Game 78: Bruins vs. Thrashers THE RETURN OF THE AMERICANS

Well we've recently played some teams from Canada so there's been a lot of talk about the USA USA USA chant these days. Today is of course the return of half the Bruins' American players this year - Blake Wheeler and Mark Stuart. Since the trade, Blake's taken off, currently tied for scoring through the last ten ATL games. No word on whether he started hitting.

The Bruins magic number (to clinch the division) is

Cool thing I saw today: Playoff matchup probabilities

Oh and the upside of that leafs game was Brad Marchand stealing the puck and burying it behind Reimer...for his 5th Shorty of the season. He's having a huge year, I hope we can afford re-signing him and Kaberle. No time to worry about that now, though. Here's the goal, it ruled:

Stats!

GO BRUINS!

Game 77: Toronto @ Boston BRUINS CAN CLINCH TONIGHT

Yup, it's the leafs again. For the last time all year.

It's been quite the run, from one of Seguin's only home goals:

To the acquisition of one Tomas Kaberle, Esq.

And some Waffles:

Not really a whole lot left to say about it all at this point.

Stats!

Everything's in our favor but Powerplay Opportunities and record over the last 10 games.

Trap game, big time.

A win tonight clinches the division. Remember crushing New Jersey's dreams? That ruled.

Make them cry.

GO BRUINS!

Game 76: Bruins v. Blackhawks

The game tonight is on Versus at 7:30pm, a concession for Chicago fans (and games starting at 7pm.) This is a different team than the one that won the cup last year but the important pieces are still there. Beatable but not easily so.

Stats!

Second-best PP in the league, behind Vancouver. 6th-worst PK. Should be interesting.

The magic number to win the division is 6.

GO BRUINS!

Game 73: Habs @ Bruins RIVALRY

Big rivalry game tonight. Nothing to do about it except go lose your voice at the game.

You should know the storylines by now. I really don't have to write much of anything at all.

Stats!

Feels like days until puck drop.

Habs suck but 4 habs fans doesn't, check them out.

Bruins magic number is 7 to clinch a playoff berth, 14 to clinch the division.

GO BRUINS!

Game 18 Preview: Kings at Bruins BEAT LA BEAT LA BEAT LA

Apparently the NHL schedule makers really enjoy the Boston/LA matchup since we doubled with them last year and are doubling with them again this year. The game in LA is in January and is Czech/Slovak pride night. Cool. Also cool: the Kings are doing "Legends nights" this year where they wear old-school jerseys and celebrate 40 years. One of their legends nights is against the Wild but that's neither here nor there. Here's the old-school jersey:

Yeah, not too shabby. Especially on Drew Doughty

So here's hoping for a good win.

Stats!

Both teams are playing pretty well so far this season, with LA sitting atop their division and the Bruins having one of the best points percentages in the league. It's all going to come down to whether the Bruins want to extend their 3-game win streak more than LA wants to stop their 3-game losing slide. Should be a good one.

GO BRUINS!

Game 17 Preview: Bruins V. Panthers NO YOU SHOULDN'T BOO WIDEMAN YOU IDIOT

NESN, 7pm, Home game, 98.5 FM, you know the drill.

Last year's top playoff scorer for the Bruins is going to get booed and it's going to be stupid. Kinda hope he gets a hat trick in a 4-3 Bruins win, honestly.

They played in the preseason, this happened:

Fly, little water bottle. FLY!

Stats!

Not a lot of time for this (or any) post, but look at that FLA PP%! They also take the fewest penalties in the league. Top scorer is Frolik with 11, and then 2nd-best scorers (10 points) are Dennis Wideman, David Booth, Marty Reasoner, and Brian McCabe. Horton, Lucic, and Recchi are all outscoring the Florida top scorer.

GO BRUINS!

Game 7 Preview: I wonder if Dennis Seidenberg and Marco Sturm are offended by "The Kraut Line"?

So yeah the Leafs are coming to town but more importantly it's Milt Schmidt Night. Milt Schmidt started playing for the Bruins in 1936 at the age of 18. Yeah, that was a hell of a long time ago. Pre-WWII. If anyone reading this is that old, congrats. Anyhow, he played 18 regular-season games that year, coming up halfway through the year to play alongside childhood friends Bobby Bauer and Woody Dumart. The latest he could have started would have been January 7th, 1937, though if he sat a game or two for injury then maybe it was earlier. Regardless, Howard Hughes was setting speed records for flying across America when Milt stepped in as a rookie. Not too long after that, Milt and friends (including such greats as Eddie Shore, Dit Clapper, and Favorite-of-the-Blog and Pride of Eveleth, MN Frank "Mr. Zero" Brimsek.Got together and won a couple of cups before WWII started and the Bruins dynasty was broken up to fight the Nazis. Kind of a bummer, yes, but a worthy cause. All in all, I hope it's a great little ceremony to celebrate the career of the only person to ever be Captain, Coach, and GM of the Boston Bruins.

Here's some more reading:

Greatest Hockey Legends on Tonight

In 2000, The Hockey News assembled 50 hockey experts to definitively rank the top players of all time. Milt Schmidt came in at number 27, ahead of the likes of Paul Coffey, Henri Richard, Bryan Trottier, Patrick Roy and Boom Boom Geoffrion.

Greatest Hockey Legends on Milt Schmidt

Schmidt was 28 years old by the time he returned [from the war]. Many other NHL players had difficulty starting their careers again, but Schmidt actually seemed a better player after missing more than three seasons.

Hockey Hall of Fame on Milt Schmidt

"He was the one who gave us the name, the 'Kraut Line.' He said, 'All you fellas come from Kitchener/Waterloo. There's a lot of people of German descent from there. We gotta get a name for ya - the Kraut Line!' We didn't mind. It was a name that kinda stuck to us."

Bruins.nhl.com tribute to Milt Schmidt the Veteran

Milt Schmidt, 88, is still a Bruin at heart and watches the B's on television and visits the Garden whenever he can. He has an overwhelming affection for Boston and Bruins fans in particular, and would talk to you for hours about his many fine days playing, coaching and managing the Boston Bruins. Milt remains the only person in Bruins history to play, captain, coach and serve as general manager of the club.

Anyhow there's also a game to be played. We're welcoming the Toronto Maple Leafs, currently sitting second in the division behind Montreal. What? Yup.

(blah blah blah Kessel trade blah blah blah)

Timmy Time

Thomas v. Gustafsson in nets per Left Wing Lock. Thomas has been playing out of his mind this year so far, here's hoping that continues.

Here's a picture saved a little while ago called "LeafFansAreCrazy.jpg"

Yup, they're nuts.

Good folks for the most part, though, what with the hating the Habs. I heartily endorse Pension Plan Puppets for your Toronto Maple Leafs blog needs.

Stats!

Bruins have statistical advantage in a lot of categories except "record." Unfortunately that's the one that decides everything.

GO BRUINS!

Game 5 Preview: HOME, HOME ON THE RINK

Okay, folks. You know how it do. The Bruins are on a hot streak, having won the last 3 games against Phoenix, New Jersey, and Washington after dropping the international home opener to Phoenix in Prague. You can see pictures of the Prague games in the next post, but I'm not here to dwell on the past.

I'm here to point out how goddamn badass Thomas's white-as-snow pads look. No, really, check this out:

(click for huge, also looks like some doan-face action)

Thomas has been posting ridiculous goalie numbers right now, including against some elite competition. Like Ilya Kovalchuk:

Gotta love Jack.

So basically Thomas owns right now and all the haters are climbing over themselves to get back on the Thomas bandwagon. Which is dumb, since rooting for a specific goalie instead of the team is just silly. Tuukka starts tonight, and if he lets up more than a goal I fully expect some assholes to boo him for no good reason. For more on that, go check out Day's of Y'Orr's excellent post about it.

No really. Go read it. I'll wait.

Did you read it yet? No? Here's the link again: CLICK HERE.

Okay, now we can continue.

The Caps are obviously looking to prove they're not a bad team and can beat the Bruins like they did all last year. The Bruins are out to prove they're not completely lost and alone and hopeless on the powerplay. The Caps haven't let up a PPG yet. DRAMA! INTRIGUE!

Oh, and I know I didn't write about the Bergeron and Chara extensions, but basically my thought is that I'm happy to have those 2 guys back, and the Chara one might be a little long...maybe. He works out like a maniac, so it might work fine. Then again maybe not. Who knows? And now you know why I'm not an NHL GM.

Now, here are some stats:

Horrible Jerk who should really pick it up, jeez:

Tyler Seguin is a -1 and has only 2 points in his first 4 NHL games.

Keep your head up and your stick down, kids.

GO BRUINS!

Game 1 Review: BRUINS 5 FLYERS 4 THERE'S ONLY ROOM FOR ONE MARC IN THIS TOWN APPARENTLY

Celebratin'

Let's see here, some big news from Saturday's game. First of all, Marco Sturm is out until December with an ACL and MCL tear. He went in for a hit, missed, and slammed into the boards. Terrible news. Here he is getting helped off by Krejci and Bergeron.

Ouch.

In happier news,

Savard is back, baby.

15 minutes of ice-time eased the Center back into the swing of things. 2pims, 2sogs, 1gwg, I'll take it.

Boucher and the Flyers defense did a great job stopping scoring chances from turning into goals.Except here

And here.

Oh hey Steve, what's going on? You've got your arms in the air like you... scored... a... playoff... goal?
It's true! The pictures don't lie! He scored! In fact he started the scoring by going to the hash marks just when Recchi was coming around the back of the net. Recchi tries to wrap it around and in, but Boucher stops the first attempt. It Bounces Back out and "Boom-Boom" Begin Blasts the Biscuit Behind "Boohoo" Boucher.

The Bergeron Buried a Black rubber Burger, Buying the Bruins a Big Bi-goal lead that helped them eventually Best Briere and Buddies. phew, I think that's enough of that.

Look at this picture:

How can you argue with a face like that?

Oh and if you didn't see it, Krejci's goal was dirty like this morning's shower. He gets in alone, and waits out Boucher. Boucher goes down, Krejci goes around, bingo

bango

bongo.

Man, I'm glad we've got Krejci. He's been on fire since the Olympics.

Chris Pronger tried to beat up his fellow elder statesmen Satan and Recchi like it was 1880s congress but Mark Recchi takes shit from nobody, even Alternate Captain Elbows.

All in all a tense game with a great outcome. Exciting stuff. Here's some highlights:

5-4
Win

GO BRUINS!

Bruins vs. Flyers Series Preview

For the second year in a row the Bruins advance to the second round of the playoffs and are lined up to play the team that knocked out New Jersey. We all know what happened last year so we don't have to talk about it. Here's some regular season and playoff stats for you all to chew on:

Regular Season (whatever)

Playoffs so far:Keys to winning:

Keep this guy smilingPhiladelphia's got a couple guys banged up, and not in a teen-pregnancy kind of way. From the flyers' own site:

• Jeff Carter (C): Out indefinitely with a right foot injury.
• Ray Emery (G): Out for the season with a hip injury.
• Simon Gagne (LW) - Out three weeks with a right foot injury (4/21).
• Ian Laperriere (RW) - Out indefinitely with a brain contusion and mild concussion.
• Michael Leighton (G): Out 8-10 weeks with a high ankle sprain (3/17).

Which is not to say that the Bruins are totally healthy.

• Marc Savard is easing back into it and we'll probably see him back tomorrow.
• Mark Stuart has started skating, but still isn't skating with the team due to a nasty hand infection.
• Dennis Seidenberg has been good for the Bruins since the trade but he sliced a tendon so he's not playing against Philly.
  
• P.J. Axelsson hasn't played all year for some reason, I gotta wonder when he's finally going to crack the lineup.

Here's a message from the Bruins bear for everyone who is road-tripping to philly and/or meets a road-tripper:

Oh and don't get puked on if you can help it.
Be sure to check out Broad Street Hockey.
GO BRUINS!

Games 2 and 3 in Pictures

(click pictures for huge versions)
Game 2
Bruins keep the NBC 3rd-period comeback streak alive, win 5-3 on a Recchi empty-netter.

(click pictures for huge versions)
Game 3
Bruins bring it home to one of the loudest Gardens I've ever been in. Sobotka has his first NHL fight, Wideman scores a goal, and Recchi2Bergeron pots the game-winner.

Johnny Boychuk nearly kills a man.

Highlight reel for game 3:

GO BRUINS!