For the past few years around trade deadline time and in the offseason we have heard about the Bruins looking for a puck-moving defenseman. The Bruins have had a few different guys in past seasons play that role, but it never seems to work out like we thought it was supposed to.

Dennis Wideman, Derrick Morris, Tomas Kaberle, and now Joe Corvo are the puck-moving defensemen that the Bruins have had in recent years. Wideman, Morris, and Kaberle were never fan favorites and that might be because of the way they play. The Bruins are a defense first team, so the defensemen should be about defense first, offense second. A puck mover on the back end is more of an offensive player.

Corvo is this season’s version of that, and watching the games its clear that he doesn’t fit. The puck moving style that he plays puts him in bad positions on defense and that dominoes into other players being  in bad positions.

Claude Julien’s system isn’t meant for the defensemen to be carrying the puck into the offensive zone and making offense, his defenders need to be smart with the puck, make the simple play, and know when to pinch in the offensive zone. The Bruins system calls for defensive minded and tough to play against blue liners, all four of these players are not known for being tough to play against.

With the selection of Dougie Hamilton in this year’s draft, fans are expecting an NHL ready stud defensemen. Hamilton is the leading scorer for defensemen in the OHL, but if he cant adjust to the Bruins system he could find himself on the third pairing, or not in Boston at all.

© Bobby Doherty for Sports of Boston, 2012. | Permalink | No comment
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Thursday night the NHL All Star Draft happened in Ottawa. Zdeno Chara and Daniel Alfredsson captained the two teams selecting two All-Star rosters. Chara called the puck toss and won the first pick.

Pavel Datsyuk was the first name called. Many people thought Chara would take Tim Thomas (though he did grab him in the second round), or Evgeni Malkin. Datsyuk is arguably the best two-way player in hockey and is one of the best puck handlers in the league.

Alfredsson answered with his first selection of hometown defenseman Eric Karlson, who is leading the NHL in points for defenseman, but Alfredsson left a few top players for Chara to take.

Chara had Joffery Lupul as his assistant. He selected his teammate Phil Kessel, and it will be interesting to see if Kessel and Seguin play together on the same line.

Team Chara looks really good and is my pick to win the Sunday game, with guys like Datsyuk, Malkin, Perry, Kane, Iginla, Gaborik, Kessel, and Seguin. Chara did benefit from Alfredsson selecting his teammates earlier than he should have.

Mr. Irrelevant this year was Logan Couture from the San Jose Sharks, taking the title from Kessel. Couture is a first time All-Star and he seemed to take it pretty well. Of course with that last pick, Couture received a car. The MVP of Sunday’s game also receives a car.

My MVP prediction is Evgeni Malkin. He has been on fire leading up to the All-Star break and I think he will light the lamp a few times.

© Bobby Doherty for Sports of Boston, 2012. | Permalink | No comment
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Just a day after learning Marc Savard suffered a moderate concussion after his hit Saturday against the Avalanche, the Bruins took the ice against the Panthers. Savard, who is now resting at home in Ontario and may not return this season…or ever, likely watched the B’s beat the Panthers 2-0 in the final game before the All-Star Break.

The game featured two of the top 10 goaltenders in the NHL, and for the most part they showed up to play.Thomas entered the game leading the NHL in goals against average (1.84), save percentage (.945), and he’s also tied for the lead in shutouts (7). In the end though, the current Vezina favorite held off Florida to help the B’s get their seventh win in 10 games.

As for the scoring, Brad Marchand scored his 13th goal in the first period, and Milan Lucic notched his 20th goal in the second period off the faceoff to give the B’s the two-goal advantage.

Tim Thomas (34 saves) faced a barrage of shots (16) in the third period before Florida finally broke through at 8:37 when Bryan Allen scored his fourth goal of the year to cut the deficit to one. At the end of the game, with Tomas Vokoun (33 saves) pulled, former Bruin Dennis Wideman nearly scored with 1.4 seconds left, but Thomas made the clutch save for the victory.

Thomas joins Zdeno Chara representing the Bruins in the NHL All-Star Game. Due to the new fantasy draft element, Thomas and Chara could be on opposite teams.

Fun Fact: Willie O’Ree, the first black player in NHL history, dropped the ceremonial first puck. He broke the color barrier in 1958 with the Bruins.

© KC Downey for Sports of Boston, 2011. | Permalink | No comment
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Both teams were on the winning end of one-goal games last night. For Florida, they took a 2-1 victory over the Thrashers in Atlanta, while the B’s edged the Rangers, 3-2 at Madison Square Garden.

We’re just hours away from the opening puck drop, so let’s get right to some pregame notes to quench your hockey thirst…

• These two teams split their four games last season, with the road team winning all four matchups by one goal.
• Florida has had very good luck at TD Garden lately, winning nine of their last 12 games in the Hub of Hockey.
• The Panthers are the only team left in the NHL yet to play into overtime. All 16 of their games thus far have ended in regulation.
• This will of course mark the first meeting between these two teams since the big off-season trade that sent Dennis Wideman and a first-round pick to Florida in exchange for Gregory Campbell and Nathan Horton. Wideman is among the team’s point leaders, with a pair of goals and eight assists, while Horton leads the B’s with 15 points.
• Just ahead of Dennis Wideman on Florida’s points leader list is center Michael Frolik, who leads the way with 11 points (4G, 7A). Tied with Wideman at 10 points a piece are forwards Marty Reasoner (3G, 7A), David Booth (5G, 5A), and defenseman Bryan McCabe (1G, 9A).
• Another former Bruin, Byron Bitz, will be out of action tonight as he’s recovering from recent sports hernia surgery. Also missing tonight’s action will be forward Steve Bernier, sidelined with a broken orbital bone.
• The crease for Florida is manned by the pair of Tomas Vokoun (7-5-0, 2.41GAA) and Scott Clemmensen (1-3-0, 3.18GAA). It’s anyone’s guess who we’ll see in goal tonight, as Vokoun made the start last night in Atlanta. Similarly, Tim Thomas got last night’s start for Boston, so it’s possible we see Tuukka Rask in goal tonight for the B’s.
• Lastly, with Tyler Seguin scoring a crafty, unassisted goal in last night’s win over the Rangers, I thought it’d be a good time to check in on a “tale of the tape,” between Seguin and his draft day rival, Edmonton’s Taylor Hall. With Seguin’s goal last night, he evened the point total of his counterpart, each now having seven points on the year. Hall has one less goal but one more assist than Boston’s highly touted rookie, but Seguin has a distinct edge in plus/minus, with his -1 trumping Hall’s -8.

© Brian Kintz for Sports of Boston, 2010. | Permalink | No comment
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The Bruins evened up their preseason record at 1-1 Thursday night, dropping a close one to the Florida Panthers, 3-2 at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, NY.

Boston fell behind nearly midway through the first period when David Booth tapped home his own rebound for Florida’s first goal on the night. Bruins defenseman Steve Kampfer evened the score briefly, scoring from the right point to tie the game at one. But Booth’s second goal of the period gave the Panthers another one-goal lead before the first period concluded.

Early in the second, with Florida on the man-advantage, old friend Dennis Wideman drove home the eventual game-winner, roofing a shot over Bruin’s goalie Nolan Schaefer to give the Panthers a 3-1 advantage. Winger Jeff LoVecchio lit the lamp in the third period, but that wouldn’t be enough to catch the Panthers.

These two teams will tangle again on Saturday night, this time at the TD Garden. This will be the only preseason game televised in the Boston area, found Saturday night on NESN, beginning at 7pm.

© Brian Kintz for Sports of Boston, 2010. | Permalink | No comment
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Optimists would consider Boston’s five-goal offensive outburst, capped by the storybook game-winner by Marc Savard, reason to celebrate, and it certainly was. But Saturday’s Game 1 provided plenty of fodder for the local pessimists as well. Turns for the worse began just minutes into the game, when Marco Sturm went down with a torn MCL and ACL in his right knee. Sturm, who was the team’s leading goal scorer in the regular season, hadn’t registered a single playoff point before his injury. An injury as severe as Sturm’s likely comes with 6-8 months of recovery time, leaving the team without the German winger for potentially the first half of next season. Couple that with the fact that the B’s blew two-goal leads not once, not twice, but three times, forcing them to earn their victory in overtime, and the negative nancies in the town have plenty to whine about.

All of that now brings us to tonight’s Game 2 at the Garden, where Boston hopes to extend their series lead and protect their home-ice advantage before they travel to Philly for Games 3 and 4. Let’s now take some time to check in on some game notes, heading into tonight’s tilt…

- With Sturm out for the duration, head coach Claude Julien will be forced to trot out new forward lines to fill his void. Judging by this morning’s team skate, look for Daniel Paille to jump up to the Bergeron-Recchi line, with Vladimir Sobotka flanking the Savard-Ryder line. Fourth line duty will go back to Shawn Thornton, who was a healthy scratch on Saturday, with Blake Wheeler and Steve Begin joining him. The David Krejci-Milan Lucic-Miro Satan line remains unchanged.

- Another bit of news coming out of this morning’s skate was the addition of Mark Stuart to the blue-line ranks. Stuart, who has been sidelined with a rare finger infection, won’t dress tonight, but could be back in action before this series is through.

- Look for tonight’s special teams units to play a major role in the outcome of tonight’s Game 2. Boston was able to hold the Buffalo Sabres’ power play unit off the score sheet through the entire first round, going a perfect 19-for-19 on the penalty kill. In Saturday’s Game 1, Philly ended that streak with two lamplighters on the man-advantage in five chances. Tuukka Rask and the Bruins PK will have to do a better job of containing Philly’s firepower. Staying out of the penalty box altogether would of course help the cause as well.

- I mentioned earlier that the team has lost their regular season goal scoring leader, Marco Sturm, for the rest of the season. Who do you think leads the team in points in the playoffs? Bergeron? Nope. Krejci? No again. Chara? That’s a negative too. It’s none other than Dennis Wideman! The same Dennis Wideman who seemingly has a boneheaded turnover at least three times a game. His seven playoff points top his Bruins’ teammates, highlighted by three assists in Saturday’s Game 1.

- And lastly, we take a trip around the league to catch up with what the other playoff series had to offer over the weekend. In the other Eastern Conference semifinal, Montreal was able to even their series up with the defending champion Penguins on Sunday, winning 3-1 in Game 2 as the series shifts north of the border to Montreal for Tuesday’s Game 3. Out west, San Jose has broken out to a 2-0 series lead over the Red Wings, on the heels of a pair of 4-3 wins. That series will move to the Motor City starting Tuesday. And lastly, the Chicago Blackhawks find themselves in a 1-0 series hole against Vancouver, having gotten whooped by Roberto Luongo and the Canucks in Saturday’s Game 1, 5-1. That series will continue tonight at the United Center, with the ‘Hawks hoping to even it up before the series heads to Vancouver.

© Brian Kintz for Sports of Boston, 2010. | Permalink | No comment
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Marc Savard, Boston’s offensive spark who had not played in an NHL game since suffering a Grade 2 concussion on March 7, scored the game-winning overtime goal to give the Bruins a 5-4 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers in the first game of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference Semi-finals. Savard, playing in his first playoff game since last season’s Game 7 overtime loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in the semi-finals, saved the Bruins from losing after blowing a two-goal lead in the third period.

Steve Begin drew the first blood of the series, scoring his first goal of the playoffs 2:39 into the game. Begin, originally lined with Vladimir Sobotka and Blake Wheeler on the fourth line, moved up to the first line with Patrice Bergeron and Mark Recchi, who recorded assists on the goal, after Marco Sturm left the game with a leg injury after just 41 seconds of play.

Bergeron notched his third goal of the playoffs with just over seven minutes remaining the first to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead. Defenseman Dennis Wideman, who had four points (one goal, three assists) against the Buffalo Sabres in the opening round of the playoffs, earned the first of his three assists in the game on Bergeron’s goal, which was a nifty backhand past Philadelphia’s Brian Boucher, who finished with 41 saves.

The Flyers cut the Bruins’ lead in half at 7:38 into the second period on Ryan Parent’s goal, but Miroslav Satan scored on the power play just over four minutes later. Savard and Flyers Daniel Carcillo and Mike Richards were all in the penalty box for their roles in a post-whistle flare-up, which gave the Bruins the man-advantage.

However, the Flyers weren’t about to quit despite being down by two goals again. Boston’s power play, which was perfect against Buffalo, allowed its first goal of the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs when Adam McQuaid took an immature and ill-advised hooking penalty, which allowed Chris Pronger to send a slapshot past Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask, who should have been able to make the save, for a 3-2 Bruins lead. On his next shift, McQuaid took a second straight – and just as stupid – penalty for interference on Daniel Briere, but the Flyers were unable to capitalize.

The Bruins and Flyers both exchanged a number of opportunities to open the third period, but no one was able to get anything past either exceptional goalie until David Krejci made it 4-2 after seven minutes had passed. The celebration following Krejci’s textbook-patience goal lasted for just more than five minutes until Richards scored Philadelphia’s second power play goal of the game, following a failure by the referees to call Scott Hartnell for goaltender interference on Rask. Just four minutes and one second later, Briere tied the game at four all after splitting Wideman and Matt Hunwick and netting his own rebound. Neither team scored in the final four minutes of play, sending the first playoff game between the two teams since 1978 into overtime.

Both goalies kept the game even by standing on their respective heads to open the overtime. Boucher made a number of miraculous saves, including a couple on shots by Satan, but Rask matched every move, stuffing Hartnell and Carcillo on separate attacks. At 13:52 into the extra period, just under 74 minutes of playing time, Savard sent the puck sent a slapper past Boucher and under the crossbar from the right circle to end the game and send every Bruins fan in the TD Garden into a celebratory frenzy. It’s a shame the game was on NBC because Jack Edwards’s reaction would have been priceless.

Bruins Star of the Game: Marc Savard

While Bergeron, Rask, and Wideman (yes, the Dennis Wideman) could have all found themselves in this category, Marc Savard clearly earned this title. After having not playing in seven weeks, Savard was eased back into the game by Bruins head coach Claude Julien, but he made sure he was an impact player all-around. It’s great to have you back, Savvy!

Bruins Bum of the Game: Adam McQuaid

The entire Bruins defense, with the exception of Wideman (yes, the Dennis Wideman), could be called bums for relying too much on Rask and the offense to win the game for them, but McQuaid took two very stupid penalties, which are indicative of his youth. He will mature quickly, especially with the veterans on the Bruins, but he nearly cost the Bruins the game today.

That’s What He Said

“I have to admit there was a little water in my eyes. It was such a nice ovation. The crowd has treated me great and my teammates have treated me great.” – Marc Savard, on the standing ovation he received when he first took the ice this afternoon.

Game Notes

• Miroslav Satan has a point in four consecutive playoff games (3 G, 3 A)
• Marco Sturm, who hasn’t registered a point this post-season, never returned after his injury in the opening minute of the game and has what is being labeled a leg injury of an unknown severity
• Vladimir Sobotka missed the second half of the first period after crashing the Flyers’ net, but returned with no apparent injury at the beginning of the second period
• The Bruins registered 46 shots to Philadelphia’s 36, leaving both goalies with save percentages below 90% on the afternoon

Initial Series Analysis

The Bruins nearly blew this afternoon’s game on multiple occasions, but they managed to pull it off thanks to the heroics of Savard and Rask. However, they can’t continue to sit back on their leads and expect to win every game, like they did today, especially in the second period when they were out-shot 11-6. Furthermore, the Flyers were much more physical, out-hitting the Bruins 44-28. One of the keys to the Bruins’ opening-round victory over the Buffalo Sabres was their physicality and this series against the Broad Street Bullies will be no different. To win, the Bruins need to continue throwing their weight around, especially in front of the Flyers’ net. If they assert their physicality and block Boucher’s view of incoming shots, they should have no problem with grounding the Flyers.

© Erikk for Sports of Boston, 2010. | Permalink | One comment
Filed under: Bruins, Featured, Top Story.

Rub your eyes again. The sixth-seeded Boston Bruins are now two wins away from advancing to the second round. Something that seemed so improbable just weeks ago is now a reality. The Bruins are a good team…well at least they’re playing like it.

In his 45,090,000th playoff game (well, really 154th), Mark Recchi did his part to send the B’s to the 2-1 series lead. Late in the third period, Recchi grinded the puck out of the right corner of the Sabres zone, and sent a pass right to a streaking Patrice Bergeron, who banged home the go-ahead goal that proved to be the game-winner in a 2-1 victory.

Tuukka Rask stopped 32 shots in 33 chances to pick up his second straight win, while the Sabres really missed their top scorer, Thomas Vanek, who was injured during the first period of Game 2. All the momentum during the series has swung the Bruins’ way since Vanek’s injury.

“He made some great saves to keep us in the game, particularly at the end of the game to keep us from going into overtime,” Bruins coach Claude Julien said of Rask.

On the other side of the ice, Olympic hero Ryan Miller was strong too, but not strong enough. He finished with 27 saves.

The Sabres struck first for the third straight game to start the series, scoring on Mike Greir’s first goal of the playoffs. During the regular season, the Sabres were 31-6-4 when scoring first. This series, however, they’re 1-2.

The goat during the regular season, Dennis Wideman, scored his first career playoff goal near the end of the first period to knot the game at 1. Wideman also later shared an assist on Bergeron’s goal, giving him two points.

The hit of the game goes to Johnny Boychuk, who got a clean (but thunderous) check on Buffalo’s Matt Ellis. He left the game for a short while after the hit, but returned to the game later.

“It kinds of gives the whole team a little boost,” Boychuck said of the hit.

With Michael Ryder, Marco Sturm, and Dennis Wideman coming up large this whole series, I guess I expect Blake Wheeler to get a hat trick in Game 4. OK, I wouldn’t bet on it. Either way, the surprising Bruins take the ice Wednesday night to host the Sabres in Game 4.

© KC Downey for Sports of Boston, 2010. | Permalink | No comment
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Needing a win to help its playoff chances, the Boston Bruins hosted the Buffalo Sabres Thursday night. The Sabres gave the B’s a gift before the game even started, as they sat their All-Star and Olympian goalie Ryan Miller. Miller is 40-18-8 on the season so it’s a good thing that he wasn’t playing. Instead, Boston got to see Patrick Lalime in between the pipes for Buffalo who was starting only his 12th game of the year.

After falling behind in the first period, the Bruins used a goal in the second and then two more in the third to get the 3-1 victory over the Sabres Thursday night.

It was a crucial game for the Bruins who are battling it out with the New York Rangers, Montreal Canadiens and the Philadelphia Flyers for the last playoff spot. Of those four teams, one will not make it. Before Thursday’s game, the Bruins held the eighth and final spot with the Rangers on the outside looking in, but only one point behind Boston. Now, the Bruins are two points ahead of the Rangers and are in a tie with the Flyers at 87 points.

The win brought the Bruins to 37-30-13 on the season while the Sabres fell to 44-26-10.

Without Dennis Seidenberg for the rest of the season due to surgery on his wrist and Andrew Ference still out due to a groin injury, the Bruins were more shorthanded as ever, but that didn’t stop them from making that final push to make it into the playoffs.  

Tuukka Rask started in goal for the Bruins and had another stellar night between the pipes. He saved 31-of-32 shots on goal for his 21st win of the season.

Lalime had a decent game for Buffalo, as he stopped 31-of-34 shots on goal. The loss dropped him to 4-7-2 on the year.

First Period

• 11 minutes into the game, Buffalo’s leading scorer Derek Roy added his 25th goal of the season as he snuck the past right past Rask’s glove to give the Sabres the first goal of the game. Roy was assisted by Nathan Gerbe and Drew Stafford. Sabres up 1-0
• Four minutes later, Shawn Thornton tried to get things going for the Bruins by throwing down his gloves in a scuffle with Paul Gaustad, but to much dismay, Gaustad avoided all controversy with the Bruins’ leader in fighting majors. Thornton was given a two-minute penalty for roughing, Gaustad got nothing. 

Second Period

• It didn’t take long for the Bruins to get on the board in the second as Miroslav Satan netted his ninth goal of the season to tie things up. He was assisted by David Krejci on the play. Bruins tied 1-1

Third Period

• The Bruins came out of the second intermission ready to play and they were led by Dennis Wideman, who added his sixth goal of the year less than two minutes into the period to give Boston the lead for the first time. He was assisted by Vladimir Sobotka on the play. Bruins up 2-1
• Sobotka of the Bruins and Gerbe of the Sabres got into a fight of their own midway through the period with both players recieving two minutes in the box for roughing.
• With a little less than four minutes left in the game, Bruins captain Zdeno Chara gave Boston a two-goal lead with his eigth goal of the season. The goal was unassisted. Bruins up 3-1

The Bruins will next take on the Carolina Hurricanes at home Saturday night.

Game Notes

• Along with Seidenberg and Ference, the Bruins were without Mark Stuart, Brad Marchand, and Trent Whitfield.
• Both teams struggled on the power play as the Bruins went 0-for-5 and the Sabres went 0-for-3.
• Boston narrowly out-shot Buffalo 34-to-32 and out-hit them 19-to-15.
• The Sabres racked up more penalty minutes (12) than the Bruins (8).
• The Bruins also won more faceoffs (37) than the Sabres (28).

© Greg for Sports of Boston, 2010. | Permalink | No comment
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They were able to gain one precious point from Monday’s game in Washington, but the Bruins couldn’t seal the deal in overtime against the league’s best team, losing on a Brooks Laich power play goal not even a minute into the extra period, falling to the Caps 3-2 at Verizon Center.

Dennis Wideman, who scored the team’s first goal of the night, was ultimately the culprit in overtime, getting called for a high sticking penalty just 24 seconds in. Just 20 seconds later, it was Laich’s goal that helped Washington add to its league-leading total of 116 points.

The Caps took an early lead midway through the first on a Nicklas Backstrom snap shot that trickled through Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask. After Wideman’s game-tying goal in the final two seconds of the first period, the game went to the first intermission knotted at one.

Boston earned their first lead of the game on a pretty goal by team points leader Patrice Bergeron, who took a Milan Lucic pass in stride, then threw a deke on Caps goalie Jose Theodore to tuck the puck in for a 2-1 advantage. But similar to Wideman’s last minute goal in the first, Washington evened the score in the final minute of the second, as former Bruin Mike Knuble took an Alex Ovechkin pass and jammed it past Rask for the Caps’ second goal of the night.

The final 20 minutes of regulation offered up exciting scoring chances for both teams, but neither squad could break through. It wasn’t long into overtime, however, that the better team on the night ultimately prevailed, with Laich wristing one that lit the final lamp of the night, giving Washington a hard-earned overtime win on home ice.

On the bright side, the one point earned by Boston does give them sole possession of seventh place in the East at 85 points, a point behind Montreal for sixth, a point ahead of Philadelphia for eighth, and a three-point advantage over the New York Rangers, who currently sit in the ninth spot.

Just three games remain for the Black and Gold in the regular season, beginning Thursday at TD Garden against Northeast Division-leading Buffalo. The B’s will round out their season with a back-to-back set of games, hosting Carolina in the home finale, followed by a trip back to the nation’s capital to face this very same Washington team.

© Brian Kintz for Sports of Boston, 2010. | Permalink | No comment
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