Jets 4 - Bruins 2 (even though it's not New York, I still hate typing Jets...)
At the beginning of the bout I had a good feeling, the B's were skating hard, getting shots on net, and looked to be in control of the game. The first period ended 0-0 and I would've liked to see the B's get rewarded for their good play, but I was feeling good.
Although the first goal for the Jets was a really nice shot by Alex Burmistrov, I put the blame on the captain. I don't know if he lost where he was on the ice, but he gave Burmistrov waaaaay too much cushion. Burmistrov was able to skate unopposed into the face off circle and rip a shot on Rask. Chara with his redwood stick should've made it a little more difficult for him to gain that position.
Rask came up with the biggest save of the game to that point, making a split save stoning the Jets on a 2 v 1 breakaway which immediately led to Jordan Caron's goal. Caron's goal was almost identitcal to Burmistrov, I thought former Bruins Mark Stuart gave Caron way too much cushion and Caron just ripped one from around the face off dot. Instead of 2-0, it was 1-1. Alright, here we go B's... getting back in it.
Then, my worst nightmare played out in front of my eyes. Blake %$^%ing Wheeler. The guy I was more than happy to see packing his bags last year decided he wanted a little revenge and just turned it on. Hands down one of the best games I've seen him play. He scored the next goal (sneaky goal on Tuukka...thought Rask should've saved it) and assisted on the next two to Little. DAMNIT WHEELER!!
The struggles still continue for the B's. Bergeron had a prime scoring opportunity in the third but Pavelec just robbed him. That's just how the pucks been rolling these days. Get the struggles out now, shake it off, and lets get rockin' and rollin' come playoff time.
Some good news: Krejci got on the board. He wasn't a pretty goal, but he fought through the bouncing puck and roofed one over Pavelec. That was to tie the game at 2, but the B's couldn't muster anymore offense.
With Horton out indefinitely and Peverley out for over a month, the time's ticking for Chiarelli to add a forward to the mix to help this offense. I just don't have a feeling Caron and Hennessey are the answers.
A Boston Bruins blog by Dome
Monday, February 20, 2012
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Golden Points: Montreal Canadiens
Bruins 4 - Montreal 3 SO
I've said it many times. When these two teams meet, it doesn't matter where they are in the standings, it's going to be a hard fought game. And that it was. At least I'm right on one thing...
Overall you have to be pleased with the result. Going into Montreal's house is never easy and even more so when you have a game the night before. I was getting pretty nervous in that third period. You wonder if the B's legs would just give out. Even though it wasn't pretty at times, the B's were able to pull it off. Capped off by a sneaky shot from Seguin. You can't blame Price for not moving. The book on Seguin reads he dekes more than Charlie Conway, so a goaltender shouldn't bite on his first move...unless that first move is a snap shot in the BACK OF THE NET... BOOYEA!
Now I'm only moderately to fully biased towards the Dude, but I thought McQuaid had a monster game. During the early stages of the game, I thought the B's were lacking in the physicality department. Not the Dude. He see red he hit red. It's always a good night when the Dude gets into a fight and this one was a very entertaining one. I give the nod to McQuaid, but give White credit for sticking in there, he took some SHOTS to the dome. Even Chicken Little in between the glass for NBCSN called McQuaid "underrated". Yes... I had to rewind the game just to make sure I heard that correctly. BOOM!
I'd like to give a shout out to Hal Gill. Although you received the "Wideman"-treatment from me while you played here, you provided a perfect screen in front of your own goaltender that allowed Ference to score. The only disappointment here was that Ference didn't flip off the crowd...
The B's next two goals were some of the prettiest all year. Pepe Le Pouliot only has 9 goals, but the one against Florida and now the one he scored last night have been two of the better goals all year. That's got to feel good to scored against your old team. For Bergie's power play goal, I'm still not sure how the heck he roofed that shot. He had nearly no angle and with just a flick of the wrist sent the puck nearly 90 degrees upwards over Price. Redic
There will always been questionable calls in a game, the refs are somewhat human and will make mistakes. I don't know if it was a memo from the league or what, but the four goaltender interference was a bit much. I'd probably prefer none of those to be called. Three of them shouldn't have been called, and the one called Cole for goaltender interference is iffy. Even though Thomas was in the crease, it wouldn't have disappointed me if they let that one go too.
I'm so disappointed in the Canadien's fans. You can boo Chara every time he touches the puck, you can boo the black and gold anytime anywhere, you can boo me. But you showed how classless you guys are, which we all already knew when you booed the National Anthem. You don't stand up and cheer when someone gets hurt, no matter who it is. Chara takes a puck to the chin, is lying on the ice bleeding and you stand up and cheer!!! I would love to see the owner make a comment condemning that sort of behavior. But that's the Habs organization for you...
Off to see some old friends, Blake Wheeler and Mark Stuart, out in Winnipeg Friday night.
I've said it many times. When these two teams meet, it doesn't matter where they are in the standings, it's going to be a hard fought game. And that it was. At least I'm right on one thing...
Overall you have to be pleased with the result. Going into Montreal's house is never easy and even more so when you have a game the night before. I was getting pretty nervous in that third period. You wonder if the B's legs would just give out. Even though it wasn't pretty at times, the B's were able to pull it off. Capped off by a sneaky shot from Seguin. You can't blame Price for not moving. The book on Seguin reads he dekes more than Charlie Conway, so a goaltender shouldn't bite on his first move...unless that first move is a snap shot in the BACK OF THE NET... BOOYEA!
Now I'm only moderately to fully biased towards the Dude, but I thought McQuaid had a monster game. During the early stages of the game, I thought the B's were lacking in the physicality department. Not the Dude. He see red he hit red. It's always a good night when the Dude gets into a fight and this one was a very entertaining one. I give the nod to McQuaid, but give White credit for sticking in there, he took some SHOTS to the dome. Even Chicken Little in between the glass for NBCSN called McQuaid "underrated". Yes... I had to rewind the game just to make sure I heard that correctly. BOOM!
I'd like to give a shout out to Hal Gill. Although you received the "Wideman"-treatment from me while you played here, you provided a perfect screen in front of your own goaltender that allowed Ference to score. The only disappointment here was that Ference didn't flip off the crowd...
The B's next two goals were some of the prettiest all year. Pepe Le Pouliot only has 9 goals, but the one against Florida and now the one he scored last night have been two of the better goals all year. That's got to feel good to scored against your old team. For Bergie's power play goal, I'm still not sure how the heck he roofed that shot. He had nearly no angle and with just a flick of the wrist sent the puck nearly 90 degrees upwards over Price. Redic
There will always been questionable calls in a game, the refs are somewhat human and will make mistakes. I don't know if it was a memo from the league or what, but the four goaltender interference was a bit much. I'd probably prefer none of those to be called. Three of them shouldn't have been called, and the one called Cole for goaltender interference is iffy. Even though Thomas was in the crease, it wouldn't have disappointed me if they let that one go too.
I'm so disappointed in the Canadien's fans. You can boo Chara every time he touches the puck, you can boo the black and gold anytime anywhere, you can boo me. But you showed how classless you guys are, which we all already knew when you booed the National Anthem. You don't stand up and cheer when someone gets hurt, no matter who it is. Chara takes a puck to the chin, is lying on the ice bleeding and you stand up and cheer!!! I would love to see the owner make a comment condemning that sort of behavior. But that's the Habs organization for you...
Off to see some old friends, Blake Wheeler and Mark Stuart, out in Winnipeg Friday night.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Golden Points: NY Rangers
Rangers 3 - Boston 0
I'm a pretty lucky guy. My girlfriend loves Boston sports, actually knows most or all of the rules of the major four sports, and is even a pretty big B's fan. She even gave away her pink Ellsbury t-shirt when I told her what a "pink hat" was...and my future kids be damned if I ever call her that.
Although I was briefly tempted, suggesting we spend Valentine's Day on the couch with me completely ignoring her and staring intensely at the tube would NOT have been the best decision I've made. The B's decided to do me a favor though, and lay a stinker the night I didn't watch. I could only get a little angry at the result, instead of being enraged for the entire 2.5 hours of the game.
It's hard to get a good sense of the game through a box score. The B's outshot the Ranger's 42-20, they must've DOMINATED! Well, not from what I read. "Shots on goal" is a bit of a weak stat in my opinion. How many QUALITY scoring opportunities did the B's get? How many of those 42 shots did Lundqvist have a clean view off? Look at the giveaways and takeaways, the B's gave the puck away 9 times and the Rangers took it away 8 versus 1 and 4.
From what I've read, the team played pretty poorly and their "compete level" was not where it should've been. The Bruins succeed when they work hard and outwork their opponent. When that happens, the offense tags along too. But it seems like this team just flat out got outworked. There's still plenty of time, but this team needs to snap out of it.
Tonight we got the Canadiens in Montreal. That's going to be a circus.
I'm a pretty lucky guy. My girlfriend loves Boston sports, actually knows most or all of the rules of the major four sports, and is even a pretty big B's fan. She even gave away her pink Ellsbury t-shirt when I told her what a "pink hat" was...and my future kids be damned if I ever call her that.
Although I was briefly tempted, suggesting we spend Valentine's Day on the couch with me completely ignoring her and staring intensely at the tube would NOT have been the best decision I've made. The B's decided to do me a favor though, and lay a stinker the night I didn't watch. I could only get a little angry at the result, instead of being enraged for the entire 2.5 hours of the game.
It's hard to get a good sense of the game through a box score. The B's outshot the Ranger's 42-20, they must've DOMINATED! Well, not from what I read. "Shots on goal" is a bit of a weak stat in my opinion. How many QUALITY scoring opportunities did the B's get? How many of those 42 shots did Lundqvist have a clean view off? Look at the giveaways and takeaways, the B's gave the puck away 9 times and the Rangers took it away 8 versus 1 and 4.
From what I've read, the team played pretty poorly and their "compete level" was not where it should've been. The Bruins succeed when they work hard and outwork their opponent. When that happens, the offense tags along too. But it seems like this team just flat out got outworked. There's still plenty of time, but this team needs to snap out of it.
Tonight we got the Canadiens in Montreal. That's going to be a circus.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Johnny Boychuk signs 3 year extension worth $10.08 mil
Well, my early season prediction of Johnny Boychuk being traded officially been squashed. That's okay, I've been wrong with almost all my predictions, but we still have fun right!!! Maybe I'll get a "thanks for participating" award...
If the B's had signed Boychuk to this deal over the offseason I would've been fairly pissed. His play dropped last season and I was wondering if there was going to be a spot for him on this team in the future. Oh silly me. He has played a solid game this entire year, spending most of his time next to the Slovakian giant. I agree with some of the other writers that he's #3 on the depth chart when it comes to defenseman. McQuaid still has a better hairdo, though.
I'm tending to lean towards $3.36m per year is a little high, but the B's have room under the cap. I also have to remember that the cap went up, meaning the value of players in theory increases. He's comfortable playing with Chara and Chara seems to be comfortable with him. If Chara wasn't on the team, Boychuk would have the hardest slap shot. Not like that warrants a certain amount of cash, just an observation that Jack Edwards doesn't call him Johnny Rocket for nothing...unless Boychuk makes a mean milkshake. There were times last year I thought I was watching Fulton Reed warm up, but he's gotten his shot on or near the net on a more consistent basis this year.
They now have 5 of their 6 defenseman locked up past next season (Chara, Seidenberg, Boychuk, Ference, and THE DUDE). It's hard to imagine Corvo coming back next year after his contract is up. Dougie Hamilton is having himself a hell of a season up in the OHL (13 - 39 - 52) and you'd think he'd be given the opportunity to win a spot with the club. That's my prediction and if my track record may speak for itself you can probably mark that down with a sharpie.
If the B's had signed Boychuk to this deal over the offseason I would've been fairly pissed. His play dropped last season and I was wondering if there was going to be a spot for him on this team in the future. Oh silly me. He has played a solid game this entire year, spending most of his time next to the Slovakian giant. I agree with some of the other writers that he's #3 on the depth chart when it comes to defenseman. McQuaid still has a better hairdo, though.
I'm tending to lean towards $3.36m per year is a little high, but the B's have room under the cap. I also have to remember that the cap went up, meaning the value of players in theory increases. He's comfortable playing with Chara and Chara seems to be comfortable with him. If Chara wasn't on the team, Boychuk would have the hardest slap shot. Not like that warrants a certain amount of cash, just an observation that Jack Edwards doesn't call him Johnny Rocket for nothing...unless Boychuk makes a mean milkshake. There were times last year I thought I was watching Fulton Reed warm up, but he's gotten his shot on or near the net on a more consistent basis this year.
They now have 5 of their 6 defenseman locked up past next season (Chara, Seidenberg, Boychuk, Ference, and THE DUDE). It's hard to imagine Corvo coming back next year after his contract is up. Dougie Hamilton is having himself a hell of a season up in the OHL (13 - 39 - 52) and you'd think he'd be given the opportunity to win a spot with the club. That's my prediction and if my track record may speak for itself you can probably mark that down with a sharpie.
Golden Points: Nashville Predators
Bruins 4 - Predators 3 SO
Being more of an Eastern Conference fan, I don't know too much about the Predators. You know Shea Weber is one of the better defenseman in the league and if it wasn't for Chara he'd have the hardest slap shot in the league. They also have a Finnish goaltender, Pekka Rinne, who was a Vezina trophy finalist last season and is also having a pretty good year currently. They have horribly ugly home sweaters and finally, gulp, ex-Senator of 10+ seasons Mike Fisher is married to Carrie Underwood. I hate myself for knowing that...
Although this game went to overtime then a shootout, I thought the B's outplayed the Predators, who lie 5th in the West. When your team is struggling, it seems have to work even harder to pull off those victories. When your team is on fire, you squeak a couple wins in there that you probably shouldn't have gotten. That's the beauty and the hell of sports.
What I was most happy to see was the play of Milan Lucic (team high 7 shots). Even before scoring the game tying goal with a hair over a minute left, I would've said he was the best B's player on the ice that game. When he moves his feet and gets that big ole frame of his moving around, he can be a very dangerous player. The key word in the statement is "when". If he lets his emotions get the best of him, then he makes stupid mistakes, but this game he played a solid north-south game.
For most of the season, the second line has played more like a number 1 line, and they now are rewarded with a promotion with the Horton out with a concussion and Krejci and Lucic trying to find their games. Patrice Bergeron continues to have a stellar season, winning 60% of the faceoffs he took, scoring a shorty and scoring in the shootout. To be fair, Brad Marchand did nearly all the work on Bergie's shorthanded snipe, pushing the puck up the ice and splitting two defenders before laying it off to the assistant captain. Proving to the Boston fan base that they have a right to be excited about his skills, Tyler Seguin scored a nifty shootout goal: coming in with speed, slowing down then deking the crap out of Rinne. I'm pretty sure Rinne is still looking for his jockstrap.
Can't complete this post without showing love to the fourth line. As much as I wanted Paille demoted at the beginning of the season, I'll eat my words and say that I couldn't imagine breaking up this line. The chemistry they have together is pretty awesome and the give n' go between Thornton and Paille was even more awesome.
Now on to a few low points:
- I thought Thomas looked pretty, dare I say, normal this game. The Fisher goal is one that Timmy saves 99.99% of the time. He also seemed to be fighting the puck at times during the game. With the homestretch not too far off in the future, I would really like to see Tuukka and Timmy step up there game. I just need to find a way to get Thomas to stop updating his facebook status...
- The "Master of Time and Space" has not only figured out a way to slow the game down, but he's also figured out how to completely disappear. Ever since fellow linemate Horton went down with a concussion, Krejci has been struggling to find his game. We know how great he can be, but we'd like to see the centerman who just received a nice raise play at a high level on a consistent basis.
Tonight and tomorrow will be a nice test for the Bruins. We have the #1 team in the Eastern Conference, NY Rangers, coming to down tonight and then we travel up to Montreal and try to take down the Habs in the Bell Centre. If the Bruins aren't focused, they could get embarrassed these two games. I don't care how poorly the Habs are playing this year, it's always an interesting contest between the two. It makes it even more difficult having played the Rangers the night before.
Being more of an Eastern Conference fan, I don't know too much about the Predators. You know Shea Weber is one of the better defenseman in the league and if it wasn't for Chara he'd have the hardest slap shot in the league. They also have a Finnish goaltender, Pekka Rinne, who was a Vezina trophy finalist last season and is also having a pretty good year currently. They have horribly ugly home sweaters and finally, gulp, ex-Senator of 10+ seasons Mike Fisher is married to Carrie Underwood. I hate myself for knowing that...
Although this game went to overtime then a shootout, I thought the B's outplayed the Predators, who lie 5th in the West. When your team is struggling, it seems have to work even harder to pull off those victories. When your team is on fire, you squeak a couple wins in there that you probably shouldn't have gotten. That's the beauty and the hell of sports.
What I was most happy to see was the play of Milan Lucic (team high 7 shots). Even before scoring the game tying goal with a hair over a minute left, I would've said he was the best B's player on the ice that game. When he moves his feet and gets that big ole frame of his moving around, he can be a very dangerous player. The key word in the statement is "when". If he lets his emotions get the best of him, then he makes stupid mistakes, but this game he played a solid north-south game.
For most of the season, the second line has played more like a number 1 line, and they now are rewarded with a promotion with the Horton out with a concussion and Krejci and Lucic trying to find their games. Patrice Bergeron continues to have a stellar season, winning 60% of the faceoffs he took, scoring a shorty and scoring in the shootout. To be fair, Brad Marchand did nearly all the work on Bergie's shorthanded snipe, pushing the puck up the ice and splitting two defenders before laying it off to the assistant captain. Proving to the Boston fan base that they have a right to be excited about his skills, Tyler Seguin scored a nifty shootout goal: coming in with speed, slowing down then deking the crap out of Rinne. I'm pretty sure Rinne is still looking for his jockstrap.
Can't complete this post without showing love to the fourth line. As much as I wanted Paille demoted at the beginning of the season, I'll eat my words and say that I couldn't imagine breaking up this line. The chemistry they have together is pretty awesome and the give n' go between Thornton and Paille was even more awesome.
Now on to a few low points:
- I thought Thomas looked pretty, dare I say, normal this game. The Fisher goal is one that Timmy saves 99.99% of the time. He also seemed to be fighting the puck at times during the game. With the homestretch not too far off in the future, I would really like to see Tuukka and Timmy step up there game. I just need to find a way to get Thomas to stop updating his facebook status...
- The "Master of Time and Space" has not only figured out a way to slow the game down, but he's also figured out how to completely disappear. Ever since fellow linemate Horton went down with a concussion, Krejci has been struggling to find his game. We know how great he can be, but we'd like to see the centerman who just received a nice raise play at a high level on a consistent basis.
Tonight and tomorrow will be a nice test for the Bruins. We have the #1 team in the Eastern Conference, NY Rangers, coming to down tonight and then we travel up to Montreal and try to take down the Habs in the Bell Centre. If the Bruins aren't focused, they could get embarrassed these two games. I don't care how poorly the Habs are playing this year, it's always an interesting contest between the two. It makes it even more difficult having played the Rangers the night before.
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