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!