The Boston Bruins knocked off the New York Islanders Monday night by a score of 6-2 as they start a five game home stand off the right way. The B's now have won three straight games. They are slowly, but surely, digging themselves out of that early-season slump.
The Bruins led 3-2 after the first period. Benoit Pouliot scored his first goal of the season after a Jordan Caron shot deflected to his stick and he just tapped the puck into the goal. Pouliot was activated for this game due to an undisclosed injury to Rich Peverley.
Nathan Horton and Tyler Seguin had the other two Boston goals in the opening period. Horton's goal was a power play goal, the only power play opportunity of the game for Boston. They were perfect on the man advantage in Monday's game, technically speaking.......
Anyway, Matt Moulson and Michael Grabner had the two goals for the Islanders. Along with John Tavares, Moulson and Grabner are a very underrated first line in the NHL. All three players contributed to the two goals (Tavares had an assist and both Moulson and Grabner each had a goal and an assist). Unfortunately, the Islanders do not have much beyond that top line.
The Bruins went on to add three more goals in the third period. The top line of Horton, Milan Lucic and David Krejci had the goals. The first line played the way a top line should, combining for four goals and four assists. The defense played very tight, allowing Tuukka Rask to get his first win of the season. Finally some goal support.
A scary moment in the third period occurred when Islanders defenseman Steve Staios blasted a slap shot right into the face of Bruins forward Daniel Paille. After laying on the ice for several minutes, he was able to get to his feet and skate off the ice with a blood-soaked towel covering his face. He did end up leaving the game and he did not return. Paille will be examined by a specialist Tuesday to determine if there is a significant head injury.
Boston improves to 6-7-0 on the year. Their next game will be Thursday night at the TD Garden when they take on the Edmonton Oilers.
Gold Star: Nathan Horton (2 goals, 1 assist, +1 rating).
Black Star: Chris Kelly...A tough game for Kelly as the referees were not making it easy on him. He got called for questionable penalties and could not get any momentum going.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Game Twelve: Yup, We Have A Star
For the first time this season, the Boston Bruins won back-to-back games. They did so by defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight on the road and they did it in most convincing fashion. The final score was Boston 7, Toronto 0.
Despite the one-sided score, the Maple Leafs had more shots on goal (25-20), they won more face-offs (29-24), and they had more scoring chances as crazy as that may seem.
Tyler Seguin had his first career hat trick. Seguin had the only goal of the first period and it was a power play goal assisted by Rich Peverley and Patrice Bergeron. His second goal should be a candidate for goal of the year. He slapped the puck out of mid-air with his stick and carefully placed it over the left shoulder of Leafs goaltender Ben Scrivens into the goal. His third goal came later in the second period.
The Bruins had it going on all offensive fronts tonight, not just with Seguin. Milan Lucic had two goals and an assist in this game. Bergeron had three assists. Zdeno Chara had two assists. David Krejci had a goal and two assists. Every player was getting involved but it was overshadowed by Seguin's career night. The fact that they forced Toronto to change goaltenders was lost in the mix as well.
Tim Thomas stopped all 25 shots he faced and he shut the door down against the Maple Leafs. He robbed Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul on several occasions. However, the defense in front of him was shaky at times tonight. Dennis Seidenberg is beginning to become invisible and Johnny Boychuk turned the puck over three times on one shift.
It would not surprise me if Boychuk does not return here next season. Steven Kampfer is NHL ready and he is just waiting for something like a trade or (god forbid) an injury to take place in order for him to get his chance.
Jordan Caron has had a great stretch of games lately. He is winning the battle against Benoit Pouliot, a player we went out and signed. I said from the beginning that Bruins management did not need to go out and get another winger to replace Mark Recchi because Caron has every attribute he had. He is proving the organization wrong and myself right. Thank you.
The Bruins next game will be Monday night at the TD Garden against the New York Islanders.
Gold Star: Tyler Seguin (3 goals, +2 rating, 3 shots on goal)
Black Star: Nathan Horton...Now we have a better understanding as to why Horton has not played that well thus far. His concussion has healed, but the memory still lingers and he is still afraid to expose himself too much on the ice.
Despite the one-sided score, the Maple Leafs had more shots on goal (25-20), they won more face-offs (29-24), and they had more scoring chances as crazy as that may seem.
Tyler Seguin had his first career hat trick. Seguin had the only goal of the first period and it was a power play goal assisted by Rich Peverley and Patrice Bergeron. His second goal should be a candidate for goal of the year. He slapped the puck out of mid-air with his stick and carefully placed it over the left shoulder of Leafs goaltender Ben Scrivens into the goal. His third goal came later in the second period.
The Bruins had it going on all offensive fronts tonight, not just with Seguin. Milan Lucic had two goals and an assist in this game. Bergeron had three assists. Zdeno Chara had two assists. David Krejci had a goal and two assists. Every player was getting involved but it was overshadowed by Seguin's career night. The fact that they forced Toronto to change goaltenders was lost in the mix as well.
Tim Thomas stopped all 25 shots he faced and he shut the door down against the Maple Leafs. He robbed Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul on several occasions. However, the defense in front of him was shaky at times tonight. Dennis Seidenberg is beginning to become invisible and Johnny Boychuk turned the puck over three times on one shift.
It would not surprise me if Boychuk does not return here next season. Steven Kampfer is NHL ready and he is just waiting for something like a trade or (god forbid) an injury to take place in order for him to get his chance.
Jordan Caron has had a great stretch of games lately. He is winning the battle against Benoit Pouliot, a player we went out and signed. I said from the beginning that Bruins management did not need to go out and get another winger to replace Mark Recchi because Caron has every attribute he had. He is proving the organization wrong and myself right. Thank you.
The Bruins next game will be Monday night at the TD Garden against the New York Islanders.
Gold Star: Tyler Seguin (3 goals, +2 rating, 3 shots on goal)
Black Star: Nathan Horton...Now we have a better understanding as to why Horton has not played that well thus far. His concussion has healed, but the memory still lingers and he is still afraid to expose himself too much on the ice.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Game Eleven: It's About Time
Seriously I mean it when I say it is about time. The Boston Bruins defeated the Ottawa Senators by a score of 5-3. That means the negative talk is over. We can all exhale a big sigh of relief.
Not quite.
The Bruins still hold the last place in the Northeast Division and knocking off a divisional rival like they did tonight is a step in the right direction. But they still need to dig themselves out of the early hole that they have created.
Boston actually fell behind again in the opening period. Nick Foligno and Stephane Da Costa had the goals for Ottawa in the first 20 minutes. Milan Lucic scored a power play goal in between the opposing tallies. The power play looked very well tonight for Boston despite only capitalizing on one man advantage. They worked the puck around and took high percentage shots.
By the end of the second period, the Bruins had taken the lead. Patrice Bergeron scored his third goal of the season after receiving a nice pass from Tyler Seguin. Chris Kelly, who is not known for his offensive capabilities, had a beautiful goal near the top of the point. It was set up by Rich Peverley and Zdeno Chara. Both Peverley and Chara each had two assists in this game.
Johnny Boychuk and Daniel Paille had the third period goals for Boston and Jared Cowen had the lone third period goal for Ottawa. 12 different players had points for the Bruins. Shawn Thornton and Gregory Campbell dropped the gloves with Zenon Konopka and Zack Smith, respectively. Thornton and Campbell did their job by picking their spots and controlling their emotions, something no one did during the past two games with the Montreal Canadiens. They also had assists in the game too. All they needed was a goal each and they would have had Gordie Howe hat tricks....hey it's funny to imagine things right?
All kidding aside, this is a Bruins team that we are used to seeing from season's past. They played their style of hockey and defeated an Ottawa team that was riding a six game win streak. The B's next game will be Saturday night in Toronto when they take on the first place Maple Leafs.
Gold Star: Zdeno Chara...Along with the two assists, he was a huge physical presence on the ice.
Black Star: David Krejci...I am getting sick of Krejci already this season. There are times where it seems like he does not want to play hard. His wingers (Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton) are playing better, but I do not think it is because of him. He is not a first-line center.
Not quite.
The Bruins still hold the last place in the Northeast Division and knocking off a divisional rival like they did tonight is a step in the right direction. But they still need to dig themselves out of the early hole that they have created.
Boston actually fell behind again in the opening period. Nick Foligno and Stephane Da Costa had the goals for Ottawa in the first 20 minutes. Milan Lucic scored a power play goal in between the opposing tallies. The power play looked very well tonight for Boston despite only capitalizing on one man advantage. They worked the puck around and took high percentage shots.
By the end of the second period, the Bruins had taken the lead. Patrice Bergeron scored his third goal of the season after receiving a nice pass from Tyler Seguin. Chris Kelly, who is not known for his offensive capabilities, had a beautiful goal near the top of the point. It was set up by Rich Peverley and Zdeno Chara. Both Peverley and Chara each had two assists in this game.
Johnny Boychuk and Daniel Paille had the third period goals for Boston and Jared Cowen had the lone third period goal for Ottawa. 12 different players had points for the Bruins. Shawn Thornton and Gregory Campbell dropped the gloves with Zenon Konopka and Zack Smith, respectively. Thornton and Campbell did their job by picking their spots and controlling their emotions, something no one did during the past two games with the Montreal Canadiens. They also had assists in the game too. All they needed was a goal each and they would have had Gordie Howe hat tricks....hey it's funny to imagine things right?
All kidding aside, this is a Bruins team that we are used to seeing from season's past. They played their style of hockey and defeated an Ottawa team that was riding a six game win streak. The B's next game will be Saturday night in Toronto when they take on the first place Maple Leafs.
Gold Star: Zdeno Chara...Along with the two assists, he was a huge physical presence on the ice.
Black Star: David Krejci...I am getting sick of Krejci already this season. There are times where it seems like he does not want to play hard. His wingers (Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton) are playing better, but I do not think it is because of him. He is not a first-line center.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Game Ten: Home-And-Home With The Habs Part 2
After getting embarrassed at home on Thursday night by the Habs, the Bruins traveled to Montreal tonight for the second game of the home-and-home series to take on the Canadiens. Maybe they did not get embarrassed as far as the score (they only lost the game by a score of 2-1), but losing at home to your rival after dominating most of the game is embarrassing for the players, the coaches, and the fans.
Bruins forward Benoit Pouliot was scratched from tonight's game due to an illness. He was replaced by Jordan Caron.
The key was to come out strong for this game. Bruins head coach Claude Julien sent out his fourth line of Gregory Campbell, Daniel Paille, and Shawn Thornton to start the game. I am assuming that he did this just to get his team off to a fast and energetic start. Julien was thinking a bit too optimistically.
Boston fell behind again as Montreal scored two goals in the first period. Brian Gionta scored a power play goal after deflecting a shot by Tomas Plekanec past Tuukka Rask. Lars Eller added the second goal a little over a minute later. Boston has now trailed in every game they have played in this season with the exception of the game against Tampa Bay.
The B's began battling the officials in the second period. Some questionable calls got whistled against Boston where similar calls would not get called against Montreal. With that being said, Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban suckered both Andrew Ference and Milan Lucic into minor penalties.
David Desharnais capitalized on the Ference penalty by adding another power play goal for the Canadiens. Montreal had five power play opportunities through the first two periods while Boston had zero. They were not disciplined and they seemed pretty content just laying hits on their opposition instead of playing hockey.
Lucic put Boston on the board after a great defensive play by David Krejci forced the turnover to Nathan Horton and he passed the puck over to Lucic for the one-time shot past Carey Price. The Lucic-Krejci-Horton line was reunited in this game in hopes of those three players returning to playoff form.
Rask made some great saves in the third period. On the offensive side of the puck, the Bruins finally got a power play opportunity. However, the only thing they were able to do with it was hit the post. Tyler Seguin scored a late goal for the Bruins after Rask was pulled for the extra attacker.
Tim Thomas came on in relief of Rask for only a few seconds until he was pulled for another attacker. Plekanec added an empty net goal for the Habs as they went on to defeat the Bruins by a score of 4-2.
The fact that they pulled Rask for Thomas in a tight game shows that they have no confidence in the young goaltender. It is not his fault that the Bruins cannot give him any goal support. Right now, the Bruins really miss Marc Savard.
The Bruins will head back home for a Tuesday night divisional game against the Ottawa Senators.
Gold Star: Daniel Paille...Most likely, no one was paying attention to Paille. If you watched him play tonight, he was one of the stronger players for Boston. The recent trade talks have forced him to pick up his game.
Black Star: Andrew Ference...The walk of shame is a terrible feeling for a hockey player. Even though he took dumb penalties, he also did not play a strong game.
Bruins forward Benoit Pouliot was scratched from tonight's game due to an illness. He was replaced by Jordan Caron.
The key was to come out strong for this game. Bruins head coach Claude Julien sent out his fourth line of Gregory Campbell, Daniel Paille, and Shawn Thornton to start the game. I am assuming that he did this just to get his team off to a fast and energetic start. Julien was thinking a bit too optimistically.
Boston fell behind again as Montreal scored two goals in the first period. Brian Gionta scored a power play goal after deflecting a shot by Tomas Plekanec past Tuukka Rask. Lars Eller added the second goal a little over a minute later. Boston has now trailed in every game they have played in this season with the exception of the game against Tampa Bay.
The B's began battling the officials in the second period. Some questionable calls got whistled against Boston where similar calls would not get called against Montreal. With that being said, Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban suckered both Andrew Ference and Milan Lucic into minor penalties.
David Desharnais capitalized on the Ference penalty by adding another power play goal for the Canadiens. Montreal had five power play opportunities through the first two periods while Boston had zero. They were not disciplined and they seemed pretty content just laying hits on their opposition instead of playing hockey.
Lucic put Boston on the board after a great defensive play by David Krejci forced the turnover to Nathan Horton and he passed the puck over to Lucic for the one-time shot past Carey Price. The Lucic-Krejci-Horton line was reunited in this game in hopes of those three players returning to playoff form.
Rask made some great saves in the third period. On the offensive side of the puck, the Bruins finally got a power play opportunity. However, the only thing they were able to do with it was hit the post. Tyler Seguin scored a late goal for the Bruins after Rask was pulled for the extra attacker.
Tim Thomas came on in relief of Rask for only a few seconds until he was pulled for another attacker. Plekanec added an empty net goal for the Habs as they went on to defeat the Bruins by a score of 4-2.
The fact that they pulled Rask for Thomas in a tight game shows that they have no confidence in the young goaltender. It is not his fault that the Bruins cannot give him any goal support. Right now, the Bruins really miss Marc Savard.
The Bruins will head back home for a Tuesday night divisional game against the Ottawa Senators.
Gold Star: Daniel Paille...Most likely, no one was paying attention to Paille. If you watched him play tonight, he was one of the stronger players for Boston. The recent trade talks have forced him to pick up his game.
Black Star: Andrew Ference...The walk of shame is a terrible feeling for a hockey player. Even though he took dumb penalties, he also did not play a strong game.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Game Nine: Home-And-Home With The Habs Part 1
It is not officially Bruins season until the first meeting with their rival occurs. It's not even a debate when I say that the Bruins-Canadiens rivalry is the greatest rivalry in sports. Tonight was the first meeting of the season between the two teams.
Canadiens forward Max Pacioretty was in action for Montreal tonight, signifying the first time that he played against the Bruins since suffering the "devastating hit" from Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara. You know that the government officials and police in Montreal are still unsure whether or not to bring criminal charges against Big Z? My god this issue was dead and buried months ago, at least that is what we all thought. Even Pacioretty went on record saying that he hopes Chara is not charged with criminal actions. That was straight from the horse's mouth.
Bruins forward Benoit Pouliot played against his former team for the first time in this game. The former first round draft pick has had a disappointing career thus far. Hopefully wearing the black and gold will get him going in the right direction. As far as him crossing over enemy lines, Pouliot said that he is glad that he is "on the right side of the rivalry." Take that Montreal.
One last side note, defenseman Adam McQuaid made his return to the lineup after missing the last four games with a neck injury.
Now we can get to the game. The first period was controlled by Boston as they had multiple great scoring chances. They did a great job of drawing penalties. Just one second into a Boston power play, Patrice Bergeron deflected the puck on the ensuing face-off right into the goal. Towards the end of the period, Milan Lucic got reacquainted with old friend P.K. Subban by roughing him up a little bit. Good friends show tough love right?
The second period definitely got interesting. Erik Cole tied the game up for the Canadiens after deflecting a shot by Jaroslav Spacek past Tim Thomas for the goal. The rest of the period consisted of Thomas and Canadiens goaltender Carey Price making great saves robbing clear scoring chances. Questionable calls against Boston negated two potential power plays.
We also got to see Brad Marchand hook up with Subban in a fight. It ended up taking three tries, but the referees finally let them go. The first two times the referees stepped in before they got going and gave them each minor penalties (holding for the first time and delay of game for the second time). Marchand did his job whether he won or lost the fight. Subban is one of Montreal's better defensemen. Getting him off the ice for nine minutes due to penalties was huge.
The third period saw an injection of energy by Boston's fourth line of Gregory Campbell, Daniel Paille, and Shawn Thornton. Campbell, who left the game briefly in the second period due to being cut with a skate on his leg, also got some time with David Krejci and Nathan Horton. Despite the line up change, the Bruins could not get anything going. Montreal took the lead after a goal by Tomas Plekanec. Boston fell to Montreal by a score of 2-1.
The Bruins fall to last place in the Northeast Division and last place in the Eastern Conference with a 3-6-0 record and six points. Wow. They will play the second game of the home-and-home series against the Canadiens on Saturday night.
Gold Star: Tim Thomas: (33 saves on 35 shots, 2 goals allowed, .943 save percentage)
Black Star: Joe Corvo...Not the best game for the veteran defenseman. He had a couple of broken sticks, which is not a big deal. It happens. But choosing to go for another stick instead of trying to stay in the play could have been costly.
Canadiens forward Max Pacioretty was in action for Montreal tonight, signifying the first time that he played against the Bruins since suffering the "devastating hit" from Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara. You know that the government officials and police in Montreal are still unsure whether or not to bring criminal charges against Big Z? My god this issue was dead and buried months ago, at least that is what we all thought. Even Pacioretty went on record saying that he hopes Chara is not charged with criminal actions. That was straight from the horse's mouth.
Bruins forward Benoit Pouliot played against his former team for the first time in this game. The former first round draft pick has had a disappointing career thus far. Hopefully wearing the black and gold will get him going in the right direction. As far as him crossing over enemy lines, Pouliot said that he is glad that he is "on the right side of the rivalry." Take that Montreal.
One last side note, defenseman Adam McQuaid made his return to the lineup after missing the last four games with a neck injury.
Now we can get to the game. The first period was controlled by Boston as they had multiple great scoring chances. They did a great job of drawing penalties. Just one second into a Boston power play, Patrice Bergeron deflected the puck on the ensuing face-off right into the goal. Towards the end of the period, Milan Lucic got reacquainted with old friend P.K. Subban by roughing him up a little bit. Good friends show tough love right?
The second period definitely got interesting. Erik Cole tied the game up for the Canadiens after deflecting a shot by Jaroslav Spacek past Tim Thomas for the goal. The rest of the period consisted of Thomas and Canadiens goaltender Carey Price making great saves robbing clear scoring chances. Questionable calls against Boston negated two potential power plays.
We also got to see Brad Marchand hook up with Subban in a fight. It ended up taking three tries, but the referees finally let them go. The first two times the referees stepped in before they got going and gave them each minor penalties (holding for the first time and delay of game for the second time). Marchand did his job whether he won or lost the fight. Subban is one of Montreal's better defensemen. Getting him off the ice for nine minutes due to penalties was huge.
The third period saw an injection of energy by Boston's fourth line of Gregory Campbell, Daniel Paille, and Shawn Thornton. Campbell, who left the game briefly in the second period due to being cut with a skate on his leg, also got some time with David Krejci and Nathan Horton. Despite the line up change, the Bruins could not get anything going. Montreal took the lead after a goal by Tomas Plekanec. Boston fell to Montreal by a score of 2-1.
The Bruins fall to last place in the Northeast Division and last place in the Eastern Conference with a 3-6-0 record and six points. Wow. They will play the second game of the home-and-home series against the Canadiens on Saturday night.
Gold Star: Tim Thomas: (33 saves on 35 shots, 2 goals allowed, .943 save percentage)
Black Star: Joe Corvo...Not the best game for the veteran defenseman. He had a couple of broken sticks, which is not a big deal. It happens. But choosing to go for another stick instead of trying to stay in the play could have been costly.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Game Eight: Jumbo Test
Joe Thornton made his return to the TD Garden tonight as his visiting San Jose Sharks took on the Boston Bruins. Unlike former Bruins players like Marco Sturm, Dennis Wideman, and Phil Kessel, the Boston fans will never boo "Jumbo Joe" because he was traded out of Boston. He lifted the organization at a time when the Bruins were downright miserable and often times looked at as a push-over team. He is a well-respected player and an even better person. It is hard to imagine that his NHL career is already 1,000 games old.
His Sharks are not off to the best start this season, sitting in last place in the Pacific Division. They came off a huge shootout win last night against the New Jersey Devils. The reason I mention this is because the Bruins will face opponents who play the previous night 14 times this season. The Bruins are 2-0-0 so far in those respective games and they tried to continue that streak against San Jose.
The entire game consisted of the Sharks utilizing somewhat of an amoeba formation in which the defenders and forwards constantly change position. This tactic is not an easy thing to plan for and the Bruins had some struggles with it early on. Joe Pavelski gave the Sharks an early lead after Thornton fed Pavelski the puck and shot it past Tim Thomas.
Logan Couture doubled their lead after the puck was dumped in the zone and Ryane Clowe beat out three Bruins players to get to the puck. From there, he passed the puck to Couture in front of the net and he was not going to miss from that distance. Shawn Thornton beat Jim Vandermeer pretty convincingly in a fight in hopes of giving Boston some energy heading into the final period.
Did he ever succeed at that or what? The Bruins came out and scored two goals in less than thirty seconds of each other to tie the game. Milan Lucic and Tyler Seguin had the goals. They really have become a great tandem in terms of scoring. The chemistry is just there and you get that feeling that something could happen every time they take the ice.
The score did not remain tied for long as Benn Ferriero put the Sharks back on top. He cleaned up a rebound that, in all honesty, Thomas should have had in the first place. They later added an empty net goal as they went on to defeat the Bruins by a score of 4-2.
The Bruins have a long break for the early part of next week but their next game will be Thursday night at the TD Garden when the Montreal Canadiens come in to begin writing the 2011-2012 season chapter of the greatest rivalry in sports.
Gold Star: Tyler Seguin (1 goal, +2 rating, 5 shots on goal)...He is turning into the best player for this Bruins team. Even his defense has improved significantly. His nine points leads all players in the NHL under the age of 20.
Black Star: Nathan Horton...Not a very strong game for the power forward as he finished with a -2 rating.
His Sharks are not off to the best start this season, sitting in last place in the Pacific Division. They came off a huge shootout win last night against the New Jersey Devils. The reason I mention this is because the Bruins will face opponents who play the previous night 14 times this season. The Bruins are 2-0-0 so far in those respective games and they tried to continue that streak against San Jose.
The entire game consisted of the Sharks utilizing somewhat of an amoeba formation in which the defenders and forwards constantly change position. This tactic is not an easy thing to plan for and the Bruins had some struggles with it early on. Joe Pavelski gave the Sharks an early lead after Thornton fed Pavelski the puck and shot it past Tim Thomas.
Logan Couture doubled their lead after the puck was dumped in the zone and Ryane Clowe beat out three Bruins players to get to the puck. From there, he passed the puck to Couture in front of the net and he was not going to miss from that distance. Shawn Thornton beat Jim Vandermeer pretty convincingly in a fight in hopes of giving Boston some energy heading into the final period.
Did he ever succeed at that or what? The Bruins came out and scored two goals in less than thirty seconds of each other to tie the game. Milan Lucic and Tyler Seguin had the goals. They really have become a great tandem in terms of scoring. The chemistry is just there and you get that feeling that something could happen every time they take the ice.
The score did not remain tied for long as Benn Ferriero put the Sharks back on top. He cleaned up a rebound that, in all honesty, Thomas should have had in the first place. They later added an empty net goal as they went on to defeat the Bruins by a score of 4-2.
The Bruins have a long break for the early part of next week but their next game will be Thursday night at the TD Garden when the Montreal Canadiens come in to begin writing the 2011-2012 season chapter of the greatest rivalry in sports.
Gold Star: Tyler Seguin (1 goal, +2 rating, 5 shots on goal)...He is turning into the best player for this Bruins team. Even his defense has improved significantly. His nine points leads all players in the NHL under the age of 20.
Black Star: Nathan Horton...Not a very strong game for the power forward as he finished with a -2 rating.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Game Seven: A Familiar Face
The struggles of the Boston Bruins so far this season have been well documented. A change, or several, needed to be made. Head coach Claude Julien made some drastic changes yesterday at practice that carried over to tonight's game.
David Krejci made his return to the lineup as the third-line center, a position he has not been in since the early part of the 2010 season. Krejci normally centers the first line between Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton. Ironically, none of those three players started the game on the same line. For this game, Horton played on the same line with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand while Lucic played with Chris Kelly and Tyler Seguin. The way Boston rotates their top three lines there really is no distinguishable first line because of their depth.
Also, defenseman Steve Kampfer made his season debut tonight as Adam McQuaid was once again unable to play due to his head injury.
Now we can get to their opponent for tonight. The B's took on the Toronto Maple Leafs in their first divisional game this season. Every time Toronto makes the trip to the Garden, we all hear the talk about Phil Kessel. I recently thanked him for giving us the option to trade him out of here and get the draft pick that produced Tyler Seguin.
With that being said, we all need to let the issue with Kessel drop. Obviously the way he left Boston was not the most flattering. However, should we just ignore that he racked up 66 goals and 60 assists for 126 points in three seasons with the B's? Oh how we all forget so quickly.
The Bruins were ranked dead last in the NHL in goals scored coming into tonight, so they needed to come out with some offense quickly. The first period belonged to the Bruins as they controlled much of the possession and had the better scoring chances. The Maple Leafs did get on the board first when David Steckel shot the puck on Tim Thomas and it deflected into the goal. From there, the Bruins went on to score three unanswered goals, two of which were power play goals.
Nathan Horton and Zdeno Chara had the goals when the B's had the man advantage. Chris Kelly scored his second goal of the season after a hustling Milan Lucic charged to the puck and sent it in front of the net for Kelly to put it home. Andrew Ference had an assist on all three first period goals. Kudos to Shawn Thornton for getting into his first fight of the season with Colton Orr to get the team going and to Benoit Pouliot for drawing the two penalties that led to power play goals.
The second period consisted mostly of both teams trading minor penalties. As a result, both teams began to settle down and neither team could not really get any good momentum going. I'm not saying that there were no good scoring chances because that was not the case. Both goaltenders, Thomas for Boston and Jonas Gustavsson for Toronto, just came up with some huge saves.
The Bruins went on another scoring spree in the third period. Lucic and Seguin each scored and they each assisted on the other teammate's goal. Patrice Bergeron picked up his first goal of the season as he skated in uncontested and blasted the puck past Gustavsson. Mikhail Grabovski added a goal for Toronto, but it was not enough at that point.
The Bruins went on to win this game by a score of 6-2. They will welcome in the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night.
Gold Star: Milan Lucic (1 goal, 2 assists, +2 rating, 3 shots on goal)...He found his game for sure tonight playing with Chris Kelly and Tyler Seguin. His physicality led to him being productive offensively.
Black Star: Johnny Boychuk...If you watched him play, you would see that he struggled. He made bad passes that led to turnovers and he had trouble controlling the puck in the offensive zone.
David Krejci made his return to the lineup as the third-line center, a position he has not been in since the early part of the 2010 season. Krejci normally centers the first line between Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton. Ironically, none of those three players started the game on the same line. For this game, Horton played on the same line with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand while Lucic played with Chris Kelly and Tyler Seguin. The way Boston rotates their top three lines there really is no distinguishable first line because of their depth.
Also, defenseman Steve Kampfer made his season debut tonight as Adam McQuaid was once again unable to play due to his head injury.
Now we can get to their opponent for tonight. The B's took on the Toronto Maple Leafs in their first divisional game this season. Every time Toronto makes the trip to the Garden, we all hear the talk about Phil Kessel. I recently thanked him for giving us the option to trade him out of here and get the draft pick that produced Tyler Seguin.
With that being said, we all need to let the issue with Kessel drop. Obviously the way he left Boston was not the most flattering. However, should we just ignore that he racked up 66 goals and 60 assists for 126 points in three seasons with the B's? Oh how we all forget so quickly.
The Bruins were ranked dead last in the NHL in goals scored coming into tonight, so they needed to come out with some offense quickly. The first period belonged to the Bruins as they controlled much of the possession and had the better scoring chances. The Maple Leafs did get on the board first when David Steckel shot the puck on Tim Thomas and it deflected into the goal. From there, the Bruins went on to score three unanswered goals, two of which were power play goals.
Nathan Horton and Zdeno Chara had the goals when the B's had the man advantage. Chris Kelly scored his second goal of the season after a hustling Milan Lucic charged to the puck and sent it in front of the net for Kelly to put it home. Andrew Ference had an assist on all three first period goals. Kudos to Shawn Thornton for getting into his first fight of the season with Colton Orr to get the team going and to Benoit Pouliot for drawing the two penalties that led to power play goals.
The second period consisted mostly of both teams trading minor penalties. As a result, both teams began to settle down and neither team could not really get any good momentum going. I'm not saying that there were no good scoring chances because that was not the case. Both goaltenders, Thomas for Boston and Jonas Gustavsson for Toronto, just came up with some huge saves.
The Bruins went on another scoring spree in the third period. Lucic and Seguin each scored and they each assisted on the other teammate's goal. Patrice Bergeron picked up his first goal of the season as he skated in uncontested and blasted the puck past Gustavsson. Mikhail Grabovski added a goal for Toronto, but it was not enough at that point.
The Bruins went on to win this game by a score of 6-2. They will welcome in the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night.
Gold Star: Milan Lucic (1 goal, 2 assists, +2 rating, 3 shots on goal)...He found his game for sure tonight playing with Chris Kelly and Tyler Seguin. His physicality led to him being productive offensively.
Black Star: Johnny Boychuk...If you watched him play, you would see that he struggled. He made bad passes that led to turnovers and he had trouble controlling the puck in the offensive zone.
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