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.
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Friday, February 8, 2013
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.
...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.
Thursday, February 7, 2013
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...
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...
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
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.
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.
Saturday, February 2, 2013
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.
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.
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.
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