Thomas gets it done

Yes I said it. Tim Thomas played a heck of a game last night, stopping 35 of the Senators 36 shots. The one that slipped by was on a two man advantage with two guys whacking away on either post. Nothing Thomas could do about it. Tim made some nice saves, including the one he made diving across the net catching the puck with his glove after he muffed a clearing pass and found one of the Senators point blank with an empty net. Still not sure how he got it but it was a hell of a save.

Player of the game honors of course go to Chara, scoring the game winner on the power play fir his second of the season and for his play in the defensive end, at one point he hit all three forwards on the ice within 15 seconds of each other. Then came his wrestling match with the Senators resident tough guy Neil. Neil did not dare drop the gloves, that would have been great to see Z get his first fighting major with his old team. That my friends would have made a statement to the rest of his team, BRUINS, this is what it means to wear the C. No more old friends, former teamates means just that, former, meaning its on whom ever you are.

PJ Axleson (BH's favorite Sweed) had a very nice goal on a give away in the slot. Picked the corner in the third to tie the match at one.

Kessel looked even more confident last night and showed that it is only a matter of time before he begins to dominate the offensive zone. I would like to see him hit a little more, but then again that is not what we are paying him to do. He led the team in shots on goal and had three of four quality chances. Just needs to fine tune it and they will soon find the back of the net.

Speaking of the the back of the net, goal scoring is definitely where we need the most work. The B's have a piss ant 19 goals, no other team has less, Colombus has 19 as well, but they have the excuse of being an expansion team. Welcome to he HUB OF HOCKEY, the only original 6 expansion team in NHL history.
NESN showed Peter Charelli after the horn sounded in the third, he had his fist to his face, almost like he was trying to hide his smile. Smile Peter, your team finally played 60 minutes of hockey and actually won.

All in all good game by all, including Thomas. Yes I said it!

I have to say I do hate this new NHL schedule though, we play on Thursdays and Saturdays and noting in between. This is like the fucking NFL one god dam game a week! What the hell is this. Come the end of the season they will end up playing seven days a week to make up the 82 game schedule. Not to mention the fact that they do not play all the teams in the league, what the hell is up with that!

And Another One Bites The Dust.....

I must say that I was pretty happy with the overall performance of the boys last night. Minus of course Tim Thomas who showed his true ability when he muffed the first Montreal shot of the game putting his team down one, and then the back breaker with 1.2 seconds left, which I still can not understand how he did not save, as he was practically on top of the Montreal player who shot it under his arm.

The power play was nothing to write home about, however they did score (1-8 on the night) they did have good movement but seemed to move the puck to much last night instead of shooting.
Both Chara and Kessel scored, Chara's goal was a nice shot, and Kessel's goal was a direct result of his hard work in the offensive zone. It was nice to see him using the body.

The inconsistantcies in the refs could absorb as much blame for the loss as the weak defense and short on talent goalie. How the ref did not call a slash on Montreal when the players stick was clearly parallel to the ice (as the rule states) and the Boston play (PJ Axelson) buckled over like he just got kicked in the nuts point blank, is beyond me. Then for the ref to follow up with a non call on a 1 0n 1 between Kessel and a Montreal defenseman when Kessel put the puck through the defensmans legs and went to step around he was clearly grabbed and pushed down to the ice, no call. Then less than a minute later, our D (lashoff) does the same thing, minus pulling the player down and he gets called. It is sad, but the inconsistancy in calls is going to kill our sport. either call them all or don't call them at all. It will ruin our game if the ref is allowed to give it away as he seemed to do lastnight. I hope the league reviews the play and assess the so called fines they have for referee's who do not make calls they are suppose to. This would be a prime case to use in a training video. It is simple guys just make the call.

Next game Saturday..... Hope we see Hannu and his new dooo in the net.

At least we are not Phoenix!

Yup, that's rught kiddies, we are not the WORST team in the league, in fact there are two teams in the TSN rankings lower than that of the hub of hockey. Philly and Phoenix round out the bottom three. the B's called up Matt Lashoff due to the injured Stuart, which means that Chara goes back to the point on the power play, which basically puts our PP back at square one. HELLLLLLO.... This did not work for the first 20 plus power plays why the hell do you think it will work now? Chara is much better suited down low with his bog arse in front of the net screening the hell out of the goalie, not to mention the fact that it takes two opposing defensemen to move his big ass. Good lord I thought Dave Lewis was an understudy to the great Scotty Bowman.... We may have figured out why he only served one year at the helm in Detroit and don't believe the hype that he did not want the presure or the time on the road. THAT"S ALL BULLSHIT! Who in their right mind would be an assistant coach instead of a head coach? Give me a freaking break!

My crack intelligence skills came in handy this week as I uncovered the Jacobs family's welcome letter to coach Dave Lewis.

Dear Mr. Lewis,
The Jacobs family would like to welcome you to Boston. Our team sucks as you will soon find out. Don't worry, we will keep you around long enough to put full blame of our sucking on you, and then pay you 700K to sit at home and play nice to the local media much like each of your predisessors. Well except that Don Cherry guy, and everyone knows he doesn't know shit about hockey, or was that fashion? Either way you do your part, (i.e. blame the officials and injuries) and we will do ours (i.e. Raise ticket prices and rip suckers off with ten dollar beers.) We hope you enjoy your stay here in the ASS crack..... I mean hub of hockey.

Sincerly
JJ and little Charlie


Can't wait to see the paper bag fans again this year, seven games in and we already know we suck! Glen Murray should be shipped out any day now, as he is the leading scorer and that is what JJ and Chuck you Farley like to do (Thank's B this one fit in nicely!)

Defense is looking a lot like an emergency room

The B's D is looking a little depleted this week, with injuries to Stewart, Alberts and Mowers. Sturm is also nursing a "bruised" thigh, sound familiar? Cam Neely had a "Bruised" thigh that ended his career. (shut up March, he was what he was and you can not deny that he was a scoring force up front)

We almost had reason to celebrate yesterday, as Phil Kessel was looking out for the Bruins future and hit Tim "Let 'em in" Thomas in the eye with an ice chip, which sent Thomas to the locker room early. Hope around here is that he is OK but his vision is still not 100% because that will mean he either gives way to Hannu, or he will at least not over react to the puck because he can not see it.

Two more days until we attempt to right the ship...... I would love to see a between periods interview with JJ now. The old man should be jumping up and down on little Charlie's desk asking him why ticket sales have once again dropped.

So last season was "it's called Bruins"
interpreted: Sucking is called Bruins

This season it is "The hub of hockey"
interpreted: The hub cap that has been sitting on the side of the Mass Pike for the last two years!

I guess I did not miss much!

The B's lost 6-2 to continue on their doward spiral. Only bright spot was that Kessel netted his first NHL goal. If you missed it and want to see it, here is a link to the ummm.... highlights? Well I am teaching a class for the next thirty days, so postings will be short and not likely sweet seeing that the B's have all but fallen in the toilet! god I hope no one flushes!!!!!!!

Despite a 2nd period let down B's get it done

The Bruin's home opener ended up on the positive side of the record tonight, notching a 3-2 victory over Calgary. The B's came out flying, with Boyes scoring a nice goal on a feed from Savard just 18 seconds into the opening frame. Only a few moments and one shot later, Muzz netted his first of two on the night to give the B's a 2-0 lead.
The first period ended with the B's leading 2-0 despite being outshot. The vault crowd was actualy thinking they had seen the end the scoring funk.
It was good to see Jeremy Jacobs at the game tonight, at least he can say he came to a game this season, even if it is his only one, that will put him at 1 more than last year. I also give him kudos for doing a between periods interview on the New England Sports Network (NESN) they asked him about getting it done and Jacobs responded by saying that he believes in this team and he wants results now, he feels that the team simply needs to believe in themselves and that they need action now to bring the fans back (so all of you who have been boycotting the games, it has worked, JJ has obviously seen that without us he is the proud owner of a cash suckig machine and that does not boast well for the bottom line. Speaking of, the interviewer busted JJ's balls about being over the cap, which Jacobs explained was because of the 4.5 tied up in Zhamnovs salary that will not come off the books until January due to the rules on unable to preform.

The second period was all Calgary as they cut the lead to one, until the final three minutes when the Bruins actually got their first shot on net. The flurry, started by our hard charging fourth line resulted in a penalty to Calgary (which in the first five games was a bad thing for the B's) The Bruins quickly capitalized on the power play when Muzz took a diving snap shot and sent it into the back of the net putting the B's back up by two.

The third period saw the B's looking like they where going into that dreaded defensive lock which in the past few games has resulted in a loss. The Flames netted their second goal of the night and pressed hard for the third, but Boston stood tall and with quality checking and forechecking, coupled with some key saves by Hannu to hold on to the victory.

All in all we played two solid periods of hockey, and got a win. We still need to get a full 60 minute effort, especially seeing that Buffalo is coming to town Saturday, coming off a 9-1 shilacking of the Rangers this week. Neither Chara nor Kessel netted their first tonight, however both had a couple of solid chances, Chara more so than phil, as he just missed one on the power play (1-3 on the night).

I will miss the Saturday game, so MARCH the comments on that performance are up to you.

Less than twelve hours to get it right

Well twelve hours from now, we will know the result of what a week of preparation between games has done for the B's. Sturm is likely a no show for the home opener as he took a Brad Stuart shot to the foot in practice yesterday and Lewis said he was planning to go without him.
The latest rumor has Murray on the trading block, (not that we would get much for him, or at least that is what it seems.) likely suitors would include of course San Jose, Edmonton and Carolina. Not sure what cap room each has nor what the B's would get in return. He is a tough trade with a 4 mil salary on top of a lack luster year.
No word on who will be in the net tonight, but this is certainly a sign of who the coaching staff is looking at as their potential number one goalie (not that either has shown they are ready) My guess is Hannu, he did not get the season opener start, and he does have a better save % and has certainly played better than Tim "let-em-in" Thomas. Who in my opinion remains to show that he is no better than a backup goalie.
Forward lines should be announced later today after the morning skate, I imagine you will see the likes of Preimue, Axelson and Donovan skating with one of them on each of the first three lines. The fourth line will remain, as they are the only ones who have been doing what is expected and that is create energy (which means they don't have to score, and we know the Bruins have no issue with that)

Mixing it up

Well the coaching staff has had three days to make some changes and I am sure the lines will not be the same ones we saw a week ago. The next two days will be used for fine tuning the new combination.

Interesting tactic used in yesterdays practice, the coaching staff had each player try and skate alone from one end to the other against five players and the goalie. I hope they got the point, that no one player can beat a team. Coach Lewis gradually added players until it was five on five allowing the players to see how much easier it is when you play as a team and use the outlet pass to your advantage.

Less than 48 hours to the home opener! We need to take three or four in a row to right this ship!

How can you blame the keeper?

So we dropped another one 4-1 lastnight and our friends at the Boston Globe
seem to want to put the blame on the keeper. Well once again the Bruins where their own worst enemy. Yes they scored A power play goal, but they failed to keep themselves out of the box when needed and they allowed 13 shorthanded shots throughout the game. Good thing this was not one of the last few games where they could not even generate any powerplay shots, as they at least accomplished that. The new look power play mustered five shots on its first attempt and netted a goal on only its second look, by Glen Murray.
Goaltending according to the stats should be given at least a B as Hannu stopped 35 shots. How the hell can you put blame on a keeper if they make 35 saves? If he had stopped the other 4 he would have been close to a 40 save shut out and he would have been a hero. Hell even if he had a shut out with 20 saves he would be getting praise instead of blame. Well I am not sure what game good old Fluto watched but I saw two goals that Hannu maybe should have gotten (one broke off his glove which is just bad luck, and the other was a partial breakaway which is more or less the fault of the defense for a bad change.) The other two goals where a complete team break down, hell one of them was scored on the third whack at Hannu's pad beside the net. Penalty or not that guy should have been on his as after the first whack.
Coach Lewis seems to think that they just need to gel more as a team, well five games on the road should be enough for them to gel.... The home opener is next week, they loose that one and all hell is going to break loose at the Jacobs house, as daddy Jacobs will be pissed when home game two is not a sell out.
Bottom line is they need a power play that works and they need to capitalize on the odd man rushes. 39 freaking shots on net by the other team is not going to win you many games! Even if you had Marty Broduer in his prime. Remember the average is one out of ten goes in. Hannu had a bad night, he let one more in than he should have on that formula. So as averages play out we should have only lost 3-1 Good lord men WE FREAKING LOST because we did not play as a team! March I hope you held off on that ten game plan!

The POWER is OUT

Once again the Bruins Power Play failed to generate any offense for the Bruins. The boys blew a two goal lead with a little more than five minutes left. Time was definitely not on Bostons side, as it was only a matter of time before the Blues figured out that Thomas goes down on his knees when the puck is behind the net. He did this twice late in the third and the Blues capitalized on it for both goals. This one is not all Thomas's fault, as the Defense could once again not break up the cycling down low. Tomorrow's game in Long Island will speak volumes as to how the Bruins respond. They have now lost 3 of 4 and are a pittiful 1-20 on the power play making their power play good on 5%. I think it is time to move some guys around, put Chara down low, put Muzz up top with Stuart and see what happens. Something has to give, or we are likely to be the only team in the league that does not sell out their home opener, or at least fill all the seats (much like those sell outs last season that showed tickets sales selling out but NESN's broadcast showed an awful lot of empty seats.) Kessel play ok for a 19 year old and had a nice assist on Bergeron's goal. He also got a stick to the face and a shoulder that sent him on his ass at the end of the first. Welcome to the big leagues kid, your moves are getting better and I will go out on a limb and say he gets his first on the island this weekend. Should have had it last night but he made one to many moves and lost the biscuit. This team needs to play 60 minutes not 55 and they need to start banging some bodies, the Blues where hitting everything that moved and Boston was sitting back waiting. Someone should have pounded Guerin into the boards after his hit from behind on Savard, but no one did anything. One scrap last night betweenn Guerin and Hogan (Hogon got the beating but he also gave up about 30 Lbs to bill. Plus Bill got the extra two so who really won?)
Well next update will be Monday and hopefully it will be after a B's win.

POWERLESS, PLAY!

Here we go again. I hope that this is not a sign of things to come. We had a solid game on Saturday against Tampa, then we come out and completely fall apart against Atlanta. Goaltending was not really the issue last night, as Hannu may have been able to grab one or two of the goals (i.e. the Hossa through the legs goal) but for the most part if you do not score, your goalie has nothing to do with whether or not you win or lose.
Last night started off looking like it was going to be a solid effort by the boys, they controlled the puck for the most part and Hannu made a few good saves in the first and we had a couple of scoring chances. Then came the second period, the penalties started piling up, and this was a good thing, as it was on Atlanta, or was it? Our power play SUCKED and we went 1-8 with a dismal 7 shots, that is less than one shot per power play for those of you keeping track. If you watched the game (which believe it or not the Thrashers did) you could easily see that the Bruins where having Chara skate the puck out of their end pass it to Savard on the wing and he would dump it around the net in hopes of Muzz or Strum getting it. After the first three time Atlanta’s D cut off the pass you would think they would stop that approach, but NOPE they continued to do it and Atlanta continued to watch it happen and pick off the dump. Why in the hell is Chara skating the puck out of the zone? In case you have not noticed, he is NOT the most graceful skater. Why not let Bergeron skate it out of the zone? We all know he can skate it, in fact that may draw one or two guys to the puck more and actually open up the ice a bit.
The only line last night that was worth a dam was the fourth line (Mowers, Brookbank and Hogan) this threesome along with Paul Mara where the only guys on the team that did not end the night on a minus (they where all even at 0) The first line is not gelling, they had four shots which is weak at best, Savard needs to pull the trigger instead on trying to force the pass to Muzz (was this not the reason they said they traded Joe? He was not shooting when he had the chance?) The second line needs to have a little more confidence in Kessel, he was open twice for Bergeron who instead opted to shoot, one of them on a two on one. Yes Kessel did not play a great game and he missed backhand chance while all alone in the slot, and NO Lehtonen did not get a piece of it, unlike what the media wants you to think, Kessel just had the puck roll of his stick. Phil did show some signs of greatness, but those days are still a season or two away. What I would like to see him do is throw a hit, he needs to bang some bodies, he seems to pull up and not complete his checks, this could be because in NCAA hockey you often get called for finishing a check if it is not right after the player moves the puck, well this is the NHL there is more leeway in fact the rule states two seconds which is a long dam time!
The defense was sub par once again and York and Dempsey should find some pine in hopes that they get the message that they actually have to play D. Well we try again tonight (Thomas will likely be in net) I will have more tomorrow on how we are shaping up!

Weekend Round Up

The B's debut on Friday night left many of us scared, the defense was weak at best, goaltending was stuck somewhere between Pee-Wee and Bantams and our scoring lines looked lost. Kudos goes out to the third and fourth lines as they saw limitted action but actually skated hard when asked to. I know no one wants to hear it BUT I TOLD YOU THOMAS WAS NOT A GOOD CHOICE! He played one of the worst games I have seen him play. His angles where off, he miss played pucks, left large uncontrolled rebounds and even allowed a goal while trying to argue for an interfearence call. OK Timmy lesson learned if the whistle does not blow watch the dam puck and when you get set and still miss it don't try and blame the ref... Yes he was interfeared with but he also set himself for the shot and just plain missed it.
The powerplay was weak, as we had ten shots miss the net. Bergeron had six on his own which I am sure was due to his lack of play in the past at the point. I like the idea of him being out there on the point but I think they should use Muzz in that role. Put Muzz out there and then you choose Chara or Muzz but one of them is going to get the shot. Put someone like Wayne Premeau in Muzz's spot down lown, he is big and has shown that he can bang the garbage in.
I did like what Kessel Potentially has, I am sure he was nervous being his first game in all, which is what led to him coughing up a puck that eventually turned into a goal. He did however show some flashes of speed and some moves that will come once the confidence is there. Let's remember this kid is just that a kid and we should see some magic in the comming season once he gets his legs. All in all the effort was not there and they deserved to loose 8-3 or more.

Saturday's effort was 110% better, at least for the first period. They came out flying against a pumped up team on home opener ice. They scored two quick ones and had some solid goaltending from Hannu, stopping a Martin St.Loui break-away and making two more game saving saves late in the period. we saw Phil Kessel get his first point (all be it a second assist, it was still his first and that seemed to excite more than just Phil as both Chara and Boyes went out of their way to give him that extra slap on the helmet)The second period saw a bit of a lapse on D and the forwards where not skating as hard (chalk it up to conditioning I guess) the result was a 2-2 tie and what looked like a potential back breaking opening road trip for the B's. With a fragile fan base, the team could not afford to loose a second game in a row this early in the season. The third period was better, not quite as good as the first but the team skated harder and it paid off on a nice goal by Bergeron fed from Boyes it was good to see them back to passing quick and shooting on net.
Quick scare (for me at least) when I noticed Mower taking Kessels shift late in the third I first thought equipment problem but after missing three shifts I thought shit the kid is hurt. Turns out Dave Lewis did not want to subject him to playing a defensive role with the game on the line. read one of two ways... Coach has no confidence in the kid or the coach thinks the kids psyche is hurt by the good old Boston media that made a point to finger his loss of the puck giving up the 5th goal the night before in an 8-3 loss. Way to go KPD you are showing how much of a moron you really are.
GAME 3 WEDNESDAY!!!

GAME ON!

Tonight is game one for our beloved Bruins. Tim Thomas will get the nod in net (I think I would have gone with Hannu, give him a chance to win the #1 spot and make Thomas fight for it. Thomas plays better when faced with the fact that each game may be his last as a starter)

We have high hopes as noted, we should make the playoffs, but let's not forget that we where ranked 24th in offense last season and we did not do much to correct that. Yes we got Savard but he is a set up man and if Muzz does not get out of his 05-06 funk we could be in trouble. Kessel could add a nice sciring punch, but remember Jumbo Joe had less than ten points during his first season and many people had him labled as a flop (If your one of them please refer to WHO WON THE MVP AND SCORING TITLE LAST SEASON, Then place your head on the rim of your toilet slamm the lid three times and FLUSH!)

Here are my picks for the Western Conference:

1. Anahiem
2. San Joe -se(not a typo)
3. Dallas
4. Calgary
5. Detroit
6. Edmonton
7. Minnesota
8. Vancouver

I don't plan on doing any cup winners until at least the all star break, but my odds on favorite is Anahiem. and for Joe's sake San Jose is a close second.

DROP THE PUCK!

Tonight is opening night! I plan on sitting on the couch with beer in hand watching real coverage of hockey (aka TSN Canada) Looking forward to hearing Don Cherry bash every team going and praise the likes of Tie Domi, Donald Brashier, and Chris Simon (Three names that I am sure top every teams free agent wish list).

This blog is a fucked up, I have been trying to post for two freaking weeks and the dam thing was not publishing. I finally got it to work today and who the fuck knows if this one will post.

Here are my picks for the Eastern Conference:

1. Buffalo
2. Carolina
3. Ottowa
4. Philly
5. Boston
6. Jersey
7. Atlanta
8. Tampabay

Not making the playoffs will be Toronto (sorry folks but Ottawa is the only Canadien team going this year) Montreal, Pittsburgh, Isles, and the Caps.

Go ahead tell me I put Boston in too high.... I see them being in the middle of the pack and this is based off of how the preseason went and the fact that Hannu should be solid in net. That said if goaltending slips you can move Montreal to number 8 and bump everyone else up one notch.