Boston Bruins Gamenight: Bergeron scores in overtime as Bruins down Senators

Sometimes the puck doesn't need to be flying a hundred miles per hour to get past the goalie...

...In this game none of them did.

Patrice Bergeron put just enough stick on the puck to dribble it past a sprawling Robin Lehner to score the game winner at 3:38 of overtime as the Boston Bruins squeaked past the scrappy Ottawa Senators 2-1 at TD Garden on Thursday night.

Nathan Horton also scored for the Bruins who won their fifth straight and improved to 13-2-2 on the season and Jim O'Brien scored his fifth of the season for the Senators, who fell to 12-6-3 and had a five game winning streak snapped in the process.

The game featured two distinctly different styles, as if it were Dancing with the Stars meets WWE Smackdown..the Crisp passing and graceful skating of the Ottawa Senators against the physical brutality of the Boston Bruins - and for three periods the two styles cancelled each other out...

...for 60-plus minutes the teams took turns showing off thier wares - the Senators making long passes right on the tape of their intended targets which had the Bruins back on their heels, as it were, then the Bruins checking the Sens so often that the referees thought about asking for proper I.D..

The goal tenders, Boston's Tuukka Rask and Ottawa's Robin Lehner were fabulous in goal stoning 30 and a ridiculous 44 respectively.

Horton gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead, taking a 2 on 1 pass from Dougie Hamilton, sliding an "Excuse me" change up past Lehner at 5:48 of the second period, but then at the midway point of the period the Bruins took the always sloppy too many men on the ice penalty. 

With the man advantage, O'Brien ended a streak of 27 consecutive penalty kills by Boston, tipping in a  rebound off a shot by Kaspars Daugavins that was misplayed by David Krejci in front of the net to tie the match at 1-1.

After a scoreless final frame, the Bruins started overtime shorthanded as Milan Lucic had been called for delay of game for wrapping his hand around the puck trying to control it along the boards behind the Ottawa goal with 30 seconds left in regulation...

...Rask making several point blank stops on Senators' offerings before Bergeron ended the game with his dribbler off a rebound from a Dennis Seidenberg drive from the point, the tip in barely clearing the red line before Lehner could clear.

Ottawa now travels to Philadelphia to take on the Flyers on Saturday night, then catch the red eye puddle jumper to Uniondale, New York to face off with the Islanders on Sunday while the Bruins host the Tampa Bay Lightning in a Saturday Matinee before hosting the hated Montreal Canadiens on Sunday evening.

Boston Bruins Gamenight: Bruins punish Islanders, take 4-1 win

It was hard to tell if the Boston Bruins dominance of the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum on Tuesday Night was just the Bruins excited to end their five game roadie or if the Islanders are just that bad...

...or is it that the Bruins are just that good?

Brad Marchand scored the game winner just :38 seconds into the 2nd period and Tuukka Rask stopped 36 of 37 shots he faced as the Bruins stomped the Islanders 4-1 in Uniondale, New York.

Perhaps the most complete victory of this abbreviated season, the Bruins physically beat the Islanders - beat them down the ice, beat them on the scoreboard and beat them on the boards.   David Krejci and tough guy Adam McQuaid also scored goals on Islanders' goalie Evgeni Nabokov while Rask allowed one, a tip in off a rebound by Casey Cizikas.

McQuaid started the scoring, a slapshot from the top of the right circle off a feed from Tyler Seguin that Evengi almost had, but it dribbled through his pads to give Boston a 1-0 lead at 6:43 of the 1st. 

Nine minutes later Cizikas tied the score as teammate Josh Bailey cut in front of the net and tried to get a backhander past Rask who blocked it but couldn't control the rebound and Cizikas slapped it in through the one hole to knot the score at 1-1.

With the score still tied at 1-1 and barely into play in the 2nd period, Marchand became the little ball of rebound, backhanding a rebound into an open net as Nabokov had no time to recover from blocking Patrice Bergeron's drive from the right point.  Krejci made it 3-1 five minutes later with a wicked drive off a perfect feed from Milan Lucic, easily beating Nabokov.

After gaining the 2 goal advantage, the Bruins began punishing the Islanders in earnest, and the Boston penalty kill - which now has denied a power play goal on 24 consecutive short handed situations - had to kill off four penalties as a result of their aggressiveness.

Rask was up to the task all evening, making spectacular save after incredible save as the desperate Islanders started taking chances to get the puck in front of the Bruins' net, which they managed to do 13 times in the final frame, Rask stoning all.

Gregory Campbell finished the scoring for Boston with an empty netter with just over a minute remaining as the Bruins raised their record to 12-2-2, continuing their best start in franchise history.

Despite the great start, the Bruins are still in a log jam with 26 points, one behind the hated Montreal Canadiens, whom the Bruins host on Sunday, but first the Bruins have to get past the Ottawa Senators on Thursday and the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday before getting the conference leading Habs.

The Islanders fall to 8-11-1 and just 2-8-0 at home, where they remain for games against the Toronto Maple leafs on Thursday night and Ottawa on Sunday before rounding out their seven game homestand with the Habs, Rangers and Caps next week.

Boston Bruins Gameday: Bruins complete Florida sweep, pound Panthers 4-1

The Wheelhouse.

An appropriate use of terminology given that Spring training is well underway for the Boston Red Sox, though the Boston Bruins may have introduced it into hockey lexicon this afternoon.

Milan Lucic, Zdeno Chara and Chris Kelly each scored a goal for the Boston Bruins on Sunday afternoon as the Brawlers beat the Florida Panthers 4-1, but if it weren't for Panthers' goalie Jacob Markstrom's remarkable effort, the score would have been much higher.

Looking every bit the undisciplined defensive team that has led to an abysmal 5-8-4 record, the Panthers defense couldn't keep up with the speed and crisp passing of the Bruins attacking lines, leaving the patient Bruins with opportunity after opportunity not just to tip one in or to snap in a rebound, but to fully extend, wind up and fire rockets repeatedly at Markstrom.

The beleaguered net minder stopped 28 of the 31 shots that he faced, and it was bombs from the high point, including Lucic's laser from the top of the left circle that loosened up the defense inside, allowing the Bruins to get open for point blank opportunities on the skittish Markstrom....

...including Zdeno Chara, who took a pass from Brad Marchand at the high point, spinning as he pulled the puck in close, his length giving him the spacing advantage for a wide open backhanded flip that easily beat Markstrom to the top shelf, giving the Bruins all the offense they would need at 2-0.

Tomas Kopecky scored his fifth of the season to get the Panthers within a goal at the first break, poking in the puck from out of a scrum in front the Boston net that Rask never saw - but that was all that Rask would allow to get past him, stopping 34 of 35 including surviving an all out 17 shot barrage late in the final frame.

Kelly's 1st goal of the season game on a tip in of Daniel Paille deflected shot to make the score 3-1 early in the second and, adding insult to injury, Paille scored a short-handed, empty net goal to provide the final score.

The loss was Florida's 7th in their last eight games and their fifth straight at home, and things get no easier as they host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday before welcoming the Buffalo Sabres on Thrusday.

The Bruins now begin a difficult stretch of five games in seven nights starting Tuesday on the island, then home for three straight, hosting Ottawa on Thursday, Tampa Bay on Saturday and Montreal on Sunday.

Boston Bruins Gamenight: Horton nets two, Bruins ground lightning 4-2

Stay in bed, drink plenty of fluids, maybe have an asprin.

Now just avoid big snow storms and the Buffalo Sabres and you're all set.

Apparently the flu-weakened Boston Bruins did enough of all of these things to be able to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2 at the Tampa Bay Times Forum on Thursday night.

Nathan Horton scored twice and Brad Marchand scored the game winner, also assisting on a goal by Patrice Bergeron as the Bruins improved their record to 10-2-2.  Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos scored his 11th of the season and Cory Conacher scored his 6th for the 8-7-1 Lightning.

Seven members of the Bruins came down ill with flu-like symptoms on Tuesday. making their morning skate around look like a couple of kids standing around waiting for a pick up game.  Patrice Bergeron, Gregory Campbell, Andrew Ference, Nathan Horton, Adam McQuaid, Daniel Paille and goaltender Anton Khudobin all were down with the bug, but were participants in the Wednesday skate.

Important for the Bruins to come out firing and try to build a lead before tiring from being under the weather, they did just that.  Just 1:11 into the game, Horton notched his first of the game, a drive from the right lower circle, and Patrice Bergeron beat Lightning goalie Anders Lindback with a wrister from the top right circle, giving Boston a two goal lead just 3:50 into the game.

Stamkos sent a one timer past Boston's net minder Tuukka Rask to get Tampa Bay within one going into the second period, and Conacher tied it up with a drive from the right circle midway through the period, but Marchand responded with his 9th of the season, a drive from the point to make it 3-2.

Horton scored his second of the game and 6th of the season redirecting a Zdeno Chara pass into a wide open net for the final two goal margin.  Horton barely missed a hat trick, sending a  puck just wide of an empty net in the final moments.

Both goalies saw 26 shots, Lindback stopping 22 and Rask 24.

The Lightning now embark on a brutal stretch in which they play six of their next seven on the road starting Saturday at Carolina and then Sunday at Pittsburgh before returning home for the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday while the Bruins visit Miami to faceoff against the Florida Panthers on Sunday and then travel to the Island for a Tuesday night matchup before enjoying a stretch of six of seven at home, including a rematch with Tampa Bay on March 2nd.

Boston Bruins Gamenight: Bruins top Jets in Breathtaking finish

Hockey is known as the fastest sport on the planet.  It's rough and tumble with defensemen that hit like linebackers and enforcers that stand and trade haymakers like Tommy Hearns and Marvelous Marvin Hagler...

...and sometimes it's a game of inches.

Tuukka Rask stopped 21 shots by the Winnipeg Jets, but the 21st was just dumb luck. 

Winnipeg winger Blake Wheeler put a point blank shot on goal from Rask's left and the puck skirted the goal line as time expired to give the Bruins a heart-stopping 3-2 victory over the Jets in Winnipeg, Manitoba on Sunday evening.

Tyler Seguin, Daniel Paille and Brad Marchand scored goals for the Bruins, who improved their record to 9-2-2.  Alex Burmistrov and Evander Kane scored for the Jets.

After a scoreless first period, Burmistrov gave Winnipeg a 1-0 on a rebound from the point.  Zach Bogosian put a shot on Rask from the low point and the puck bounded right to the Jets' center who buried the point blank snap shot after gaining control of the puck from rookie Dougie Hamilton by grasping his stick as he tried to make a play on the puck. 

Tyler Seguin tied things up on a high stick redirect from Zdeno Chara at 10:57 of the period, the puck bouncing in the scrum in front of the net before hitting jets' defenseman Ron Hainsey's leg and into the net.  Hainsey had a tough night for Winnipeg, taking a penalty that led to the Bruins' game winner as well as the inadvertent assist on Seguin's goal.

All the rest of the scoring took place in a feeding frenzy that encompassed only 1:03, spanning the last 27 seconds of the 2nd period and the first 36 seconds of the third.

Evander Kane punched in his own rebound when Nik Antropov sent a backhand shot from the backboards to the front of the net and punched it in just as he was leveled to give the Jets' a 2-1 lead and a ton of momentum in the defensive struggle.

but their lead - and that momentum - were short-lived.

Defenseman Johnny Boychuck received a kickout pass from Chris Kelly, held it, double clutched from just inside the blue line, then fired a rocket at Daniel Paille who had inconspiculously gravitated toward the goal, got his stick on the puck and redirected it past Pavelek for the momentum stealing goal and a 2-2 tie with just 1.5 seconds left in the 2nd period.

Just into play in the 3rd period, Brad Marchand got loose on a break and drew the tripping penalty on Hainsey, then wristed a backhanded shot from an odd angle as he floated away from the goal, but the puck had lots of zip on it and somehow found the back of the net for the game winner on the power play.

Ondrej Pavelec made 23 saves for the Jets, who lost their third straight and fourth in a row at home - the longest home losing streak for the team since the franchise moved from Atlanta prior to last season.

Rask did luck out in posting his 7th win of the season, both on the dancing puck at the horn and an iron-unkind backhander from Bryan Little with a little over two minutes to play, but made several key stops, including shoulder stone on his glove side on a wicked drive by Kane with just under a minute to play.

Winnipeg dropped to 5-8-1 with their 4th straight home loss, so perhaps their upcoming roadie will be just the tonic for their losing ways.  The Jets travel to Buffalo to take on the Sabres on Tuesday, then travel to Carolina for a face off with the Hurricanes on Thursday night, while the Bruins have a few days off before continuing their 5 game road trip with visits to Tampa on Thursday and Miami to play the Panthers on Sunday before wrapping it up on the Island on Tuesday.

It has been said that it's better to be lucky than good, but Tuukka Rask was both on Sunday night...

Boston Bruins Gamenight: Bruins suffer Deja Vu as Sabres pull away in final frame

Seems we've seen this before.

If it is true that familiarity breeds contempt, then the Boston Bruins and their fans must really hate these Buffalo Sabres by now.

Going into the third trailing 2-1 and beeing booed off the ice at the end of the second by their hometown fans,  the Sabres outshot Boston 10-3, scoring three unanswered goals to take another come from behind victory over the Bruins 4-2.

Just fifteen days ago, the Sabres trailed the Bruins early in the third period, a David Krejci goal giving the Bruins a 4-3 lead just 1:45 into the period before the wheels came off, Boston allowing 4 consecutive goals to Buffalo in a 7-4 loss.

On Friday night in Buffalo, the Sabres scored first on Drew Stafford's one timer from a perfect pass from Tyler Ennis behind the net, beating backup goalie Anton Khudobin for a 1-0 lead.

Defenseman Dougie Hamilton tied it at 1-1, scoring his first of the season on a power play goal with 2:04 left in the first period.  Hamilton initially gave up a shot from the high point, passing to Tyler Seguin who in turn passed to Krejci who put the shot on goal but was blocked by Sabres' net minder Ryan Miller, but Krejci got his own rebound on the right wing, passed on the shot to Hamilton who was still patrolling the high point and sent the puck into an open net behind Miller.

Not only was it Hamilton's first of the season, but his first NHL goal ever, and as his teammates converged on Hamilton to offer their congratulations, Milan Lucic scooped up the puck to commemorate the event.

Rich Peverley scored with 2:29 gone in the second period, Hamilton had the helper with a carom off the boards,  right to Perverly who buried it for a 2-1 Boston advantage.

That was the last time the Bruins would light the lamp.

Coming back onto the ice after being out shot 29-16 by the Bruins in a lethargic effort in the first two periods, the Sabres found the same sort of late energy that the discovered two weeks ago in Boston, Tyler Myers backhanded a rebound off a Jochen Hecht shot that beat Khudobin just minutes into the final frame

Christian Ehrhoff fired a wrister from the slot over Khudobin, who anticipated a low shot and went down early for the eventual game winner 10:58 left in Regulation.  Cody Hodgson added an insurance goal less than 3 minutes later when he tipped in a pass from Tyler Myers and the Bruins' collapse was complete.
 
Despite the late offense, Sabres goalie Ryan Miller was the hero of this contest, stoning multiple Bruins' point blank shots to keep his team in the game early.  Miller stopped 30 shots, many of them as he sprawled on the ice as his defense seemed to stand and watch while he was being pelted by the aggressive Bruins.

It was just the opposite for Khudobin, who stopped 15 of 16 in the first two periods before the Bruins' defense fell apart in the 3rd, stopping only 7 of 10 as the Bruins dropped to 8-2-2 on the season.  The Sabres snapped a 2 game losing streak and improved their record to 6-8-1.

Sunday finds the Pittsburgh Penguins invading the First Niagara Center, followed by the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday evening while the Bruins visit those same Jets in Winnipeg on Sunday evening, then take a few days off before traveling to Tampa to take on the Lightning on Thursday.

Sabres fans were hoping that the big win over Boston on January 31st would be the springboard to an even bigger season, but they have mostly failed to capitalize on the momentum from that win until tonight...

...if the Sabres could only play the Bruins all the time...

Boston Bruins Gamenight: Rangers survive gutsy Bruins comeback 4-3

Once Patrice Bergeron's skating days are over, perhaps he's discovered a second career - as a psychic.

"I think we've got to keep playing the way we've been playing," Bergeron said hen asked what the Bruins needed to do to keep their season opening hot streak going. "I think character has been key so far. We haven't had our best games every time and we've found ways to battle back and get back into the game and get the lead."

Down 3-0 after New York Rangers' defenseman Anton Stralman squirted a little dribbler past Bruins' goalie Tuukka Rask with just over 11 minutes left in the game, the Bruins went on a scoring binge, netting three goals including the tying goal with under a minute to play...

...but after a scoreless overtime, the Rangers outscored the Bruins 2-1 in a shootout to take a wildly entertaining 4-3 shootout victory.

Looking to restore their identity, the New York Rangers invaded TD Garden on Tuesday night carrying with them a two game winning streak but also a 1-3-0 record on the road.

What they got was a tightly contested defensive effort with fantastic goal tending and nifty skating.
 
"Boston is a tough building to play in, but I think this is the next step in restoring our identity, by playing well in a big road game," defenseman Michael Del Zotto told the Rangers' official website.

And if an aggressive style of play featuring inspired board play and violent floor checking that sent bodies flying and tempers flaring is the identity that they were searching for, then mission accomplished.

Derek Stepan scored his second of the season and Carl Hagelin scored his fourth leading the Rangers to their third straight win.  To add insult to injury, defenseman Anton Stralman scored his first ever NHL goal on a dribbler between Rask's pads, who slammed his stick to the ice in frustration after giving up the weak wrister.

Initially the Rangers aggressiveness left their net minder Henrick Lundqvist exposed a couple of times early, but he was fantastic in goal - and after stopping eight shots in the first 10 minutes to keep the scoreless tie, Rangers' left winger Carl Hagelin scorched a one timer past Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 10:37. 

Dan Girardi took control of a puck that was dumped at mid ice along the boards to allow the Bruins to make a line change and zipped a pass to Rick Nash who carried it across the blue line past the changing Bruins, charged the goal and made a nifty outside/inside move to pull the puck past the defenseman before passing to the streaking Hagelin who beat Rask easily.

Another neutral zone mistake, this one on Milan Lucic led to the Rangers' second goal.  Lucic made a cross ice pass toward Dougie Hamilton but sent it fluttering behind him.  Stepan whirled around, took the carom off the boards and broke toward Rask, firing from to top of the left circle and over Rask's left shoulder for a 2-0 New York lead.

Stralman's goal has nothing on it, but somehow squirted through Rask's pads and dribbled into the goal behind him, telling one all they need to know about how the Boston net minder's night had gone...

...and by the time David Krejci wristed in a rebound past Lundqvist to get the Bruins within two goals at 8:44, it already seemed too late - but these are the Bruins that Bergeron claimed were great at battling back and with Tuukka pulled out of net and the Bruins skating 6 on 5, Nathan Horton and Brad Marchand scored within 48 seconds of each other to improbably knot the game at 3-3 with just 43 seconds left in the game

The Bruins swarmed Lundqvist after pulling Rask, Horton scoring on the rebound of an Andrew Ference drive that was deflected by Lucic, then Marchand slapping in the rebound off of a Bergeron shot and suddenly the game that looked completely lost was headed to overtime.

In the shootout, Rangers' puck handling ace Nash absolutely abused Rask, this time using an inside/outside move to fake the Bruins' goalie out of his pads and slip the puck past him easily, but then Marchand extended the shootout with a wicked drive from the right point before Ryan Callahan ended the game with a wrister between Rask's pads.

Now the red hot Rangers take thier act back to MSG, where they host thier rivals from Long Isalnd on Thursday then welcome the Washington Capitals in on Sunday while the Bruins embark on a difficult stretch of five straight on the road, starting back in Buffalo on Friday night, then Winnepeg on Sunday before finishing the roadie with a two game swing through Florida and a visit to the Island to close out the month.

Boston Bruins Gamenight: Tired Sabres offer little resistance, Bruins win 3-1

The Buffalo Sabres were playing their 3rd game in four nights, and it was their 11th in eighteen days - and it showed as they had nothing for the Boston Bruins on Sunday night.

Tyler Ennis scored late in the second to give the Sabres a 1-all tie in the period, but it went downhill from there as a tired Buffalo defense allowed the Bruins to use Sabres goalie Ryan Miller for target practice, winning 3-1.

"They didn't play the other day, and I think we started showing our fatigue around the mid-point," said Sabres goalie Ryan Miller, a fact not lost on Boston's well rested players.

"Yesterday, we were ready to play, so I guess it gave us a day to rest," said Bruins' center Patrick Bergeron. "We got here, and we knew Buffalo played last night, so we tried to take advantage of that."

Brad Marchand intercepted a floating clearing pass and scored the first goal of the match at 7:10 of the second period, a one timer from the left circle for a 1-0 Bruins lead.  Ennis tied it 11 minutes later and the teams went into the second intermission tied at 1-1.

In the third, Center Patrick Bergeron scored on a wrister from the left circle after the puck had taken a weird bounce on the end boards, and he snapped it home for the power play game winner.  Milan Lucic added a freebie with less than a minute left for the final 3-1 tally, helping the Bruins improve to 8-1-1.

The Bruins earned their 17th point, the most they've had through 10 games. The previous best was 16 points over that span, set four times - the last in 1978-79, when Boston opened 7-1-2.

Bruins backup goalie Anton Khudobin made 25 saves in only his second start of the season.

The Sabres travel to Ottawa for a faceoff with the Senators on Tuesday, then get a couple of days off before doing the whole thing over again with the Bruins on Friday night, while the Bruins return home to host the Rangers before heading back to Buffalo.

Sabres' fans have to be scratching their heads over this team.  They went to Boston two weeks ago and blasted the Bruins right out of their own building, a game that fans and experts alike thought was the start of something beautiful for the Sabres - they were tougher, which was going to translate to more wins...but they are just 2-4-1 since, giving up a league high 46 goals for the season.

Apparently bringing in more toughness can't fix everything - or anything...same old Sabres...

resistance
    

Boston Bruins: Nemo paralyzes Boston, NHL Cancels Bruins/Lightning game

Seems like the only thing that can stop the Boston Bruins these days is the weather...

...and the Buffalo Sabres, but first things first.

A weather related state of emergency, which stemmed from an epic, record shattering blizzard that dumped over two feet of snow in Boston overnight, has still not been lifted - which has prompted the National Hockey League to cancel tonight's game between the Bruins and the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Originally, the game was scheduled for a 1:00pm matinee. and was rescheduled to 7:00pm with weather forecasts suggesting that the storm would have abated by early afternoon...but the winds persisted and the logistics involved to clear the streets of snow and getting mass transit systems up and running have proven to be too difficult.

 In a statement released by the league Saturday afternoon, with even both teams and on-ice officials in Boston, "travel conditions remain too hazardous for fans, security personnel and TD Garden staff to get to the arena."

A makeup date has not been announced, but both teams have a little tough sledding in front of them to get to their next games, both scheduled for tomorrow.

The Bruins are scheduled to play in Buffalo, while Tampa Bay travels to New York for a face off against the Rangers - and both teams need to find a way out of Boston, and both destinations are also still shoveling out from the massive storm...clearly there are obstacles to overcome, but both of those contests are expected to start as scheduled.

Boston Bruins' Saturday matinee rescheduled for 7:00pm

Nor'easter Nemo arrived in Boston on Friday in a bad mood and packing a punch...

...and packin' a lunch.  The intense blizzard is moving slowly, too slowly in fact ensure that the game between the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning would be able make its 1:00pm start on Saturday afternoon.

And since there's no sense in the Bruins dropping the gloves and sluggin' it out with the wicked winter storm, team and league officials have decided to move the start time at TD Garden to 7:00pm.

The decision had much to do with the travel ban implimented by the Governor of Massachusetts when he issued a state of emergency early on Friday. 

Boston was forecast to recieve upwards of two feet of snow from the storm, an amount that has the potential to paralyze the city - and the logistics involved to get the city's streets cleared of snow and to get the mass transit system back up and running in time once the system cleared could prove to be too difficult.

The Lightning arrived in Boston early Friday morning after its game against the New Jersey Devils Thursday night, so both teams will be available to play on Saturday. 

Boston Bruins clear cap space, deals Thomas to Islanders

From the "He's not here, so why should we care don't care" department, The Boston Bruins have traded suspended goalie Tim Thomas to the New York Islanders.

Though an unnamed source told ESPN that Thomas still does not want to play this season, the Islanders needed his "phantom" contract to ensure that they hit the cap floor. 

In return, the Bruins will recieve a conditional 2nd round draft pick in either 2014 or 2015.  The condition is, of course, that Thomas plays for the Islanders.  If he doesn't the Bruins get nothing...

...well, nothing but shedding five million dollars from their salary cap, which is like getting a divorce and not having to pay alimony...and then being able to see him do the same thing to someone else.

And the really cool thing for New York is that they can turn over his contract until next year if they choose since they already had another phantom contract working in their cap-floor favor, benefitting because of a loophole in the CBA for next season.

Since Thomas is suspended for failure to report to the Bruins, he will remain so with the Islanders who will not have to pay the 38 year old netminder, but since his contract is a "35 Plus" deal, his 5 million dollars due on the last year of his 4 year, 20 million dollar contract will count against their cap...

...and truthfully, that's really all they were looking for.

Manipulating the CBA.  We wondered how long is was going to take...

Boston Bruins Gamenight: Seguin goal quiets talk, Habs

All it takes is one.

 

Through all of the noise about Tyler Seguin's so-called scoring"Slump" to start the season, both he and Coach Claude Julien insisted that there was noting fundamentally wrong, it just hadn't happened...yet the questions and raised eyebrows persisted...

 

...and now that the Bruins' young greyhound has netted his first "real" goal of the season, the talk can shift to something else while Seguin goes about busting out something proper.

 

Seguin's goal at the 14 second mark of the final frame tied Boston with the host Montreal Canadiens, who had dominated the ice at the Bell Centre up to that moment.

 

The Habs took the lead midway through the 2nd period when P.K. Subban wristed a shot off Rich Peverley's stick and past Bruins' goalie Tuukka Rask, who otherwise notched another fantastic game, stopping 20 shots and single handedly keeping Boston in the game in the first period when the Bruins' offense went over half the period before registering a shot on goal while the Canadiens pelted Rask.

 

The Canadiens' goal came on the power play, ending a Bruins' streak of 16 consecutive penalty kills on the road to start the season.

 

So with the Bruins down a goal to the Montreal Canadiens to start the final period, Seguin ties it with a nifty backhander past Habs' goalie Carey Price, who stoped 21 of 23, and two minutes later watched rushing linemate David Krejci redirect a Milan Lucic centering pass past Price, and the Bruins held on from there for a tough 2-1 win on Wednesday night.

 

Seguin isn't normally on the Krecji / Lucic line, but just before the third period began Julien lifted Nathan Horton from the line and replaced him with Seguin, trying to find a spark for their still floundering offense, and it took all of 2:05 seconds before the Bruins had scored twice to take the lead for good.

 

The victory moved the Bruins (7-1-1) into sole possession of first place in the Northeast Division and kept Montreal (6-3-0) from taking over the division lead.    

 

The Bruins have some tough sledding ahead, quite literally, as they return home to host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday afternoon, though the matinee could be impacted by Nor'easter "Nemo", as the storm is expected to dump perhaps 2 feet of snow on Boston friday night into Saturday - complicating matters still is that the Bruins have to get on a plane directly afterwards and fly to Buffalo, which will have weather issues of it's own.

 

The Canadiens fly to Buffalo tonight for a match with the Sabres tomorrow night, then return to Montreal to host Toronto on Saturday night and should be able to avoid travel issues.

 

The Bruins are on a roll, the only blemish is a big one - the 7-4 loss to the Sabres last week, one that can be eradicated by a strong performance in Buffalo on Sunday, a game that Bruins' bully Shawn Thronton should be back for...

 

...but first the Bruins have to deal with a bully named Nemo.

 

 

Boston Bruins: Nor'easter "Nemo" could threaten Saturday matinee

Lewiston, Maine

As Nor'easter Nemo bears down on New England, the Boston Bruins are keeping a keen eye on the storm, as it's timing could affect their Saturday afternoon matinee with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The match is scheduled for 1:00pm.

The National Weather service updated their forecast for the region this afternoon, calling now for up to 2 feet of snow in Boston Friday night into Saturday. 

If the city does get that much snow from this blizzard, it could paralize the city, including trasportation services and electrical service.

Chowder and Champions will update the weather as it pertains to Saturday's game as events transpire.

Bruins turn in solid defensive effort, bag Maple Leafs

Boston Bruins coach Claude Julien wanted to see more of a defensive effort from his charges on Saturday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs than he did in Thursday night's 7-4 loss to the Buffalo Sabres.

What he got was a spirited, hard hitting match that confirmed this team's mental and physical toughness - a fantastic response to adversity that gained the Bruins a 1-0 victory over their divisional rivals in Toronto on Saturday night.

"Defensively, I don't think I remember the last time we were this bad - the breakdowns and mistakes we made," coach Claude Julien said on Friday, just hours after his Bruins gave up seven goals against Buffalo on a ridiculous 40 shots. 

On Saturday, the Bruins defense allowed just 21 shots for the game and just seven in the final frame.

Chris Bourque scored the only goal of the game at 8:54 of the 1st period, taking a perfect pass from Chris Kelly across the crease and jamming the puck in the net.

"I'm just happy to contribute," Bourque said during the first-period intermission. "Pevs and Kelly made a hell of a play, and I just put it in the net."

The Maple Leafs didn't have many opportunities, but they got their best ones in the latter half of the final period.  Holding the 1-0 lead, the first of two questionable penalties against Boston went to Dennis Seidenberg, called for interference at 11:24 and Boston's clutch penalty kill held...

...but then Tyler Seguin took a  slashing penalty with 2:25 remaining and Toronto pulled goalie James Reimer to give them a 6-4 advantage, but again the Bruins clamped down to blanket the power play and Boston held on from there to take the win.

The Bruins lines took turns pelting Reimer, but he stopped 33 of 34 attempts, many from point-plank range.
 
"James Reimer gave us a chance," Maple Leafs coach Randy Carlyle said. "That's all you can ask of your goaltender. I thought he made some big stops."

Tuukka Rask stopped all 21 Toronto shots for the Bruins, who improve their record to 6-1-1 and now get a couple of days off before heading to Montreal to take on the Habs on Wednesday, while the Maple leafs try to improve upon their 4-4-0 record  on Monday night when they host the Carolina Hurricanes.

After the game Carlyle lamented his team's propensity for sloppy puck handling at times while praising the Bruins for taking advantage.

"That's the way they play, and they're a good team," Carlyle said. "They did what they had to do to be effective to play a road game and we didn't do enough of the things that we're capable of to establish a strong home game in the 60 minutes."

Maple Leafs' captain Dion Phaneuf echoed his coach's sentiments: "We were close, and close isn't good enough,  We did a lot of good things but we did a lot of things that we felt we could be better at."

The Bruins understand.  After all, they were the ones saying that just two nights ago.

Bruins not afraid of their own shadow, look to bounce back in Toronto

It's the day when that weird little rodent comes crawling out of the ground like a zombie - for reasons yet to be explained - takes a peek around and if it comes across it's shadow he becomes frightened and scurries back into his winter hole.

Ground Hog Day is an international celebration, but customs sometimes vary from culture to culture.  Take the Serbs, for instance.  On the celebration of Sretenje, it is believed that a bear will awake from winter dormancy, and if in this sleepy and confused state it meets its own shadow, it will be startled and run back into hiding - sleeping for an additional 40 days, thus prolonging the winter.

Given the physical beating the Boston Bruins took in Thursday night's mugging at the hands of the Buffalo Sabres, will the bears be afraid of their own shadow when they come out of the tunnel at Air Canada Centre in Toronto tonight?

Highly doubtful, especially considering how angry and disgusted they are with themselves for getting pushed around by the Sabres, particularly defensively.

"Defensively, I don't think I remember the last time we were this bad - the breakdowns and mistakes we made," coach Claude Julien said.

The Sabres wanted to come out and establish themselves physically against the bullies from Boston, and it took less than three minutes into the game before Buffalo's newly acquired enforcer John Scott dominated Bruins' tough guy Shawn Thornton in a fight that was as one sided as the third period was in favor of the Sabres.

Thornton skated off wobbly and disoriented from a concussion handed out in the beating and will not see the ice again for at least another week - but by omission, his lingering absence serves more a reminder that the Sabres aren't going to be pushed around by the Bruins this season as they have been in seasons past more than viewed a trend going forward.

It was an aberration, an every once in a while breakdown that happens when a good team meets a squad motivated and anxious to establish themselves, and the game gets away from them.

How rare is that for the Bruins?  It also marked the first time they've allowed at least seven goals in regulation since an 8-2 loss to Toronto on March 6, 2008, so don't be expecting to see the same sort of effort tonight when they visit those Toronto Maple Leafs tonight.

"We usually pride ourselves on defense and being a hard team to play against," said center Rich Peverley. "We'll have to regroup here and look to really play a better defensive game in Toronto."

And that all starts with establishing physical dominance, clearing guys from in front of the net, getting into the scraps in the corners and giving no free looks.

"It's just brain farts out there." said Bruins' net minder Tuukka Rask, who saw 6 pucks fly past him on Thursday night.  "We're letting guys stand in front of the net for five seconds by themselves. That's not us. That's not anybody in this league. It's not something that's tough to fix. We just got to be mentally sharp and get back to our game defensively."

When these two met last season, the Bruins outscored Toronto 36-10 - including victories of 7-0 and 8-0 - while sweeping all six meetings.  The Maple Leafs hope to avoid losing their seventh straight to Boston, but tonight they're getting a wounded Bruins' squad in no mood for sentiment, just a team that was embarrassed two nights ago and are eager to rectify their issues.

"We gave up a lot of odd-man rushes, and then those two-on-ones, just a quick pass to the backdoor and one-timers in." lamented Rask yesterday, "Obviously, we have to get better on that. Too many times I think we just let those guys stand in front of the net by themselves. The puck-watching, it's not like us, so we just got to fix that."

So the Bruins come out of a one game hibernation tonight, and are not likely to see their shadows - the lighting is pretty good in that place - and even if they did they wouldn't run and hide from it...

...they'd attack it.  Shadows are useless anyway, good only for shade in the summer, and no matter what the groundhog saw this morning, summer is still a ways off.