a solid rhythm going, but the Lightning did not fair much better. What stood out in the first period was the puck possession for the B's. Stamoks was not as lethal as he would have liked, but he did enough. He intercepted a Zdeno Chara pass and beat Rask for his 37th goal of the year. Prior to that, David Pastrnak scored to open the game off a great pass from Spooner. The young kids continue to produce--Spooner's point streak is now at seven games and Pastrnak has seven points in his last seven. 

In the second period, the physical play picked up again; this was shades from the previous meeting. The period was scoreless, but the goaltending was not that great. In fact, there was a plethora of hit posts at both ends of the ice. Tampa out-shot Boston 25-19 through two periods. 

All game long, the puck took weird bounces and the players were having trouble co-operating with the ice. The third period was no different. Each team netted a goal, which is how regulation ended. After a scoreless overtime, the Bruins won in the shootout thanks to Brad Marchand's deciding goal. Luckily for Boston, Stamkos did not attempt a shot because he received a 10 minute misconduct late in overtime. The B's continue to roll as they picked up the full two points on this night. Rask made 35 saves and was perfect in the shootout. 

The Bruins will play another back-to-back set this weekend. Their opponents will be the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals, respectfully. 

Gold Star: Dennis Seidenberg...He has been a work horse for this club for the last month, and he usually goes unnoticed. He picked up an assist to accompany the hard-nosed defensive effort. 

Black Star: Zdeno Chara...He just cannot keep up with these younger teams anymore. The age of the captain is starting to show.

Game Sixty-Seven Box Score

Game 66: Happy Birthday, Rask/Welcome Home, Spooner

Here we go, folks. The busy month of March continues for the Boston Bruins.

On Tuesday night, they traveled up to Ottawa to take on the surging Senators.

The Senators, winners of three-straight games, have found themselves right back in playoff contention. Heading into Tuesday night, the Sens trailed the Bruins by only five points in the Atlantic Division. Another tidbit of information that might bode well for Ottawa is that they have won the last two meetings against Boston...both games needing extra time and both settled by the stick of Bobby Ryan. 

For the Bruins, they have found their niche recently. Winners of four of their last five, the B's love the addition of Maxime Talbot and the red-hot play of Brad Marchand. This game had so much on the line, and both teams were going to leave it all on the ice.

The birthday man (Tuukka Rask) got the start in goal. Other than that, no other lineup changes to mention.

After a scoreless and uneventful first period, the Bruins came out with a jump in their step to begin the second period. Ryan Spooner kicked things off with a power play goal for the visitors. This is what playoff-bound teams do: limit mistakes, pay the price for chances. Good layers abound. All of the above were ingredients to a successful second period for Boston. Spooner, who is actually from Ottawa, scored his second of the game off a hard net drive by Milan Lucic. In between, Loui Eriksson almost undressed Sens defenseman Cody Ceci with an epic goal. With Rask making 21 HUGE saves in the period, the Bruins held a 3-0 lead heading into the final 20 minutes.

The Senators played unbelievably well in the third period. They were dominant at both ends of the ice and completely controlled the neutral zone. Matt Puempel beat Rask for his first goal as a Senator to finally get his team on the board. The Bruins only posted four shots on goal in the period, but stingy defense and epic goaltending was enough to preserve the win for Boston. 

Boston now leads the Senators in the division by seven games, a total that seems insurmountable. Spooner is also riding a six-game point streak with three goals and four assists. 

The Bruins will return home on Thursday night for a showdown with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Gold Star: Tuukka Rask...This was a night where the goaltender stole a game for his team. He made 39 saves in a game where the Bruins needed a win against a desperate team. 

Black Star: David Pastrnak...He has to skate on thin ice (pun intended) when he plays for this team. Two minor penalties early on led to a decrease in minutes, proving him ineffective for this one. Plus, everyone else played well on this night.

Game Sixty-Six Box Score 

Games 64-65: Afternoon Back-To-Back

Over the course of the next month, the Boston Bruins will certainly have their work cut out for them. Last week, they enjoyed four straight days off. For the next few weeks, they will never have consecutive hockey-free days.

What does that entail? A grueling home stretch for the Black and Gold. 

The Florida Panthers (two points) and the Ottawa Senators (three points) were right behind the Bruins in the Atlantic Division heading into the weekend. The wild card is now within reach of the competition, a reality that was not even fathomable two months ago. 

This back-to-back set to conclude the homestand was absolutely important, almost to the point where both contests were must-win scenarios. Up first on Saturday afternoon were the Philadelphia Flyers. The Bruins wanted nothing more than to sweep the season series with Philly and to further increase their lead for the final playoff spot. 

On Friday afternoon, the news broke that the Bruins re-signed Torey Krug and Reilly Smith to contract extension. Details of the deals and the official press release can be read here:

Release on Krug and Smith

Gregory Campbell made his return to the lineup for Saturday's game after missing the last week with an upper-body injury. Brian Ferlin was the odd man out. In the goaltending matchup, Tuukka Rask opposed Steve Mason. 

Of course, huge physical battles are commonplace whenever these two teams get together. This game was no different as both sides played with a playoff mentality. Although the leniency with the officials was at a bare minimum early on, the B's got on the board first with a power play tally by Zdeno Chara. Shots were even at 10 in the first 20 minutes. The Flyers (who possess the third-best power play percentage in the NHL) were 0-for-1 with the man advantage. 

In the second period, the Bruins had excellent offensive zone time. The Flyers were scrambling early on, but they regained their composure and got back into the game the best way that they know: on the power play. Jakub Voracek netted his 20th goal of the season to tie the game. The "good kind of nasty" meshed with the high-tempo play produced a very entertaining second half of the game.

The third period belonged to Philly. The Flyers completely wore down Boston and possessed nearly two minutes more of offensive zone puck possession in the final 20 minutes. It looked as if the Flyers were going to steal the win in regulation after netting a goal with five minutes left, but the Bruins ended the game with a six-on-four man advantage, a spot where Brad Marchand deflected home a Dougie Hamilton wrist shot to send the game into overtime. 

Just like in regulation, the hero in the extra period was Marchand. He broke the defense and slid a back hander past Mason to give the Bruins the full two points with the 3-2 win. Maxime Talbot recorded his first point as a Bruin when he assisted on the game-winning goal. 

Coming off Saturday's epic victory, the Bruins hosted the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday afternoon.

Niklas Svedberg got the start for the Bruins in this one. For the team in front of him, they picked up exactly where they left off from Saturday. Marchand opened the scoring by netting a short-handed goal. David Pastrnak also joined in on the scoring by recording his eighth goal of the year on the power play. The Bruins owned the Red Wings in scoring opportunities; there was a seven-minute span in the first period where Boston out-shot Detroit 12-1. 

Detroit, who scored a soft goal within the first 20 minutes, started to play better in the second period. The Bruins could not stay out of the box throughout the game, and giving the Red Wings that many power play chances (five) was risky business. Luckily, the penalty kill came through on all but one chance. For Detroit, they were sloppy as heck. Daniel Paille produced a great forecheck that led to two goals for himself, one of them was the second short-handed goal for Boston. 

The Bruins possessed a 5-2 lead in the third period. The Red Wings produced a huge surge near the end of the game, but Svedberg made some key stops near the end of regulation. Boston took this game by a score of 5-3. Four points on the weekend. 

The Bruins will play their next game on Tuesday night in Ottawa against the Senators. 

Gold Star (combined): Brad Marchand...He is carrying this team right now from a production standpoint. His energy is unmatched. Two goals on Saturday and one on Sunday will continue to improve the stats. 

Black Star (combined): Reilly Smith...So far, he has done nothing major to earn that new contract. When the Bruins needed him in crunch time, he did not produce at all. He cannot seem to break out.

Game Sixty-Four Box Score

Game Sixty-Five Box Score

Game 63: Catching Fire At The Right Time?

Another year, another less-than-stellar trade deadline performance by the Boston Bruins. The situation that they put themselves in can only be blamed on management for the panic moves before the season even started (trading Johnny Boychuk).

To be fair, that salary dump of a move would not have been necessary if upper management planned accordingly. 

All of that is in the past. What we have in front of us is our team, ready to make a run in the playoffs. During Monday's trade deadline, the B's acquired Brett Connolly from the Tampa Bay Lightning for two draft picks. Also, Boston traded Jordan Caron to the Colorado Avalanche for Maxime Talbot. Both moves improve the team, but no defensive additions could be costly.

With the new look team eager to get back on the TD Garden ice, the Black and Gold continued their four-game homestand on Thursday night against the Calgary Flames. 

The Flames lost Curtis Glencross via trade and Mark Giordano due to injury earlier in the week. As promising as Calgary's season looked, it may be coming to an abrupt halt because of those losses. Regardless, the Bruins had redemption on their mind; they fell to the Flames a couple of weeks ago after blowing a three-goal lead on the road. Hopefully, things would turn out different this time.

Tuukka Rask was back in goal for the B's. Gregory Campbell (upper body) remained out of the lineup for this game. In ridiculous and unbelievable news, Connolly broke his finger at practice on Wednesday and will miss six weeks. Are you kidding? Wow. He did not even skate a shift. However, Talbot was in the lineup. He centered the fourth line with Daniel Paille and Brian Ferlin. 

As for the game, the Bruins exploded out of the gate. We all know that Calgary loves to spread out the ice and move the puck quickly, but that caused the Bruins to see right through the plan that they tried to execute. The Bruins certainly had the better scoring chances, capitalizing on one of them thanks to Brad Marchand's team-leading 19th goal of the season. The defensemen for the B's--particularly Dennis Seidenberg and Dougie Hamilton--jumped up on the play every chance they got, which was great to see. The Flames scored a late goal on the power play to tie the game as the teams headed into the second period. 

Ryan Spooner assisted a goal by Milan Lucic to kick off the second period. The fact that he is accumulating points on a consistent basis now will definitely help this team down the stretch. Anyway, Boston displayed Jekyll and Hyde moments during the second 20 minutes. It was great to see the team a little bit more disciplined; the B's took three minor penalties in the first period. However, they had problems carrying the puck out of their own zone. The sloppy play in the neutral zone (and a bad rebound by Rask) led to another tying goal by Calgary. 

In the third period, the Bruins reverted back to their old ways. They were taking careless penalties, putting even more pressure on Rask. The hometown kid, Johnny Gaudreau, put the Flames back on top midway through the period with a power play goal. After three previous scoring chances, Loui Eriksson finally netted that allusive tally to pull Boston even. 

The teams went through regulation and overtime with a tied score, so this one was decided in a shootout. In the end, Calgary's David Schlemko ended the shootout in the eighth round to give his team the 4-3 victory. The Flames sweep the season series against the Bruins, who grabbed one point in this game.

Rask recorded 29 saves on the night. The Bruins finished the game with seven minor penalties on the stat sheet. 

The Bruins will play a back-to-back set over the weekend. They will take on the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday, followed by a game against the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday.

Gold Star: Brad Marchand...This is the stretch that the Bruins need him to be at his best. As for this night, he skated hard, delivered some hits, and created scoring chances. Not bad at all. 

Black Star: Matt Bartkowski...He could not stay out of the box long enough to be effective. When he was, he ended the night with a minus rating.

Game Sixty-Three Box Score

Games 61-62: Thank Goodness It's Over

The month of February is drawing to a close, and there is no team out there that cannot wait to see it evaporate away more than the Boston Bruins. 

Heading into the weekend, the B's only compiled two victories in the entire second month of the year. The good news here is that Boston had the opportunity with this back-to-back set to end the month strong against two beatable teams. 

On Friday night, New Jersey was on the slate. From the looks of things, the Devils have been playing very well at home lately (15-9-7 on the year). However, the Bruins looked to get a much needed victory on the road and sweep the season series with the Devils. 

Before the start of the game, it was announced that the Devils traded Jaromir Jagr to the Florida Panthers--the same team that is right behind the Bruins for the second wild card spot. Things just got a little more interesting. #pressureison. Also, goaltender Jeremy Smith was recalled from Providence on an emergency basis since Tuukka Rask was not feeling 100%. He backed up Niklas Svedberg on Friday night. 

Svedberg, who's last victory came against New Jersey earlier in the year, looked good early on. The entire team played aggressively throughout the first period. Shots were 12-4 in favor of the Black and Gold. This was just a complete tilting of the ice, pouring it on and smothering the Devils if the puck crossed neutral ice. New Jersey just could not get anything going. Daniel Paille scored to open the game off a bad turnover. He now has goals in back-to-back games. 

In the second period, the Devils started to put together some chances to build momentum. However, that was quickly halted when they failed to score on the power play. All moments of sloppy play for the Bruins that took place within this period were minor, which was no shock since it is statistically their worst period this season as far as production. They did bend, but they did not break.

The third period is when they fell off. After David Pastrnak netted a beautiful tally, New Jersey came back and scored two quick goals to tie the game. In overtime, the Bruins showed their resiliency as Ryan Spooner blasted home his first-career NHL goal (35 games) to grab the two points that they rightfully deserved. Highly entertaining, yet fast moving game. Svedberg made 29 saves in a solid outing. He definitely accumulated some more confidence that was desperately needed. 

The Black and Gold capped off the week back at home on Saturday against the Coyotes. Arizona will definitely be sellers this year. Get familiar with this team folks; we could be foreshadowing the appearance of some of these players in B's gear next week (Keith Yandle and Antoine Vermette). You never know, right?

With Rask back in goal for the Bruins on this night, they were not going to be denied another victory. They beat down Arizona throughout the first two periods, scoring four goals in an offensive onslaught. The final score ended up being 4-1 in favor of the Bruins. They ended the month on a positive note, so the playoff hopes of the team and the entire city are starting to come back. 

Twenty games left in the regular season. Boston now leads Florida by four points for the eighth playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. 

The Bruins will not play another game until Thursday night when they host the Calgary Flames, which is plenty of time to reflect on all of the action that will take place at the trade deadline. 

Gold Star (combined): David Pastrnak (1 goal, 2 assists, plus-2 rating, 8 shots on goal, 3 takeaways in both games)...The ideal young player for Claude Julien is taking shape. He is playing at a high level right now. 

Black Star (combined): Chris Kelly...He is USELESS out there. He does not even hit guys anymore. Being complacent is the worst thing to happen to an athlete.

Game Sixty-One Box Score

Game Sixty-Two Box Score

Game 60: "Lack" Of Production Results In Loss

We are now officially into the final week of February, which means that the NHL trade deadline is vastly approaching.

Actually, the trade deadline is less than a week away. For the Boston Bruins, the hope is that they take what happened in Chicago on Sunday afternoon with a grain of salt. Of course we have to look at a 6-2 victory over one of the best teams in the Western Conference as impressive, but ANY team can have a good night (and bad night if you are a fan of the Blackhawks). They still finished the five-game road trip with only one victory. 

The B's organization should look at the victory with an even bigger need to do something major next week. With David Krejci sidelined for four to six weeks with a partially torn MCL, it is a no-brainer at this point. 

Update On David Krejci

The Bruins were looking for the third victory of the month on Tuesday night when they finally returned home to the TD Garden. They were in action against the Vancouver Canucks, a team that knocked them off in the first game of the road trip. 

Earning a split in the season series was in reach. Now, let's talk about the game.

Gregory Campbell will be out of the lineup for at least a week with an upper-body injury. Once again, Tuukka Rask was between the pipes for Boston. 

The Bruins took it to the Canucks in the first period. With fresh legs in the lineup against an ailing Vancouver team, it was as if the Canucks did not know what had hit them. Daniel Paille netted his second goal of the season just a minute into the period. That lead was short lived as Ryan Stanton beat Rask just two minutes later. 

In the second period, the B's were the dominant team yet again. They had three power play chances, but failed to capitalize on all of them. If it were not for Canucks goaltender Eddie Lack, the game would not have been as close as it was. He ended up stopping 40 shots on the night against Boston. Despite their lack of chances, the B's allowed their opponent to take the lead during a mental breakdown in the neutral zone. 

Even though there was a late rush by the B's, Lack was there to shut things down. Boston fell at home on this night by a score of 2-1. Wasted opportunities was definitely the theme on this night. 

The Bruins will end the week with a back-to-back set on Friday and Saturday. Their opponents will be the New Jersey Devils and the Arizona Coyotes, respectively. 

Gold Star: Torey Krug...He used what brought him to the dance in this game. He recorded a team-high six shots on net, generating lots of scoring chances.

Black Star: Jordan Caron...Useless, plain and simple.

Game Sixty Box Score

Game 59: Undermanned For Huge Matinee

If the Boston Bruins did not have bad luck, then they would not have any luck at all. 

In the midst of a six-game losing streak, the B's are still searching for their first victory on this grueling Western Conference road trip. Mercifully, the trip came to a conclusion on Sunday afternoon. The only problem was that this was arguably going to be the stiffest challenge of the season so far. They traveled to Chicago to take on the Blackhawks. 

On Saturday morning, B's general manager Peter Chiarelli announced that Kevan Miller re-dislocated his shoulder during the game against the Calgary Flames and will undergo season-ending surgery. Here is a copy of the release: 

Update on Kevan Miller

As undermanned as the Bruins were heading into Sunday afternoon, it got even more disastrous. David Krejci left the game on Saturday against the St. Louis Blues with a lower-body injury, but traveled with the team to Chicago. He did not end up playing in this game. Ryan Spooner, who is completely capable of filling that void, was inserted into the lineup after being recalled from Providence. 

The general consensus is that the Blackhawks will be the Western Conference representative in the Stanley Cup Final this year. They have the deepest team with All-Star talent at each position, led by Corey Crawford between the pipes. With the way things are trending for the Black and Gold, it would have been miraculous if they could emerge with two points in this game.

It's worth noting that Malcolm Subban was sent back down to make room for Spooner. Niklas Svedberg was the backup goaltender on this day behind Tuukka Rask. 

The Bruins jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first period, one of the goals coming on the power play. Patrice Bergeron (200th career goal) and Loui Eriksson netted the tallies. They had an extra jump in their step and were matching up physically with Chicago hit for hit. However, Chicago crept back into the game after two ridiculously mindless penalties on Rask. 

One thing that the B's needed to work on was being a little bit more careful with the puck as the game progressed. The patience and precision caused the B's to pop in two more goals, eventually chasing Crawford from the game. Brian Ferlin recorded his first-career NHL point as he picked up an assist on Gregory Campbell's goal. Dougie Hamilton and Reilly Smith each netted a goal as well. This looked like a totally different team on the ice through the first 40 minutes. The Bruins out-shot the Blackhawks 15-7 in the second period. 

In the third period, both teams were playing at a snails pace, knowing full well what the end result of this game would be. Chicago still pushed hard to try and save face in this one. Bryan Bickell scored later on in this period, but that was the highlight of the day for Chicago. The final score was 6-2 in favor of the Black and Gold. For the Bruins, 12 different skaters had at least one point. 

Boston finally broke the losing streak by getting this win, avoiding dropping seven straight games. The B's salvaged what was left of the road trip by accumulating four points. 

The Bruins will return home on Tuesday night to face the Vancouver Canucks. 

Gold Star: Tuukka Rask...This was certainly a bounce-back game for him despite his immature start to this game. He made 26 saves on 28 shots. 

Black Star: Carl Soderberg...He really did not do much in this game. Did anyone really see him do anything useful on the ice? Not so much.

Game Fifty-Nine Box Score

Game 58: Just Win...Please?

The Boston Bruins lost to the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night. Just let that sink in for a minute....

So, what do you make of that? Is this rock bottom for one of the proudest organizations in the NHL? Setting aside the fact that they could not pull out a win against one of the worst teams in the league, the manner in how they lost was horrid. After 12 rounds of the shootout, NOT ONE puck ended up past Oilers goaltender Ben Scrivens. The B's are not locked in. They cannot score. They cannot win.

Boston has accumulated two out of a possible six points thus far on this road trip. The team also has posted a very underwhelming 1-4-2 record in the month of February heading into Friday night. This trip was not going to get any easier as the Bruins took on the St. Louis Blues to close out the week.

With the Blues, this is a team that ranks in the top ten in scoring and they have one of the deepest teams in the entire league. Remember when the Bruins could brag about those attributes? Vladimir Tarasenko leads the team in points (55), hence the justification for the great rankings. However, Kevin Shattenkirk did not play on Friday due to injury. The B's needed to capitalize and crash the defense. 

The Bruins recalled forward Brian Ferlin from Providence as they placed Kevan Miller on injured reserve. He skated on the fourth line in place of Daniel Paille. Malcolm Subban made his NHL debut in net for the Black and Gold. Let's what the hype is all about, shall we? 

In the first period, we started to see the Bruins of old...and by old, we are only going back to January. The B's held the high-powered Blues to only three shots on goal, keeping the work load for Subban low. Brad Marchand put Boston on the board first with a quick wrist shot. For 80 minutes of hockey this season, St. Louis did not score on Boston..interesting stat. 

The second period is when the B's fell apart. Subban was pulled from net after the Blues scored four unanswered goals in the second 40 minutes. To add injury to insult, David Krejci left the game after suffering a lower-body injury when he hit Alex Steen. 

Not much happened after that; the teams were just skating along in the third period to just get through the night. In what was a fast-moving (and disappointing) affair, the Bruins fell to St. Louis by a final score of 5-1. Just one more chance to get this right. 

The Bruins will close out the road trip on Sunday afternoon when they take on the Chicago Blackhawks.

Gold Star: Patrice Bergeron...Normally putting his name here gets old, but he really was the best player out on the ice for Boston. He had an assist and three shots on goal with a solid night from the face-off circle. 

Black Star: Malcolm Subban...Three goals allowed in his debut...and they were incredibly soft goals at that. However, he needs to shake things off and move on with his career. These nights will happen.

Game Fifty-Eight Box Score

Games 56-57: Are The Bruins In Trouble?

The trip continues for the Boston Bruins.

With an awful 5-2 loss against the Vancouver Canucks on Friday night, should the B's wait until after the road trip to make a trade/deal? Let's hope that they used the weekend to think about that; they cannot afford to stand pat and wait around. 

As important as it is to focus on the teams in front of them in the Eastern Conference standings, the B's need to be aware of the Florida Panthers. They were only three points behind Boston for that final playoff spot heading into the week. 

However, the focus was on Monday night and the Calgary Flames. Both the Bruins and Flames are fighting for the last Wild Card spot in their respective conferences. Although Calgary has turned into a surprise team this year, they are a legitimate squad built from the back out. This game had the potential for a high-octane and gritty affair.

Matt Bartkowski, who had not played since December 31, entered the lineup against the Flames and skated with Dennis Seidenberg. Tuukka Rask was in goal yet again for the B's. 

The Bruins turned a complete 180 from Friday; they got off to an explosive start. Brad Marchand and Zdeno Chara (finally) recorded early tallies for the Black and Gold. Calgary would not go away, though. In fact, it has been awhile since the B's faced a team that was as relentless and aggressive as the Flames were on this night. Rask and the rest of the defense felt the onslaught of scoring chances from their stars (Johnny Gaudreau, Mark Giordano, and Sean Monahan). 

At one point the Bruins possessed a 3-0 lead in this game, and the B's had a record of 10-0-0 when leading by three at any point this season. However, the Flames are one of the best third period plus/minus teams in the NHL. Which one prevailed? 

With Jiri Hudler netting a pair, Calgary came back to tie the game...and eventually stole the full two points in overtime. Unbelievable.  

On Wednesday night, the Bruins headed to Edmonton to take on the Oilers. Edmonton is the worst team in the Western Conference in terms of points, but sometimes those teams are the most dangerous. Hey, Boston: don't take these young guns lightly and play this game like it was the last game of the year. Points are at a premium.

Malcolm Subban was recalled from Providence earlier in the week and joined the team in Edmonton. Kevan Miller missed this game with a shoulder injury and he may miss significant time since he was sent back to Boston for the rest of this trip. Adam McQuaid was inserted in his place. With Rask undefeated against the Oilers in his career, the B's were hoping to pick up their 14th consecutive win in the series with him back between the pipes. 

Well, the start was pathetic. The B's fell behind 2-0 just minutes into the first period. They have now allowed the first goal in six out of the last seven contests. Aside from one goal scored by Loui Eriksson on a "new-look" power play, Boston did not play with any intensity in the first period.

It took the Bruins to get down by two goals to finally get it together. They started to play harder and rack up scoring chances as the game progressed. Reilly Smith and Chara netted a goal each in a span of 1:35 to tie the game at three heading into the final 20 minutes. The game eventually went into overtime (an extra period that was absolutely dominated by Boston) and then into a shootout. After 12 rounds, Edmonton ended the game on the stick of Martin Marincin to take the two points.

Playing catch-up hockey was too much for the Bruins. Another overtime loss on this road trip. Boy, this team needs a win. 

Game four of the road trip will be played on Friday night against the St. Louis Blues.

Gold Star (combined): Zdeno Chara...With a goal and assist over these two games, albeit against weaker competition, the captain played well. He was actually a force in the defensive zone. 

Black Star (combined): Tuukka Rask...Seven goals allowed in two games is a bad stretch for any goaltender. He has played well lately, but this week has been rough for him.

Game Fifty-Six Box Score

Game Fifty-Seven Box Score