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!!!